THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
XIV. Any Person may bring an Accusation of Homicide.
If no one should be willing to accuse another of homicide, the judge, as soon as he learns that the crime has been committed, shall have the power to apprehend the guilty party, that he may receive the sentence he deserves; for the punishment of the crime may be unduly deferred, either on account of the absence of the accuser, or because some collusion exists between him and the murderer. A wife shall have the right to inquire into the death of her husband, or into any injury he has suffered at the hands of another; and a husband has, likewise, the same privilege in the case of a wife, and may demand that the crime be avenged by law. If either husband or wife should die while they had the intention of prosecuting a criminal, and, in consequence thereof, said prosecution should be left incomplete, their children or relatives, who stand next in the line of hereditary succession, shall have full power to accuse the offender, or the homicide, and to carry on the prosecution just as parents can do. The children or aforesaid relatives, shall not be entitled to the property of the offender or homicide, unless he should have previously undergone the punishment prescribed by law for his crime. If the judge, after having been notified, should refuse to avenge the crime, and, by reason of his delay or neglect, the matter should finally be brought to the attention of the king, the judge shall be compelled to give half of the legal composition for the homicide; that is to say, two hundred and fifty solidi, as a penalty for his disregard of his judicial duties. No one shall have a right to claim the property of anyone who is punished for a crime, before the sentence prescribed by law for said crime has been pronounced by the court.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
XV. Both Relatives and Strangers have a Right to Accuse a Person of Homicide.
As it is proper that those who are guilty of other crimes should receive the penalties which they deserve, it must be regarded as infamous that homicides, whom it is but right should be treated with greater severity, should escape without punishment. Therefore, that no one who has committed a homicide may escape, or think that, by making excuses, he can avoid the consequences of his crime; the right of prosecution is hereby given, in the first place, to the relatives of the deceased; and if said relatives should be either lukewarm, or dilatory in inquiring into the death of their relative, then other relatives, as well as strangers, shall have the right to prosecute the offender. Any person who fraudulently attempts to defend or excuse a homicide, shall be compelled to pay to the accuser, double the amount which he has corruptly received. For no one guilty of homicide can ever feel secure, so long as he knows that everyone has the right to prosecute him.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
XVI. Where a Homicide Takes Refuge in a Church.
We are not unmindful that, heretofore, many laws have been enacted, and penalties to be inflicted upon the guilty prescribed according to the nature of the crime, whether it be homicide or some other offence. Yet, because the authors of these wicked deeds who are as ready to commit them as they are cunning in seeking opportunities to escape punishment, and, as they, for the most part, betake themselves for protection to the churches of God, while, at the same time, they do not fear to commit crimes in violation of the Divine precepts; for the reason that wickedness of this kind should never go unpunished, because it destroys life, and frequently impels the minds of men to the commission of worse offences, we promulgate the following decree, to be observed through all time, to wit: That, as the law directs that every homicide or malefactor shall be punished, so, whoever, according to his own impulse, or evil disposition, commits such a crime, shall never be released from liability to the law, by any excuse or influence; but in case he should take refuge at the Holy Altar, a pursuer shall not presume to remove him from it without the consent of the priest. The priest having been consulted, however, and oath made that the party sought is a criminal, and liable to be publicly condemned to death; the priest himself shall drive him from the altar, and eject him from the choir; so that he who is pursuing him may arrest him.
He who has thus been driven from the church shall not, however, be liable to the penalty of death; but the sight of his eyes shall be entirely destroyed; or he may be delivered up into the power of the parents or relatives of him whom he killed; and the latter shall have the right to dispose of him at their pleasure, excepting they shall not put him to death; as a warning to prevent the intentions of depraved men from being carried into effect, when they know what punishments are prepared for them; and that he whom a wicked impulse often drives to the commission of an unlawful act, may, through terror, abstain from evil.