FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
IV. Where a Freedwoman, or a Freedman, Marries the Slave of Another.
If any woman who has been freed should unite herself with the slave of another, or should marry him; the master of the slave shall notify her three times, in the presence of three witnesses, to leave him, and if, after the third notification, she should be unwilling to do so, she shall become the slave of the master of him with whom she is living. But if she should not have been notified before any children are born, then she shall remain free. It is the rule that the blood relations of a slave shall belong to his master, because those cannot be free who are born in this condition. This law likewise shall apply to men who have been set free, who unite with the slaves of others. But if any woman who has been set free should marry the slave of another, after the permission of the master has been granted, through any contract or agreement with the latter, then such contract shall be valid.
V. Where any one gives in Marriage his Slave, of Either Sex, to the Slave of Another.
Whoever gives his female slave, as a wife, to the slave of another, without the knowledge of the master of the latter, and this should be established by certain proof, the said master shall have the wife of the slave, along with all of her children, as his own slaves. And he who marries the female slave of another to his own slave, we ordain shall also be subject to this law.
VI. Where a Woman contracts a Second Marriage in the Absence of Her Husband.
No woman, in the absence of her husband, shall have liberty to marry another man until she has learned, by certain evidence, that her husband is dead; and he, also, who wishes to marry her must make diligent inquiry for that purpose. But if they should neglect to do this, and should be unlawfully married, and afterwards the former husband should return, they shall both be delivered up into his power, to be disposed of at his will, and he shall have the right to sell them or do whatever he pleases with them.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
VII. Where a Master Marries one of his Slaves to a Freewoman, declaring him to be a Freeman.
The acts of wicked men must be resisted, lest unbridled depravity prevail. Many persons, induced by avarice, are accustomed to wickedly deceive freeborn women and girls by inducing them to accept their slaves as husbands, representing them to be freeborn; in order that any children they have, may afterwards be reduced to slavery. Therefore, that this fraud may be abolished, we decree by the present law, that persons guilty of such deception shall be branded with infamy; and those slaves who are found to have been represented as freemen by the aforesaid evil-minded persons, shall be, along with their children, forever free; just as if their masters had publicly liberated them; and the women or girls who married said slaves shall have, as their own, all the property which was either received by, or promised to, them at the time of their marriage; if they can establish by any suitable proof, that their husbands were given to them under the representation that they were free. But if any girl or woman, as aforesaid, or her parents, should not be able to prove this; the master shall possess said girl or woman, along with her children, as slaves, and shall be entitled to all their property. And this law shall also apply to those female servants who are known to have married freemen under similar circumstances of fraud, as well as to persons who have been set free, and who are proved to have married the slaves of others.