TITLE VI. CONCERNING PLEDGES AND DEBTS.
| I. | Where Articles are not Pledged. |
| II. | Where Pledges are Deposited, and afterwards Stolen. |
| III. | Where Articles are Pledged as Security for Debts. |
| IV. | Where a Pledge is not Restored when the Debt is Paid. |
| V. | Where a Person is Liable for many Debts, or has Committed many Crimes. |
| VI. | In what way the Debt of a Person who is Dead, or any Injury he has Committed, shall be Inquired Into. |
FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
I. Where Articles are not Pledged.
All persons shall not have the right to pledge property; and if any freeborn person should seize a pledge belonging to another, and which he has refused to accept as such, he shall be compelled to pay double its value. A slave, however, shall be required to restore only the pledge, and shall receive a hundred lashes.
ANCIENT LAW.
II. Where Pledges are Deposited and afterwards Stolen.
Where anyone deposits a pledge with another, as security for a debt, and it should be stolen, he who deposited it shall bear the loss.
ANCIENT LAW.
III. Where Articles are Pledged as Security for Debts.
If a pledge is deposited as security for a debt, and the debt be evidenced by an instrument in writing, and he who deposited the pledge should not pay the debt at the appointed time, the pledge shall be kept safely for its owner for the space of ten days, or it shall be carried to him, if he is at hand, and he shall be notified to make payment. But if the debtor should, through negligence, fail to come on the appointed day, or should put off the payment of the debt, additional interest may be collected. But if the ten days have elapsed, as has been hereinbefore stated, and the debtor should not discharge his obligation, the creditor may bring the article pledged before the judge, or the governor of the city, and shall have the right to collect, after the seizure of said pledge, whatever amount may be deemed equitable, in the opinion of the judge or in that of three respectable persons. The creditor can afterwards reserve whatever is due him from the proceeds of the sale of the property pledged, and the owner of the same shall be entitled to the remainder.
FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
IV. Where a Pledge is not Restored when the Debt is Paid.
If anyone who has loaned money upon a pledge and, after the debt has been paid at the time appointed, should delay the restoration of the property pledged to its owner; or should sell the same before the time appointed by law, as aforesaid; or should appropriate it for his own use; or should bestow it upon another; or should maliciously refuse to surrender it; he shall be compelled to restore the pledge intact to its owner, and to pay him, in addition, half its estimated value.[31] ]——-File:
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
V. Where a Person is Liable for many Debts, or has Committed many Crimes.
Where an individual has been guilty of offences against many persons, or owes debts to different creditors, he who first establishes his claim either in writing, or by oral testimony, or by the acknowledgment of the party himself, and has thereby shown that he is liable to him for damages, or is indebted to him for money loaned, shall have the preference; and said person shall be required to satisfy the claim, regardless of its priority in time; or shall be sentenced by the judge for the offence he has committed against the law. Where several parties to whom he is indebted, should proceed against him at one and the same time, he shall satisfy his obligations to such persons according to the value of their claims; or, should he prove insolvent, he shall serve all of them as a slave. But in the settlement of the claims, it must be taken into consideration by the judge, that the largest creditor is entitled to the greater portion of the property, and that the remainder should be divided among the other creditors as the judge himself may determine. If the debtor should not have property sufficient to discharge his obligations, as soon as this fact has been established the debtor shall be given up by the judge to his creditors, to serve them, for all time, as a slave.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
VI. In what way the Debt of a Person who is Dead, or any Injury he has Committed, shall be Inquired Into.
If the guilt of any person has not been established during his lifetime, it is undoubtedly monstrous to accuse him of crime after his death. Where anyone, hereafter attempts to commit such acts, in order to defraud the heir of a person who is dead, he shall be restrained by the following law, to wit: that if any person shall accuse one who is dead of having been guilty of violence toward himself, or of having fraudulently deprived him of his property, or of having destroyed it, or of having owed him money, or of having perpetrated any unlawful act, as provided for in a former law, no credit shall attach to his assertions, unless he shall be able to indubitably establish their truth by competent written or oral evidence. And if he should be able to prove his allegations, and the deceased person concerned should have left no children, but should have bequeathed his property to freedmen, or to other persons, the said persons shall be forced, under the instructions of the judge, to pay, in proportion to the property they have received, the amount due the creditor of the deceased. And if the latter should have left children, and they should have possession of his property, they shall be required to settle all claims which the creditor has proved to be due him from their father. If the aforesaid debtor should have died without making any disposition of his estate, his nearest relatives, or those who claim, or are in possession of, said estate, shall be liable for his pecuniary obligations. But if he who is said to have been liable for any such claims, should die without leaving any property, his children and his relatives shall be free from all liability and reproach. Where the deceased leaves some assets, but not enough to satisfy all the claims against him, and his sons or relatives, or those who are in possession of his estate, should be unwilling to satisfy the said claims in full out of their own property, they must immediately deliver to the creditor all the property which has been left by the deceased.