If any houses adjoining the one which was set on fire should be consumed, and any property of the incendiary should remain, out of which the owners of said houses can be partially or wholly indemnified, they shall be entitled to their share. They, also, must make oath, in the presence of witnesses, that they do not claim an amount: in excess of their losses; and if it is found that they have perjured themselves, or have demanded an excessive sum, they shall pay double the amount thus exacted, to him who was the victim of the fraud, and the incendiary shall receive a hundred lashes. Anyone having been convicted of such an offence, who does not possess the property wherewith to make restitution, shall be reduced to slavery.

Where a slave is convicted of incendiarism inside or outside a city, and his master should wish to liberate him from the punishment of so heinous a crime, he shall, without delay, render full pecuniary satisfaction for the same, and the slave shall receive two hundred lashes in public. He whose house was burned, shall be compelled to swear that he does not claim a larger sum than the property was worth. If the master should be unwilling to render satisfaction for the act of his slave as aforesaid, the slave shall be surrendered to be punished, and shall be beheaded.

II. Where Forests are set on Fire.

Anyone who burns a grove belonging to another, or any pine or fig tree, or any other tree, of any description whatever, shall be arrested by order of the judge; shall receive a hundred lashes; and shall render pecuniary satisfaction for the injury done; the amount of which shall be determined by the estimate of competent appraisers. If a slave should commit this offence, without the knowledge of his master, he shall receive a hundred and fifty lashes. Where the master is unwilling to render satisfaction for the act of his slave, he shall surrender him, in full amends for the same, even if the loss occasioned by said slave should amount to double or triple his value.

ANCIENT LAW.

III. Where a Conflagration Results from the Smouldering Campfire of a Traveller.

Whoever, while encamped during a journey, kindles a fire, either on account of the cold, or for the purpose of cooking food, must use care lest the fire spread, and that it may not break out in thorns, or dry forage, by which it is easily fed; and if it should be rekindled, he must extinguish it. If, however, the fire should extend, and any crop, threshing floor, vineyard, house, or orchard, should be consumed thereby, he who neglected to extinguish the fire which he kindled shall be compelled to pay the full value of all the property consumed.

TITLE III. CONCERNING INJURIES TO TREES, GARDENS, OR GROWING CROPS OF ANY DESCRIPTION.

I.Concerning the Compensation for Cutting Down Trees.
II.Where Anyone Destroys the Garden of Another.
III.Where Injury, or Homicide, Results from the Cutting Down of a Tree.
IV.Where a Tree is Partially Cut Down, or is Injured by Fire.
V.Concerning the Cutting Down, Tearing Up, or Burning of Vines; and the Seizure of Growing Crops.
VI.Where Fences are Cut Down, or Burned.
VII.Where Fence Posts are Cut.
VIII.Where Anyone is Caught with a Vehicle, in a Wood Belonging to Another.
IX.Concerning the Unreasonable Enclosure of Orchards, Vineyards, and Pastures.
X.Where Animals are Voluntarily Loosed in Fields where there are Crops, or in Vineyards.
XI.Where Animals Damage Growing Crops.
XII.Where an Enclosed Field is Ruined by Flocks.
XIII.Where Fruits of any Kind are Destroyed by Animals.
XIV.Where, while Anyone is Driving Cattle out of Cultivated Fields, Another Person Rescues them, or Takes Possession of them afterwards Secretly or by Force.
XV.Concerning Animals Found in Vineyards, Fields of Grain, or Meadows.
XVI.Where Animals Depart from Fields of Growing Grain Before they are Driven Out.
XVII.Where Anyone Mutilates an Animal found in a Field of Grain.

ANCIENT LAW.