FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
XII. No Master shall Kill his Slave without Good Reason; and Where One Freeman Kills Another.
If anyone who is guilty of crime, or of giving wicked counsel to another, cannot escape punishment, how much more liable is he who deliberately and maliciously commits homicide? For this reason, as very frequently, through the excesses of cruel masters, slaves are deprived of their lives, without having committed any crime; it is proper that this license should be entirely abolished by means of the following law, which shall be hereafter observed by all, to wit: that no master or mistress shall deprive either their own slaves, or the slaves of others, of life, without an order of court. But if such a slave should acknowledge his guilt of a crime for which he is liable to punishment by death, his master or his accuser shall straightway communicate the fact to the judge of the district where the deed was committed; or to the governor of the city, or the governor of the province; and if, after an investigation, it is evident that the crime has been committed, the culprit shall receive, either from the judge or from his own master, the punishment of death, which he deserves.
If the judge should be unwilling to order him to be executed he shall commit his sentence of death to writing, and the master shall then have the power to either kill him, or to spare his life. If a slave, of either sex, while resisting his or her master, should strike him with a sword, stone, or with any weapon; or should attempt to strike him; and the master, in his own defence, should immediately kill the slave, he shall not be punished for homicide, if it is evident that he defended himself; that is to say, if he can establish by the testimony, or the oaths of other slaves who were present, and by his own oath, that he was acting in his own defence. Where any person, through malice, either acting himself or through the agency of another, kills his own slave, he shall be deprived of the right to testify in court thereafter, as a mark of infamy; and, in order that such rashness may be prevented, he shall be exiled as long as he lives, and be forced to do penance, and his property shall be given to those whom the law has designated as his nearest heirs. Anyone who shall deliberately or intentionally kill, or order to be killed, a slave, of either sex, belonging to another, shall be compelled to give two slaves of equal value, to the master of the one who was killed; and the homicide, according to the provision hereinbefore stated, shall be sentenced to perpetual exile. And if either a master or a mistress, influenced by a sense of injury, or by anger, while inflicting punishment upon a slave of either sex, whether their own, or belonging to another, should kill such slave by a blow; and should be able to prove, either by witnesses, or by his or her own oath, that he or she involuntarily committed said homicide; such person shall not be amenable to punishment under this law. Where any male or female slave admits that he or she has, at the instigation, and with the consent of their master, killed a fellow slave or any other person, and, having been put to the torture, should accuse their master of having planned the crime for his own benefit; said slaves shall be publicly scourged with a hundred lashes, and shall be scalped as a token of infamy. If, however, the master should swear that he has not ordered, or influenced said slave, in any way, he shall not be considered guilty under this law; and the slave who committed the homicide shall be delivered up into the power of the master of the slave who was killed, to be disposed of at his pleasure; for any slave who kills another slave must be surrendered to the master of the latter.
Where a freeborn person has been convicted of having killed anyone by treachery, and for the purpose of robbery, while the latter was either on a journey or at home, he shall be at once punished for homicide; and as anyone who by counsel, or by order, instigates another to commit murder, is to be regarded as more infamous than he who perpetrated the deed, it is hereby especially provided that, except in the case of slaves, as hereinbefore set forth, if either a master or a mistress should order a freeborn person, of either sex, to be killed by a slave, and, after a severe, public investigation by torture, confession of the crime is made by said slaves, implicating their master or mistress, their testimony concerning the latter shall not be received, unless they are able to confirm it by the evidence of reputable witnesses. The master who is thus accused, must, at once, in the presence of the court, purge himself of all guilt by oath. Those who confess that they committed the homicide, shall either be punished for the crime, or shall be surrendered to the parents or the relatives of him who was killed, that they may do with them whatever they desire. Where the master is unable to make oath, as aforesaid, the male or female servant who has perpetrated such an infamous act, shall receive two hundred lashes, and shall be scalped as a mark of infamy. The master, by whose order such wickedness has been committed, shall suffer the punishment of death.
If several freeborn persons, by common agreement, should plan the perpetration of a homicide, he who struck the blow, or actually committed the deed, shall be put to death. The others, however, who are convicted of having plotted the crime, although they did not take an active part in its perpetration, shall nevertheless, on account of their wicked counsel, each receive two hundred lashes in public, and undergo the ignominy of being scalped. And, in addition, each shall be compelled to pay fifty solidi to the nearest relatives of the deceased, and should any of them not be possessed of such a sum, he shall be delivered over to them to be their slave forever.[37]
FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
XIII. No One shall Deprive a Male or Female Slave of a Limb.
By a former law we have restrained masters, actuated by unbridled rage, from putting their slaves to death. Now that they may not deform man, who was made in God’s own image, while in the act of practising cruelty upon those who are subject to them, we must forbid corporeal mutilation. For which reason, we decree that if any master or mistress, without a preliminary investigation in court, should openly and wickedly, deprive their slave of his nose, lip, tongue, ear, or foot; or should tear out his eye; or should mutilate any other part of his body; or should order anyone else to perpetrate any of these acts; he or she shall be sentenced by the bishop in whose territory they live, or where the deed is proved to have been committed, to three years of exile, with penance.
Where such persons have children, who are not implicated with them in their crime, the latter shall take charge of all their property, and care for it; and shall restore it, with an account of their management of the same, when their parents return from exile. If, however, they have no legitimate children, the judge shall give said property into the keeping of other relatives; who, in like manner, upon return of the exiles, must restore to them said property, with an account of their management of the same. But should there be no such relative, the judge himself shall take charge of the property and preserve it, and, in like manner, give an account of it, when the parties return from exile.