A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 5

XII.

[Sidenote: Theft by a freeman]

=1.= If a slave steal, outside of a house, something worth 2 _denarii_, besides paying the value of the object and the fines for delay, he shall be stretched out and receive 120 blows.

=2.= But if he steal something worth 40 _denarii_, he shall pay 6 _solidi_. The lord of the slave who committed the theft shall restore to the plaintiff the value of the object and the fines for delay.

XIV.

[Sidenote: Robbery with a.s.sault]

=1.= If any one shall have a.s.saulted and robbed a freeman, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 2,500 _denarii_, which make 63 _solidi_.

=2.= If a Roman shall have robbed a Salian Frank, the above law shall be observed.

=3.= But if a Frank shall have robbed a Roman, he shall be sentenced to 35 _solidi_.

XV.

[Sidenote: The crime of incendiarism]

=1.= If any one shall set fire to a house in which people were sleeping, as many freemen as were in it can make complaint before the _mallus_; and if any one shall have been burned in it, the incendiary shall be sentenced to 2,500 _denarii_, which make 63 _solidi_.[61]

XVII.

=1.= If any one shall have sought to kill another person, and the blow shall have missed, he on whom it was proved shall be sentenced to 2,500 _denarii_, which make 63 _solidi_.

[Sidenote: Various deeds of violence]

=2.= If any person shall have sought to shoot another with a poisoned arrow, and the arrow has glanced aside, and it shall be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 2,500 _denarii_, which make 63 _solidi_.

5. If any one shall have struck a man so that blood falls to the floor, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 600 _denarii_, which make 15 _solidi_.

=6.= But if a freeman strike a freeman with his fist so that blood does not flow, he shall be sentenced for each blow--up to 3 blows--to 120 _denarii_, which make 3 _solidi_.[62]

XIX.

[Sidenote: Use of poison or witchcraft]

=1.= If any one shall have given herbs to another, so that he die, he shall be sentenced to 200 _solidi_, or shall surely be given over to fire.

=2.= If any person shall have bewitched another, and he who was thus treated shall escape, the author of the crime, having been proved guilty of it, shall be sentenced to 2,500 _denarii_, which make 63 _solidi_.

x.x.x.

[Sidenote: Punishment for slander]

=6.= If any man shall have brought it up against another that he has thrown away his s.h.i.+eld, and shall not have been able to prove it, he shall be sentenced to 120 _denarii_, which make 3 _solidi_.[63]

=7.= If any man shall have called another "gossip" or "perjurer,"

and shall not have been able to prove it, he shall be sentenced to 600 _denarii_, which make 15 _solidi_.

x.x.xIV.

=1.= If any man shall have cut 3 staves by which a fence is bound or held together, or shall have stolen or cut the heads of 3 stakes, he shall be sentenced to 600 _denarii_, which make 15 _solidi_.

[Sidenote: The offense of trespa.s.s]

=2.= If any one shall have drawn a harrow through another's field of grain after the seed has sprouted, or shall have gone through it with a wagon where there was no road, he shall be sentenced to 120 _denarii_, which make 3 _solidi_.

=3.= If any one shall have gone, where there is no road or path, through another's field after the grain has grown tall, he shall be sentenced to 600 _denarii_, which make 15 _solidi_.

XLI.

=1.= If any one shall have killed a free Frank, or a barbarian living under the Salic law, and it shall have been proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 8,000 _denarii_.

[Sidenote: Punishments for homicide]

=2.= But if he shall have thrown him into a well or into the water, or shall have covered him with branches or anything else, to conceal him, he shall be sentenced to 24,000 _denarii_, which make 600 _solidi_.

=3.= If any one shall have slain a man who is in the service of the king, he shall be sentenced to 24,000 _denarii_, which make 600 _solidi_.[64]

=4.= But if he shall have put him in the water, or in a well, and covered him with anything to conceal him, he shall be sentenced to 72,000 _denarii_, which make 1,000 _solidi_.

=5.= If any one shall have slain a Roman who eats in the king's palace, and it shall have been proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 12,000 _denarii_, which make 300 _solidi_.[65]

=6.= But if the Roman shall not have been a landed proprietor and table companion of the king, he who killed him shall be sentenced to 4,000 _denarii_, which make 100 _solidi_.

=7.= If he shall have killed a Roman who was obliged to pay tribute, he shall be sentenced to 63 _solidi_.

=9.= If any one shall have thrown a freeman into a well, and he has escaped alive, he [the criminal] shall be sentenced to 4,000 _denarii_, which make 100 _solidi_.

XLV.

[Sidenote: Right of migration]

=1.= If any one desires to migrate to another village, and if one or more who live in that village do not wish to receive him--even if there be only one who objects--he shall not have the right to move there.

=3.= But if any one shall have moved there, and within 12 months no one has given him warning, he shall remain as secure as the other neighbors.

L.

[Sidenote: Enforcement of debt]

1. If any freeman or leet[66] shall have made to another a promise to pay, then he to whom the promise was made shall, within 40 days, or within such time as was agreed upon when he made the promise, go to the house of that man with witnesses, or with appraisers. And if he [the debtor] be unwilling to make the promised payment, he shall be sentenced to 15 _solidi_ above the debt which he had promised.

LIX.

=1.= If any man die and leave no sons, the father and mother shall inherit, if they survive.