Where nothing which is set forth in this chapter appears to have been done; that is to say, if no one is convicted of having mutilated, torn, forged, or concealed, a document belonging to another, or of having committed any other offence described by this law, but that the person accused has merely lost said document through negligence, accident, or want of care; or where he declares that it has been stolen from him; if a witness who subscribed said document be still living, his testimony, taken in court, will be amply sufficient to establish its validity. Where it appears that the witness who subscribed said document is dead, and other lawful and intelligent witnesses can be found, who will testify that they saw said document, and are thoroughly acquainted with its contents; then he who lost the document in question, may prove by the testimony of said witnesses, by a public investigation in court, the former existence and the contents of said document, and thereby establish its validity.
ANCIENT LAW.
III. Concerning those who Forge, or Serve, False Orders in the Name of the King, or a Judge.
He who ignorantly publishes an edict issued in the name of the king or a judge, shall not incur the guilt of forgery; but he must at once disclose who gave him the said edict. If he should be unwilling to name the person, or to admit that he received the edict from him, he himself shall then be punished for forgery, according to his rank; as is hereinbefore provided in the cases of those who make or utter forged documents. But if both the parties should be aware that the forgery had been committed, both shall be considered forgers.
ANCIENT LAW.
IV. Concerning those who Falsify a Will against the Consent of a Party while Living, or Disclose the Contents of the Same.
Whoever shall forge the will, or any document containing an order, or any instructions, of a person still living, or shall disclose the contents of the same contrary to the wishes of said party, shall be deemed guilty of forgery.
ANCIENT LAW.
V. Concerning those who Attempt to Forge or Conceal the Will of a Person Already Deceased.
Whoever shall conceal the will of a deceased person, or shall insert any forged matter therein, shall lose whatever property he would have been entitled to, through the bequest of the testator in said will, and said property shall belong to those whom he attempted to defraud; and he shall, besides, bear the infamy attaching to the crime of forgery. Even if he should have little or nothing to gain from such an act, he shall nevertheless be condemned as a forger.