The Twelve Tables Part 2

8. [If a person] pasture [his] cattle [on a neighbor's land, he shall be liable to a legal action].[43]

9. He who has enchanted crops[44] ... nor should he decoy another's corn ... [45]

10. For pasturing on or for cutting secretly by night [another's]

crops acquired by tillage [shall be] in the case of an adult hanging and death [by sacrifice] to Ceres;[46] a person under the age of p.u.b.erty (under 15 years of age) [shall] either be scourged at the discretion [of the magistrate] or make composition by [paying] double [damages] for the harm [done].

11. Who shall have destroyed by burning a building or a stack of corn set alongside a house is ordered to be bound, scourged, burned to death, provided that knowingly and consciously he shall have committed this; but if this be by accident [, that is] by negligence, either he is ordered to repair the damage or, if he be too poor to be competent for such punishment, he shall be chastised more lightly.

12. Any person who shall have felled wrongfully (_iniuria_) other persons' trees shall pay 25 a.s.ses for every [tree].

13. If theft has been done by night, if [owner] has killed him (the thief), he (the thief) shall be [held] killed lawfully (_iure_).

14. It is forbidden that a thief be killed by day ... Unless he (the thief) defend himself with a weapon, even though he (the thief) shall have come with a weapon, unless he (the thief) shall use that weapon and shall resist, you shall not kill him. And even if he (the thief) resist, [you] shall shout [, that some persons may hear and a.s.semble].[47]

15. In the case of all other thieves caught in the act [it is ordained] that freemen be scourged and be adjudged [as bondsmen] to the person against whom the theft has been committed, provided that they had done this by day and had not defended themselves with a weapon; that slaves caught in the act of theft be whipped with scourges and be thrown from the rock;[48] that boys below the age of p.u.b.erty (under 15 years old) be flogged at [the magistrate's]

discretion and that damage done by them be repaired.

16. Thefts which have been discovered through [use of] platter and loincloth [shall be punished just as if the culprits had been caught in the act]. For cases of stolen goods discovered (_furtum conceptum_) [by other means than by platter and loincloth] or introduced (_furtum oblatum_) the penalty is triple [damages].[49]

17. If a person plead on case of theft, in which [the thief] shall not be caught in the act, [the thief] shall compound for the loss by [paying] double [damages].[50]

18. A stolen thing is debarred from prescription (_usucapio_).[51]

19. No person shall practise usury at a rate of more than one-twelfth[52] ... [if he do,] a usurer shall be condemned for quadruple [damages].

20. In a suit concerning an article deposited [with a person who has failed to return the article] legal action (_actio_) for double [damages is granted].

21. [If] guardians (_tutor et curator_) [be suspected of mal-administration, there is] the right to accuse [them] on suspicion ... the legal action (_actio_) against guardians (tutor) [shall be]

for double [damages].

22. If a patron (_patronus_) shall have defrauded a client (_cliens_), he shall be forfeited solemnly (_sacer_).[53]

23. Whoever shall have allowed himself to be called as a witness or shall have been a scales-bearer (_libripens_),[54] if he [as a witness] p.r.o.nounce not his testimony, he shall be dishonored and incapable of giving evidence (_intestabilis_).

24. The penalty for false testimonies [is] that any person who has been convicted of speaking false witness [shall be]

precipitated from the Tarpeian Rock.

25. If a weapon has sped from one's hand rather than [if the wielder]

has hurled [it, ... he shall atone for the accidental deed by providing] the subst.i.tution of a ram [as a peace-offering to prevent blood-revenge].

26. [For administering] a noxious drug ...

27. No person shall hold nocturnal meetings in the city.

28. Members of guilds have the power to make for themselves any binding rule which they may wish, provided that they violate nothing in accordance with public law (_publica lex_).

TABLE IX. PUBLIC LAW

1. Laws of personal exception (_privilegium_)[55] shall not be proposed.

2. [Laws] concerning the person (_caput_)[56] of a citizen shall not be pa.s.sed except by the greatest a.s.sembly (_maximus comitiatus_)[57]

and through those whom they (the consuls)[58] have placed upon the registers of the citizenry.

3. A judge (_iudex_) or an arbitrator (_arbiter_) legally (_iure_) appointed, who has been convicted of receiving money for declaring a decision, shall be punished capitally (_capite_).

4. [Provisions pertaining to] the investigators of murder (_quaestor parricidii_) [appointed to have charge over capital cases].

5. Whoever shall have incited a public enemy (_hostis_) or whoever shall have delivered a citizen (_civis_) to a public enemy shall be punished capitally (_capite_).

6. It is forbidden to put to death ... unconvicted any one whomsoever.

TABLE X. SACRED LAW

1. A dead person shall not be buried or burned in the city.[59]

2. More than this shall not be done. The funeral pyre (_rogum_) shall not be smoothed with the axe.[60]

3. [Expenses of a funeral shall be limited to] three [mourners wearing] veils and one [mourner wearing] small purple tunic and ten flute-players.

4. Women shall not tear their cheeks or have a _lessus_ (sorrowful outcry)[61] on account of the funeral.

5. The bones of a dead person shall not be collected that one may make a funeral afterward.[62] An exception is for death in battle or on foreign soil.[63]

6. Anointing by slaves and every kind of drinking-bout is abolished ... [there shall be] no costly sprinkling, no myrrh-spiced drink, no long garlands, no incense-boxes.

7. Whoever wins a crown (_corona_)[64] himself or through his chattel[65] or by his valor, [a crown] is bestowed on him [, when he is burned or buried] ... on him (who has won it) and on his father [it shall be laid] with impunity (_sine fraude_).

8. This also shall not be done: to make more than one funeral and to spread more than one bier for one person.

9. Gold shall not be added [to a corpse]. But him whose teeth shall have been fastened with gold, if a person shall bury or shall burn him with that (gold), it shall be with impunity (_sine fraude_).

10. It is forbidden for a new pyre (_rogum_) or a burning-mound (_bustum_) to be erected nearer than sixty feet to another person's buildings without the owner's consent.[66]

11. It is forbidden for a vestibule of a sepulcher (_forum_) and a burning-mound (_bustum_)[67] to be acquired by usucapion.

TABLE XI. SUPPLEMENTARY LAWS

1. Intermarriage (_conubium_) between plebeians and patricians shall not occur.[68]

2. [Regulations] concerning intercalation.