III. Where there are Many Litigants, Two may be Chosen who shall have Power to carry on the Suit.
If the litigants are more numerous on one side than on the other, both sides, in turn, shall select from their number, parties to carry on their case. For all ought not to participate in the conduct of the action, but, as we have said, those chosen by both sides should alone appear in court, so that all noise and confusion may be avoided.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
IV. Both Parties may be Compelled by the Judge, or the Bailiff, to be Present in Court on the Day when the Case is to be Heard.
Often, through the negligence of the judges or the bailiffs, when security is not required of the parties, one or the other of them unnecessarily suffers inconvenience or injury. For when one party is present in court, and the other is absent, no little expense is often incurred by the former. Therefore, we decree that all judges, and all upon whom judicial power has been conferred, whenever the time arrives in any suit for the giving of security; or when a cause is about to be heard, or settlement to be made; both parties, that is the plaintiff as well as the defendant, shall be required to give bond, that, upon the day appointed for trial, either in person, or by representatives, they shall be present in court, in order that the case may be heard, or the claim otherwise disposed of; and if either party should refuse to come, and absent himself upon the appointed day; or if sickness, or any accident during his journey, should prevent him from coming; and he should not communicate the fact to the judge or his attorney; and should not appear in court within the time prescribed by law, and the case should be delayed on that account; he shall pay the amount of the bond to him before whom he entered into the obligation. And if either the judge or the bailiff should neglect to exact security from both parties, as aforesaid, and, while compelling one party to give bond should excuse the other, he shall pay out of his own property, a sum equal to that for which he wished to make him liable whom alone he placed under bond. And if, to the injury of either party, the judge or the bailiff should restore to one the undertaking which he had exacted from the other, or should destroy or conceal it, he shall pay him on account of whom the bond was executed, out of his own property, a penalty equal to that which was inserted in the bond.
He who brought the suit may then insist that it be carried on without further delay. The penalty, although declared in the bond to be payable to the judge or the bailiff, shall not entirely belong to them; but, after the case has been decided, they shall be entitled to half of said penalty, and the other half shall be given to the party who gains the suit.
V. Those whose Affairs have been brought before a Tribunal for a Decision, shall, under no Circumstances, enter into a Compromise before the Case has been Decided.
If cases are not permanently disposed of by the temperate decision of the judge, not only do great difficulties arise in settling the disputes of litigants, but the course of justice is often interfered with, through the irreconcilability of adverse claims; for many persons, after they have brought their disputes before the royal tribunal to be finally determined, in order to avoid the legal penalty for their conduct, settle, by agreement between themselves, the cause which they have brought to the hearing of the king. Lest, therefore, any party by means of such a fraud may escape the justice of the court, we decree, by this law, that whoever, hereafter, shall apply to the royal tribunal for the determination of his case against another, shall, under no circumstances, absent himself, or make any compromise with his adversary, but shall prosecute the cause already begun until the king shall have given a decision in the matter. And, if either plaintiff or defendant should neglect to carry on the action before the king, or before those whom he has chosen to hear it, or should enter into any arrangement with the other party, each shall pay to the Crown the sum which he who filed the petition, could have obtained, had he gained the suit; and whatever shall be thus obtained by the king in this proceeding he can dispose of at his pleasure. All those shall be liable to a similar penalty, who seek to have their disputes settled by a judicial decision, and, after the cause has been begun, refuse to proceed with it and presume to compromise with one another.
The judge and the bailiff shall have the right to divide the aforesaid penalty between them. But if the parties should not have sufficient property to pay said penalty, each shall receive one hundred lashes with a scourge, and the judge shall terminate the suit forthwith. We decree, however, that those shall be free from the operation of this law to whom the royal mandate was especially directed, as well as those whom the judge, who heard the cause, shall have dismissed, after a settlement has been effected with his consent.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.