Tacitus
Tacitus in his Germania gives an account of the legal practice of the Germanic peoples of the 1st century. Tacitus reports that criminal cases were put before the thing (tribal assembly). Lighter offenses were regulated with damages (paid in livestock), paid in part to the victim (or their family) and in part to the king. The death penalty is reserved for two kinds of capital offenses: military treason or desertion was punished by hanging, and moral infamy (cowardice and homosexuality) was punished by throwing the condemned into a bog. The difference in punishment is explained by the idea that "glaring iniquities" must be exposed in plain sight, while "effeminacy and pollution" should best be buried and concealed. Minor legal disputes were settled on a day-to-day basis by elected chiefs assisted by elected officials.
Read more about this topic: Early Germanic Law