Murder was regarded as an offence against the family rather than against society or the state. It was normally dealt with by the payment of blood money ("galanas") by the killer "and" his extended family to the family of the deceased. The base sum was computed by the social status and position of the victim. The "galanas" of the king of Deheubarth was set at an impossibly long line of impossibly perfect cattle to ensure it could never be met; the family of a murdered slave, meanwhile, received no "galanas", although the slave's owner was to be compensated for the loss. This sum might then be modified in certain situations (for example, an attack from ambush doubled the base fine). Upon the payment of the blood money, the victim's family was then legally bound to forgo its vengeance ("dial"). Murder by poison, however, carried the death penalty.