XLVII
54 THE BURGUNDIAN CODE XLVII 1. Although in former laws it has been established by what means the crimes of robbers should be repressed, nevertheless, because so far neither by corporal punishments nor by losses of property has it been possible to bring an end to the cruel acts of robbers, we decree in the present law: if any native freeman, barbarian as well as Roman, or a person of any nation dwelling within the provincesof our kingdom,takes horses or oxen in theft, and his wife does not immediately reveal the committed crime, let her husband be killed, and let her also be deprived of her liberty and given in servitude without delay to him against whom the deed was committed ; because it cannot be doubted, and is often discovered, that such women are sharers in the crimes of their husbands. 2. Also regarding the children of such persons, let this punishment be followed according to law: if any of these at the time zt which the theft has been committed has passed the fourteenth year of age, in accordance with the fact that the mother has been condemned by previous judgment to the loss of her liberty, let him, too, be placed in perpetual subjection under the dominion (dominium) of that man against whom the theft is proved to have been committed, since he knows about the committed crime beyond doubt if he has attained the stated number of years of age. 3. However, those children of criminals who are found within the tenth (fourteenth) year of age at the time of the perpetrated crime shall not be condemned to lose their liberty. Because just as at such a tender age they do not have knowledge or understanding of the crime committed by their father, so they cannot be blamed, nor shall they sustain the previous judgment concerning their freedom ; and the children who were innocent may claim the allotment of property (SOTS) and personal possessions (facultas) of their parents. 1 The best manuscripts give decimum. However, DeSalishas inserted qua+ turn to agree with XLII,2. BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS 55 4. Concerning the thefts and crimes of slaves, let that form of punishment be followed which is contained in the code of the ancient law. 1. If anyone resists violently in his own defense, let the rule be followed as established in former laws by what means he may be judged in the matter of wounds inflicted by the sword; but it is desirable to define in the present law matters omitted in this constitution relevant to later cases. If therefore anyone breaks another's arm with a blow of stick or stone, and the injured man recovers the use of his limb without any permanent disability, let the doer of the deed be compelled to pay a tenth part of the wergeld, according to the status of the person, just as it is written in former laws. 2. Also if anyone strikes and breaks the shinbone of another by a similar accident, we order the same requirement to be observed in composition for the crime. 3. But if anyone's arm or shinbone has been broken in the abovementioned manner, and he has suffered a clear disability, let that mode of composition be observed which has been decreed in former laws. 4. But if anyone resisting violently in his own cause and defense has committed acts of this sort from necessity,let him, even though he has departed unhurt, be compelled by order of the judge to pay half the established payment according to the degree of blame. XLIX 1. This is established for the welfare and peace of all, that a general definition be set forth relevant to each and every case, so that the counts (comites) and magistrates (praepositi) of the localities, having been instructed adequately, may understand ...
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