BOOK II.
CONCERNING THE CONDUCT OF CAUSES.
TITLE I. CONCERNING JUDGES AND MATTERS TO BE DECIDED IN COURT.
| I. | When Amended Laws should come in Force. |
| II. | The Royal Power, as well as the Entire Body of the People, should be Subject to the Majesty of the Law. |
| III. | It is Permitted to No One to be Ignorant of the Law. |
| IV. | The Business of the King shall First be Considered, then that of the People. |
| V. | How the Avarice of the King should be Restrained in the Beginning, and How Documents Issued in the Name of the King should be Drawn Up. |
| VI. | Concerning Those who Abandon the King, or the People, or their Country, or who Conduct Themselves with Arrogance. |
| VII. | Of Incriminating the King, or Speaking Ill of Him. |
| VIII. | Of Annulling the Laws of Foreign Nations. |
| IX. | No One shall presume to have in his Possession another Book of Laws except this which has just been Published. |
| X. | Concerning Fast Days and Festivals, during which No Legal Business shall be Transacted. |
| XI. | No Cause shall be Heard by the Judges which is not Sanctioned by the Law. |
| XII. | When Causes have once been Determined, at no Time shall They be Revived; but They shall be Disposed of according to the Arrangement of this Book: the Addition of Other Laws being One of the Prerogatives of the King. |
| XIII. | It shall be Lawful for No One to Hear and Determine Causes except Those Whom either the King, the Parties by Voluntary Consent, or the Judge, shall have Invested with Judicial Powers. |
| XIV. | What Causes shall be Heard, and to what Persons Causes shall be Assigned for a Decision. |
| XV. | Judges Shall Decide Criminal as well as Civil Causes. |
| XVI. | Concerning the Punishment of Those who Presume to Act as Judges, who have not been Invested with Judicial Power. |
| XVII. | Concerning Those who Ignore the Letters of the Judge, or His Seal, Calling Them to Court. |
| XVIII. | Where a Judge Refuses to Hear a Litigant, or Decides Fraudulently or Ignorantly. |
| XIX. | Where a Judge, either through Convenience to Himself, or through Want of Proper Knowledge, Decides a Cause Improperly. |
| XX. | Where a Judge, either through Deceit or Cunning, imposes Needless Costs upon Either, or Both the Parties to a Suit. |
| XXI. | What, First of All, a Judge should be Familiar With, in order that he may Understand a Case. |
| XXII. | Where the Integrity of a Judge is said to be Suspected by Any One of Honorable Rank, or where a Judge presumes to render a Decision Contrary to Law. |
| XXIII. | How a Judge should render Judgment. |
| XXIV. | Concerning the Emoluments and the Punishment of the Judge, and of the Bailiff. |
| XXV. | Everyone who is Invested with Judicial Power Shall Legally bear the Title of Judge. |
| XXVI. | Every Bond which is Exacted by a Judge, after an Unjust Decree, shall be held Invalid. |
| XXVII. | An Unjust Decree, or an Unjust Interpretation of the Law, Prompted by Fear of the Throne, or Made by Order of the King, shall be Invalid. |
| XXVIII. | Concerning the Power, conferred upon Bishops, of Restraining Judges who Decide Wrongfully. |
| XXIX. | The Judge, when Inquired of by a Party, should be able to give a Reason for His Decision. |
| XXX. | Concerning the Punishment of Judges who Appropriate the Property of Others. |
| XXXI. | Concerning those who Treat the Royal Order with Disdain. |
| XXXII. | How the Judge should Inquire into Causes by the Ordeal of Hot Water. |
I. When Amended Laws should come in Force.
In assigning their place to laws which have been amended, we have considered it proper to give them the most important tank, for, as clearness in the laws is useful in preventing the misdeeds of the people, so obscurity in their provisions interferes with the course of justice. For many salutary edicts are drawn up in obscure and contradictory language, and are instrumental in promoting the controversies of litigants; and, while they should put an end to chicanery, they, in fact, give rise to new sophisms and abuses. For this reason, therefore, litigation increases; disputes between parties are encouraged; the judges become undecided, so that, in attempting to dispose of false claims and charges, they are unable to form definite conclusions, as all seems perplexed and uncertain. And because all questions which arise in suits at law, cannot be disposed of in a few words, except those which have been determined in our presence; we have decided that certain laws should be amended in this book; that doubtful matters should be made clear; that profit should be extracted from those things that are evil; clemency from those that are mortal; clearness from those that are obscure; and that perfection should be given to those that are incomplete; whereby the people of our kingdom, whom our peaceful government alone restrains, may be checked and controlled, hereafter, by the aid of said amended laws. And therefore, these laws as amended, and approved by us, and our new decrees, as set forth in this book and its titles, as well as such as may be subsequently added, shall be enforced from the second year of our reign, and the twelfth Kalends of November, and shall be binding thereafter upon all persons subject to our empire, irrespective of rank. Those laws, however, which we have promulgated against the offences of the Jews, we decree shall be valid from the date when they were confirmed by us.
THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
II. The Royal Power, as well as the Entire Body of the People, should be Subject to the Majesty of the Law.
The Omnipotent Lord of all, sole Founder and Provider of the means of human salvation, ordered the inhabitants of the earth to learn justice from the sacred precepts of the law. And, because the mandate of Divinity has been thus imposed upon the human race, it is fitting that all terrestrial creatures, of however exalted rank, should acknowledge the authority of Him whom even the celestial soldiery obey. Wherefore, if God should be obeyed, justice should be highly esteemed, which, if it were thus esteemed, would be constantly practised, as every one loves justice more truly and ardently when a feeling of equity unites him with his neighbor.[2] Willingly, therefore, carrying out the Divine commands, let us give temperate laws to ourselves and to our subjects; laws such as we and our successors, and the whole body of the people, may readily obey; so that no person of whatever rank or dignity may refuse to submit to the power of the law, which the necessity and will of the King has deemed it proper and salutary to inculcate.
FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
III. It is Permitted to No One to be Ignorant of the Law.