Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 24

Dark Desire Surrender 5 1st Edition

Lauren Smith Smith Lauren


Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/dark-desire-surrender-5-1st-edition-lauren-smith-smit
h-lauren/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

The Mac Faraday Mysteries Box Set 5 Books Lauren Carr

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-mac-faraday-mysteries-box-
set-5-books-lauren-carr/

Cocky Gamer 1st Edition Lauren Helms

https://textbookfull.com/product/cocky-gamer-1st-edition-lauren-
helms/

Conversations on Conflict Photography 1st Edition


Lauren Walsh

https://textbookfull.com/product/conversations-on-conflict-
photography-1st-edition-lauren-walsh/

Always Mine All Mine 2 1st Edition Lauren Wood

https://textbookfull.com/product/always-mine-all-mine-2-1st-
edition-lauren-wood/
Filthy Daddies Boxset 1 4 1st Edition Lauren Wood

https://textbookfull.com/product/filthy-daddies-boxset-1-4-1st-
edition-lauren-wood/

50 Ways to Wear Accessories Lauren Friedman

https://textbookfull.com/product/50-ways-to-wear-accessories-
lauren-friedman/

Huge Deal 21 Wall Street Lauren Layne

https://textbookfull.com/product/huge-deal-21-wall-street-lauren-
layne/

Imagining the Chorus in Augustan Poetry Lauren Curtis

https://textbookfull.com/product/imagining-the-chorus-in-
augustan-poetry-lauren-curtis/

Core Exercises 5 Workouts to Tighten Your Abs


Strengthen Your back and Improve Balance 1st Edition
Lauren E. Elson

https://textbookfull.com/product/core-exercises-5-workouts-to-
tighten-your-abs-strengthen-your-back-and-improve-balance-1st-
edition-lauren-e-elson/
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
to the judge, and the other half shall be given to him who is known to
have suffered the injury.
FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
XXIII. Where Anyone Secretly Kills an Animal Belonging to
Another.
If anyone should, secretly or at night, kill a horse, an ox, or any
other kind of animal belonging to another, he shall be compelled to
pay ninefold the value of the same. If it is not possible to convict him,
he shall purge himself of guilt publicly, by oath. Where a slave
commits such an offence, under the direction of his master, and this
is proved by competent evidence; the master of the slave shall be
compelled to make restitution ninefold, as a thief would have done. If
a slave should not be convicted by testimony, he shall be tortured;
and after it has been established that he committed the crime, he
shall either pay sixfold the value of the animal killed, or shall be
transferred to the service of him whom he injured. If, however, he
should prove to be innocent, the complainant shall render
satisfaction to the master of the slave, as provided by other laws.
TITLE III. CONCERNING APPROPRIATORS AND KIDNAPPERS OF SLAVES.

I. Where Anyone Seizes the Slave of Another.


II. Where a Freeman is Convicted of Having Stolen the Male or Female
Slave of Another.
III. Concerning Kidnapped Children of Freeborn Persons.
IV. Where one Slave Kidnaps Another Belonging to a Person not his Master.
V. Where a Slave, at the Command of his Master, Kidnaps a Freeborn
Person.
VI. Where a Slave, without the Knowledge of his Master, Kidnaps a Freeborn
Person.

THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.


I. Where Anyone Seizes the Slave of Another.
If any freeborn person should seize and appropriate a slave
belonging to another, he shall be compelled to give to the master
another slave, of equal value, by way of restitution. If a slave should
commit this offence, he must return the slave whom he has seized to
the master of the same, and he shall then receive a hundred lashes.
If the slave that was seized cannot be produced in court, the master
must give another slave, of equal value, to him who sustained the
loss; to be kept by him until the slave who was carried off is restored,
when the other slave, who was surrendered in his place, shall be
returned to his own master.
FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
II. Where a Freeman is Convicted of Having Stolen the Male
or Female Slave of Another.
If a freeman should kidnap the male or female slave of another,
he shall be compelled to give, by way of reparation, four slaves of
the same sex to the master or mistress of said slave, and shall
receive a hundred lashes in public; and if he should not have the
property wherewith to make restitution, he himself shall be reduced
to slavery.
ANCIENT LAW.
III. Concerning Kidnapped Children of Freeborn Persons.
If anyone should kidnap the son or daughter of a freeborn
person, of either sex; or should lure them from home, and cause
them to be taken into other provinces of our kingdom, or into any
foreign country; he who is guilty of such an atrocious crime, shall be
delivered up to the father or mother of the child; or to its brothers, if
there are any; or to its nearest relatives; to be killed or sold into
slavery. Should they wish to do so, they may exact from the
kidnapper, the legal compensation for homicide; that is to say, three
hundred solidi: because for a child to be sold by its parents, or to be
kidnapped, is as serious a crime as the commission of homicide. If,
however, the kidnapper should recover the child from the foreign
country where it has been sent, and bring it again to its native land,
he shall pay a hundred and fifty solidi: that is to say, half of the
composition for homicide; and should he not be possessed of said
amount, he shall be condemned to servitude.
ANCIENT LAW.
IV. Where One Slave Kidnaps Another Belonging to a Person
not his Master.
If one slave should steal another, who is the property of another
master, without the knowledge of his own master, he shall receive a
hundred and fifty lashes in the presence of the judge, and the
kidnapped slave shall be restored to his master. And he whose slave
was stolen shall not be entitled to demand a reward from the master
of the kidnapper for the capture of the kidnapped slave. If, however,
the slave who was kidnapped should not be found, the master of the
kidnapper shall be compelled by the judge to give another slave of
equal value, or the kidnapper himself, up to him whose slave was
stolen; to serve until such time as his own slave shall be restored to
him, when the other slave shall be returned to his master.
ANCIENT LAW.
V. Where a Slave, at the Command of his Master, Kidnaps a
Freeborn Person.
If a slave, by order of his master, should kidnap a freeborn
person, the master shall be liable for such satisfaction in damages
as has been elsewhere provided in the case of freeborn persons,
and shall receive a hundred lashes in public; but the slave himself
shall incur no penalty, having acted under the command of his
master.

VI. Where a Slave, without the Knowledge of his Master,


Kidnaps a Freeborn Person.
If a slave, without the knowledge of his master, should kidnap a
freeborn person, he shall be delivered up, without delay, to the
parents of said person, to be disposed of absolutely at their
pleasure. If, however, the kidnapped person should be brought back,
and the master should desire to give satisfaction for the act of his
slave; he shall pay a pound of gold, as compensation for the injury
inflicted upon said freeborn person.[40]
TITLE IV. CONCERNING THE CUSTODY AND SENTENCE OF CONDEMNED
PERSONS.

I. Where a Judge is Asked to Punish Crime, and is afterwards Treated with


Contempt.
II. The Governor of the City shall Aid the Judge in the Arrest of Persons
Accused of Crime.
III. Where a Person Breaks out of Prison, or Influences the Jailer for that
Purpose.
IV. Concerning the Compensation which may be Received from those in
Custody.
V. Where a Judge who is Lenient to Offenders against the Law, Releases a
Criminal.
VI. Concerning the Punishment of a Judge who Improperly Discharges a
Criminal.
VII. A Person Guilty of Crime shall Receive the Sentence of the Law not
Secretly, but in Public.

THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.


I. Where a Judge is Asked to Punish Crime, and is
afterwards Treated with Contempt.
If anyone should accuse another of theft, before a judge, and
should afterwards be guilty of contempt of court, by accepting
anything from the thief by way of compensation, without the judge’s
knowledge, he shall be compelled to pay five solidi to the judge, on
account of his insolence. Where a slave, without the knowledge of
his master, is guilty of this offence, he shall receive a hundred
lashes, and his master shall incur no liability whatever, on account of
his act. But if he should do this with the consent of his master, the
latter shall be compelled to pay the sum hereinbefore mentioned.
ANCIENT LAW.
II. The Governor of the City shall Aid the Judge in the Arrest
of Persons Accused of Crime.
Whenever a Goth, or anyone else, is accused of crime, the judge
must use every effort to arrest him. If, however, the judge himself is
not sufficiently powerful to apprehend and imprison him, he may
apply to the governor of the city for assistance, to effect what his
authority of itself is not sufficient to accomplish. The aforesaid
governor must immediately employ all his power to that end, in order
that a person guilty of crime may not defy the law.
ANCIENT LAW.
III. Where a Person Breaks out of Prison, or Influences the
Jailer for that Purpose.
If anyone should break out of prison, or should use undue
influence upon the turnkey, or upon the jailer himself, or upon any
keeper who has charge of prisoners, by means of which any prisoner
should be unlawfully released, without the order of the judge; he
shall suffer the same punishment which the escaped or liberated
prisoner himself would have suffered.
ANCIENT LAW.
IV. Concerning the Compensation which may be Received
from those in Custody.
Where a judge has charge of persons who have been arrested,
or where officers have arrested them, or have received them for safe
keeping; none of them shall be entitled to exact anything from said
prisoners, on account of their keeping, or of their discharge, in case
such prisoners should prove to be innocent. But where they are
proved to be guilty, said officers shall not be forbidden to demand
from each prisoner, one tremisa. If the party arrested should be
released, upon giving the pecuniary compensation required by law,
the judge himself shall pay over said sum to those who are entitled
to the same, except the tenth part of it, which he himself shall have a
right to retain for his trouble. If anyone should accept a larger
amount than we have stated, he must restore it, twofold, to him from
whom he exacted it.
ANCIENT LAW.
V. Where a Judge who is Lenient to Offenders against the
Law, Releases a Criminal.
Where a judge, corrupted by a bribe of any description whatever,
puts an innocent man to death, he himself shall be punished in like
manner. If he should discharge a person who has committed a
capital crime, he shall pay sevenfold the amount which he received
for his release, to him who was injured by the criminal; and, stripped
of judicial power, and rendered infamous, he shall be compelled by
the judge who succeeds him, to produce in court the party whom he
released; so that the latter, when, convicted, may undergo the
punishment which he deserved.
THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
VI. Concerning the Punishment of a Judge who Improperly
Discharges a Criminal.
A judge shall not spare a criminal, on account of the patronage or
friendship of any person. If, in his leniency and partiality, he should
not vindicate the innocent, or should discharge the guilty, he shall not
be put to death, or undergo any mutilation of body; but shall only pay
the sum required by law in satisfaction for homicide, or of any other
crime which may be involved.
ANCIENT LAW.
VII. A Person Guilty of Crime shall Receive the Sentence of
the Law not Secretly, but in Public.
When a judge inflicts the death penalty upon a criminal, he shall
execute the sentence of the law not in secret and retired places, but
publicly, in the sight of all.
TITLE V. CONCERNING FORGERS OF DOCUMENTS.

I. Concerning those who Forge Royal Orders and Mandates.


II. Concerning those who Forge Documents, or Attempt to Forge Them.
III. Concerning those who Forge, or Serve, False Orders in the Name of the
King, or a Judge.
IV. Concerning those who Falsify a Will against the Consent of a Party while
Living, or Disclose the Contents of the Same.
V. Concerning those who Attempt to Forge or Conceal the Will of a Person
Already Deceased.
VI. Where Anyone Assumes a Fictitious Name, or Adopts a False Lineage or
Relationship.
VII. Concerning Documents Fraudulently Dated, Prior to their Execution.
VIII. Concerning Later Documents Fraudulently Executed.
IX. Concerning those who Falsely Write, or Publish, Decrees and Edicts of
the King.

I. Concerning those who Forge Royal Orders and Mandates.


Whoever shall change, impair the force of, omit something from,
or interpolate anything into, any part of our royal decrees or
mandates; or shall alter the date of the same; or shall make or attach
a forged seal to any of them; if said person is of high rank, he shall
forfeit half of all his property, and it shall be confiscated for the
benefit of the royal treasury; if, however, he is a person of inferior
station, he shall lose the hand with which he committed the crime.
Where the judges, or other authorities before whom the hearing was
to be had, or for whom the order of the king was intended, die; then
either the bishop of the diocese, or any other bishop, or the judges of
the territory adjacent to that affected by the order, shall have full
authority to act in their stead; to promulgate the decree; and to make
such disposition of the matter as, in their judgment, shall appear to
be legal and just.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
II. Concerning those who Forge Documents, or Attempt to
Forge Them.
Whoever forges a document; or publishes it; or knowingly makes
an addition to it; or produces it in court; or anyone who suppresses,
abstracts, mutilates, impairs the force of, or changes, a genuine
document; and whoever engraves, makes, or attaches a false seal,
and is found guilty of such infamous crimes, shall, with all his
abettors, lose the fourth part of their property, if they are persons of
noble rank. If any person should steal, or deface a document
belonging to another, and should afterwards confess, in the
presence of the judge, that he had stolen or defaced said document,
and this confession should be corroborated by witnesses, said
testimony shall have the same force in law as the destroyed or
defaced document would have, if it still existed in its integrity. But if
the contents of the document cannot be shown with certainty, he
who drew it up shall be permitted to prove by his own oath, or by a
witness, what said document contained; and the testimony so given
shall establish the contents of said document.
When the property of those who have been condemned is not
sufficient to pay the fine prescribed by law, they, with such
possessions as they have, shall be delivered up, as slaves, to those
whom they have defrauded. He who sustained the injury or loss,
shall receive, by order of the king or the judge, three quarters of the
fourth part of the property hereinbefore mentioned; and the fourth
part of the same shall be reserved for the king, to be disposed of at
his royal pleasure. Persons of inferior rank, or of infamous character,
who have been convicted of these offences, must sign a confession
as hereinbefore provided; and shall forever be the slaves of those
who suffered by their fraudulent acts. In addition to the above
penalties, culprits of inferior, as well as of superior rank, shall receive
a hundred lashes with the scourge. If a slave commits such an
offence, and it should appear that he was influenced by other
persons, all parties implicated in the crime, and who are proved to
have either stolen, concealed, or mutilated, the document in
question, shall become slaves forever to those who were injured by
their unlawful acts. But if it should appear that said acts were
committed under the orders of a master, he shall be responsible for
all damages sustained. We also decree that this same rule shall
apply to all who, for the sake of gain, either suppress or mutilate any
documents belonging to others, with the view to inflicting upon them
either loss or injury. Such persons also shall be considered forgers,
and shall suffer the penalty hereinbefore provided, according to their
rank.
Where nothing which is set forth in this chapter appears to have
been done; that is to say, if no one is convicted of having mutilated,
torn, forged, or concealed, a document belonging to another, or of
having committed any other offence described by this law, but that
the person accused has merely lost said document through
negligence, accident, or want of care; or where he declares that it
has been stolen from him; if a witness who subscribed said
document be still living, his testimony, taken in court, will be amply
sufficient to establish its validity. Where it appears that the witness
who subscribed said document is dead, and other lawful and
intelligent witnesses can be found, who will testify that they saw said
document, and are thoroughly acquainted with its contents; then he
who lost the document in question, may prove by the testimony of
said witnesses, by a public investigation in court, the former
existence and the contents of said document, and thereby establish
its validity.
ANCIENT LAW.
III. Concerning those who Forge, or Serve, False Orders in
the Name of the King, or a Judge.
He who ignorantly publishes an edict issued in the name of the
king or a judge, shall not incur the guilt of forgery; but he must at
once disclose who gave him the said edict. If he should be unwilling
to name the person, or to admit that he received the edict from him,
he himself shall then be punished for forgery, according to his rank;
as is hereinbefore provided in the cases of those who make or utter
forged documents. But if both the parties should be aware that the
forgery had been committed, both shall be considered forgers.
ANCIENT LAW.
IV. Concerning those who Falsify a Will against the Consent
of a Party while Living, or Disclose the Contents of the Same.
Whoever shall forge the will, or any document containing an
order, or any instructions, of a person still living, or shall disclose the
contents of the same contrary to the wishes of said party, shall be
deemed guilty of forgery.
ANCIENT LAW.
V. Concerning those who Attempt to Forge or Conceal the
Will of a Person Already Deceased.
Whoever shall conceal the will of a deceased person, or shall
insert any forged matter therein, shall lose whatever property he
would have been entitled to, through the bequest of the testator in
said will, and said property shall belong to those whom he attempted
to defraud; and he shall, besides, bear the infamy attaching to the
crime of forgery. Even if he should have little or nothing to gain from
such an act, he shall nevertheless be condemned as a forger.
ANCIENT LAW.
VI. Where Anyone Assumes a Fictitious Name, or Adopts a
False Lineage, or Relationship.
Whoever assumes a false name; or changes his lineage; or
claims a fictitious parentage; or is guilty of any other imposture; shall
be considered a forger.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
VII. Concerning Documents Fraudulently Dated, Prior to their
Execution.
The cunning of certain persons often requires the enactment of
new laws, as soon as the employment of new and wicked forms of
fraud, contrived for the deception of others, becomes publicly known.
Henceforth, for the reason that many persons, with the intent to
deceive their creditors, enter into false obligations in writing, which
allege their indebtedness to others; we hereby promulgate the
following law, which is to be perpetually valid, to wit: Wherever
anyone who is indebted to another, should fraudulently draw up any
writing in which he asserts that he is indebted to a third party, and,
thereby anyone should be deceived; and, by means of said
fraudulent document, he should contrive to nullify the claim of a party
to whom he is justly indebted; or if it should happen that anyone
should craftily, and fraudulently deceive another to the above
mentioned end, not in writing but verbally; the party guilty of such
offences shall be publicly branded as infamous, shall be liable in
damages to him whom he has defrauded, and shall also be punished
as provided in the law concerning forgery. He, also, shall be liable to
similar damages and penalty, who has been convicted of having
stated that he was indebted to another, by means of a fraudulent
paper, executed subsequently to the one evidencing his
indebtedness to his genuine creditor. He who shall be convicted of
having made such a fraudulent document, as well as he for whose
benefit it is alleged to have been executed; where the latter is known
to be cognizant of the fraud; shall be liable to the damages and
penalty hereinbefore provided; and the fraudulent document, having
been declared void, the validity of the other, although it was
apparently subsequently executed, shall be firmly established.
FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
VIII. Concerning Later Documents Fraudulently Executed.
It is but just that he who is recognized as the heir of a deceased
person, should discharge the debts of the latter. For the reason,
therefore, that fraud ought, under no circumstances, to be excused,
we hereby decree that the following law shall be forever observed, to
wit: That whoever gives to any person, by any instrument in writing,
any property whatever, no matter where said property may be
situated, and he who gave such property shall not be the owner
thereof; or if he was the owner, what he has given, he has already
pledged to another by a former written document, or has conveyed it
to anyone else under some contract; and he should subsequently
dispose of said property, which was either not his own, or had been
previously pledged to another, as aforesaid; as soon as the
commission of said fraudulent act shall become known; he who is
guilty, should he still be living, shall be liable for the amount
mentioned in said instrument executed by him, and shall suffer
whatever penalty it prescribes. But if the fraud should not become
known until after his death, either his heirs shall be compelled to
execute, for the benefit of the complainant, whatever the maker of
said fraudulent instrument promised therein; or if the amount
promised, or the penalty set forth in said forged paper, shall be
greater in amount than the property left by said person, and his heirs
should be unwilling to make satisfactory amends for the act of their
ancestor; they shall be forced to surrender, at once, their entire
inheritance to the complainant. Where there are no heirs, the entire
property of the deceased shall, by the provisions of the present law,
be given up by those to whom it was left by the deceased, or by
those who have possession of the same.
This rule shall also apply in cases where it is found that he for
whose benefit the prior instrument was drawn up, is implicated in the
fraud; so that he who actually drew up the paper, as well as he who
knew that this was done, shall both be liable for the satisfaction of
the obligation, and to the imposition of the penalty set forth in the
instrument subsequently executed; and both shall likewise undergo,
in person and in property, the penalties provided by a former law in
the case of those who are guilty of forgery.
ANCIENT LAW.
IX. Concerning those who Falsely Write, or Publish, Decrees
and Edicts of the King.
The unlawful and wicked conduct of certain persons renders it
necessary that laws should be enacted for the restraint of future
generations; so that those over whom reproof has no influence, may
be amenable to legal censure and coercion. And, for the reason that
it is well known that many not only write out royal orders themselves,
but also promulgate them, and publish documents confirmed by the
signatures of notaries, whereby many things have been introduced
into the laws of our kingdom, and many provisions have been
written, or attempted to be added, which have not received the
sanction of our authority; nor are suitable to our people, not having
been dictated by the principles of justice or truth; and, in
consequence, our subjects have been greatly vexed by injuries,
spoliation, and other annoyances; we therefore promulgate the
following edict: that, now and hereafter, no notary whosoever, no
matter to what rank or race he may belong, (with the exception of the
public notaries, or those attached to the royal service and their sons,
and such as have received special commissions from the king, or
any orders or appointments issued by the royal authority) shall write
or publish any spurious document, purporting to have been issued
by the king, or shall attempt to offer any such document to any
notary, to be confirmed by his signature; but only the public notaries,
and our own notaries, and those of our successors, and such as
have been especially appointed by us, shall have authority to write or
publish any royal order or edict. Whoever shall be found guilty of
violating this law, whether he be freeman or slave, shall receive two
hundred lashes, by order of the king or the judge; shall be scalped
as a mark of infamy; and have, in addition, the thumb of his right
hand cut off; as punishment for having attempted to commit unlawful
acts which were contrary to the dignity of the throne.[41]
TITLE VI. CONCERNING COUNTERFEITERS OF METALS.

I. Concerning the Torture of Slaves, in Order to Convict their Masters of


Counterfeiting Money; and the Reward of Witnesses who have given
Information of the Same.
II. Concerning those who Debase Solidi, or Other Coins.
III. Concerning those who Debase Gold by a Mixture of Other Metals.
IV. Where Artificers of Metals are Found to have Abstracted a Portion of what
was Entrusted to Them.
V. No One shall Refuse to Accept a Golden Solidus of Legal Weight.

I. Concerning the Torture of Slaves, in Order to Convict their


Masters of Counterfeiting Money; and the Reward of Witnesses
who have given Information of the Same.
We do not forbid that slaves should be tortured, in order to
convict their master or mistress of counterfeiting; as, by this means,
the truth may be the more easily ascertained. If a slave belonging to
another person should give information of such a crime, and it
should prove to be true, he shall be given his freedom, if his master
consents, and the latter shall receive his value from the public
treasury; and if he does not consent, the slave shall receive three
ounces of gold from the public treasury. Where the informer is a
freeman, he shall be entitled to six ounces of gold, on account of the
service which he has rendered.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING
II. Concerning those who Debase Solidi, or Other Coins.
Where anyone debases, pares, or files, solidi, he shall be
arrested, as soon as the judge is apprized of the fact; and, if he is a
slave, his right hand shall be cut off. If he should be arrested a
second time, for the same offence, he shall be brought before the
king, to be disposed of at the royal pleasure. Where the judge
hesitates to discharge his duty in a case of this kind, he shall forfeit
the fourth part of his property, which shall be confiscated for the
benefit of the treasury. If the offender is a freeman, he shall forfeit
half of his property to the treasury; if he is of inferior rank, he shall
lose his freedom, and shall be given up as a slave to whomever the
king may select. Whoever shall engrave or make counterfeit money,
no matter who he may be, shall undergo a similar sentence and
penalty.
ANCIENT LAW.
III. Concerning those who Debase Gold by a Mixture of Other
Metals.
Whoever receives gold to be made into ornaments and debases
the same, by the mixture of brass, silver, or any other metal of
inferior value, shall be deemed guilty of theft.

IV. Where Artificers of Metals are found to have Abstracted a


Portion of what was Entrusted to Them.
Goldsmiths, silversmiths, and all other workers in metals, who
abstract anything from what has been entrusted or delivered to them,
shall be deemed guilty of theft.

V. No One shall Refuse to Accept a Golden Solidus of Legal


Weight.
No one shall dare to refuse to accept a golden solidus of legal
weight, provided it is genuine; nor demand other money in exchange
for the same, unless it should be of short weight. Whoever shall act
contrary to this law, and refuse to accept a golden solidus of legal
weight, or shall demand a premium, in exchange for the same, as
aforesaid; shall be compelled by the judge to pay three solidi to him
from whom he refused to accept the coin. This law shall also apply to
tremisæ.
BOOK VIII.
CONCERNING ACTS OF VIOLENCE AND INJURIES.

TITLE I. CONCERNING ATTACKS, AND PLUNDER OF PROPERTY.

I. The Patron, or the Master, shall Alone be Held Guilty, if, by his Orders, a
Freeman or a Slave should Commit any Unlawful Act.
II. Where a Party in Possession is Expelled by Force.
III. Where Many Persons Unite in Causing Bloodshed.
IV. Where a Person is Shut up by Violence, Inside his Own House, or Within
his Gate.
V. Property, while in the Possession of Another, shall not be Seized, Except
Under Legal Process.
VI. Where a Person is Guilty of Asking Others to Commit Depredations.
VII. A House shall not be Entered in the Absence of the Master, or while he is
on a Public Expedition.
VIII. Where the Slaves of a Person who is Absent on a Public Expedition
Commit Unlawful Acts.
IX. Concerning Those who, while on a Public Expedition, Commit Robbery or
Other Depredations.
X. He in whose Possession Stolen Property has been Found, shall be
Compelled to Name his Associates in the Crime.
XI. Concerning Those who are Guilty of Giving Directions to Others for
Purposes of Robbery.
XII. Concerning Those who Rob, or Inflict Annoyance upon Anyone, while he
is on a Journey, or at Work in the Country.
XIII. Whether a Person Caught in the Act of Robbery may be Killed.

THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.


I. The Patron, or the Master, shall Alone be Held Guilty, if, by
his Orders, a Freeman or a Slave should Commit any Unlawful
Act.
We hereby establish as a general principle of law, that whenever
a freeborn person, a freedman, or a slave, is known to have
committed any unlawful act by the order of his patron or his master,
said patron or master shall be held liable for all satisfaction and
composition for the same; for he who obeys the orders of his
superior, cannot be considered guilty, because it is evident that he
did not commit the act by his own will, but under the command of
one possessing authority over him.

II. Where a Party in Possession is Expelled by Force.


Whoever forcibly deprives another of property in his possession,
before the ownership of said property shall have been determined by
a decision of the court; shall lose his case, even though he have the
better claim. He who was the victim of the violence, shall receive the
property in the same condition as it was when taken from him, and
shall be entitled to undisturbed enjoyment of the same. If, however,
any person should forcibly seize property which he could not obtain
by a decree of court, he shall not only lose his case, but shall give to
the injured party property of equal value to that of which he deprived
him.
ANCIENT LAW.
III. Where Many Persons Unite in Causing Bloodshed.
Whoever collects a mob for the purpose of committing
bloodshed, and makes an attack upon another, whereby he sustains
bodily injury; or incites or orders others to commit such acts; as soon
as the judge shall be informed of the same, he shall, at once, cause
the guilty party to be arrested. And in order that he may be rendered
publicly infamous, he shall receive fifty lashes in the presence of the
judge, and shall be compelled to name all who were with him, or
participated in his offence; and if his said associates should not be
under his patronage, every freeman among them shall receive fifty
lashes. If, however, slaves are participants in the crime, and belong
to another master, they shall each receive two hundred lashes
publicly, and in the presence of the judge, as a warning to others.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
IV. Where a Person is Shut up by Violence, Inside his own
House, or within his Gate.
Whoever forcibly confines the owner of a house inside his
dwelling, or within the courtyard of the same, and prevents him from
having free egress, or orders others to do so, shall, as a penalty for
his insolence, pay to the owner of said house thirty solidi, and, in
addition to this, shall receive a hundred lashes. All other persons
who aided and abetted him in his unlawful act, and are not under his
protection, where they are freeborn, shall each pay fifteen solidi to
those who suffered the injury; and shall, for the insolence of which
they are guilty, each receive a hundred lashes. Any slaves who are
guilty of this offence, and did not act under the order of their master
or mistress, shall each receive two hundred lashes. If, however, the
owner of a house should be boldly and violently prevented from
entering the same, in such a manner that he is, for the time, entirely
deprived of control over his house, his family, and his other property,
which is a far more serious offence, the author of such an infamous
crime shall be liable for all damages incurred, and shall also receive
a hundred lashes. Any freemen who are participants in a deed of this
kind, if they are not under the patronage of the principal actor in it,
shall each receive a hundred lashes, and be compelled to pay three
hundred solidi to those who have suffered the injury. If, however, any
slaves, without the knowledge of their masters, should have
voluntarily committed such a crime, they shall undergo the penalty
prescribed for slaves under such circumstances, as hereinbefore
stated; and no responsibility for their acts shall attach to their
masters. They also shall be liable to the same penalty, who, on their
own responsibility, and without an order of the king or a judge,
forcibly seize a house belonging to another; or presume to represent
said property as their own; or affix their seals to the same.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
V. Property, while in the Possession of Another, shall not be
Seized, Except Under Legal Process.
No governor, deputy, steward, superintendent, agent, or attorney,
or any freeborn person or slave, shall daringly presume to seize any
property in the possession of another; or claim it, in the name of the
king, or of his superior or master, before a judicial decree has been
rendered establishing the ownership of said property. And if, without
waiting for a trial, such a person should seize said property while in
the possession of another, or which is known to belong to some one
else; everything that he seized or removed, whether it consists of

You might also like