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74 THE BURGUNDIAN CODE 1. However often a slave is accused of crime and however often it is necessary that he be handed over to the judge under a warrant, this procedure in holding an examination shall be observed, namely, that the value of the slave shall be paid to his master; and if the slave has confessed under torture the crime of which he has been accused, let the solidi which were put up as the value of the slave be paid back to the accusing parties, and let the slave be condemned to a deserved death. After this has been done, let the master of the criminal slave make restitution in fee simple by law to him who lost the property so that he may be without loss. 2. Indeed if he has been placed under torture and has not been convikted and has not confessed, let the master retain the money paid as the slave's price; and let him receive back the innocent slave. 3. We have found through the statements of many persons what customs and procedure have been observed among our people heretofore, namely, that (an equal) contribution by each party should constitute the reward which is promised and paid for evidence in any theft or crime. And therefore it seems right that when the existing inapplicable law has been removed, if a native freeman is convicted on charges of this kind, let him sustain the entire expense for the penalty and evidence according to law. Thus we may act without prejudice to previous laws which have been established for repressing the crimes of slaves. I. Upon careful consideration of these matters, we have established that if a father shall have divided his allotment (sors) with his sons and afterward it happens a son dies childless while his father is still living, the father may claim the use of the entire 1 C f .VII. BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS 75 portion by the law of usufruct in accordance with the son's wish. But upon the father's death, let him divide between sons and grandsons so that all fatherless grandsons sprung from any one son shall obtain such a portion as their father would have had. 2. Further, let that portion which the father had retained (for himself after the) division among his sons be left to the surviving sons, and let the grandsons not succeed to that share. 3. Nevertheless the present law pertains to male heirs only. LXXIX 1. Now for a long time it has been ordained by us that if anyone of our people has invited a person belonging to a barbarian nation to live with him, and if he has voluntarily given him land to dwell upon, and he (the one to whom the land was given) has held it for fifteen years without pr~hibition,~ let it remain in his possession (potestas).And let him who made the gift know that nothing shall be paid to him therefor. Furthermore, it pleases us to establish by the present law that this well-known condition ought to be observed generally without any change through all time. 2. If anyone claims and it is proved that land was taken by force by another, and if it is established that the property was appropriated , before thirty years have been completed it can be recovered and restored to the parties seeking its return. 3. Moreover, if thirty years have been completed and the land has not been restored, even though the claim is made that it was seized, let the claimant know that none of it need be returned to him. 4. Wherefore all counts (comites), whenever contention shall arise from the afore-mentioned causes, should take care to render decisions justly according to the provision of this law. 5. And because it is fitting that all things pertaining to the peace of all be provided by law, we desire that all claims concerning any property whatsoever which shall not have been completed 1 For this unusual meaning of the verb testare implying prohibition, cf. DuCange, op. dt.,VI, 565. ...

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