In order to prove the commission of adultery by either a master or a mistress, their slaves of both sexes may be put to the torture, in order that the truth may be the more certainly discovered and established, beyond question.
ANCIENT LAW.
XI. Whether it shall be Lawful to set a Slave at Liberty, in order to Conceal the Crime of Adultery.
If any one, for the sake of concealing the truth, and for fear a slave may be tortured in order to prove an act of adultery, should liberate that slave, his act shall be void.
XII. Concerning the Property of Husbands or Wives who have committed Adultery.
We have already decreed, by a former law, that an adulterous wife, as well as the adulterer, shall be delivered up to her husband. And, because doubt concerning the disposition of their property may sometimes arise in the minds of the judges, therefore we consider it necessary to especially provide, that if the adultery of the wife should be manifest upon evidence introduced by her husband, and if neither adulteress nor adulterer should have legitimate children by a former marriage, the entire inheritance of both of them, along with their persons, shall be delivered up into the power of the husband of the woman. But if the adulterer should have legitimate children by a former marriage, his property shall belong entirely to them, and only his person shall be surrendered to the husband of the adulteress. But if the adulterous wife should be known to have legitimate children, either by a former, or later marriage, the portion belonging to the children of the former marriage shall be set apart and delivered to them; but the husband shall have the portion which would otherwise belong to her children born after she had been convicted of adultery, and he may bequeath it, after his death, to those children. And, after the adulterous wife has been brought back into the power of her husband it shall not be lawful for any marital relations to exist between them. If, in violation of this, such relations should thereafter exist, he himself shall have none of her property, and all of it shall be given to her legitimate children; or, if there are no children, to her other heirs. A similar decree is hereby made concerning persons who have been betrothed.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
XIII. Concerning those Persons who have a Right to bring Accusations of Adultery, and what Proof of the Crime should be Made.
If the law does not punish the perpetrators of crime, their audacity will have no bounds. For this reason, and because certain: wives who hate their husbands abandon themselves to adultery, and so affect the minds of their husbands, either by the administration of drugs, or by the devices of witchcraft, that they are unable to publicly accuse their wives or to leave them, on account of the affection they bear them; therefore, in such cases it is hereby decreed, that if the adulteress or her husband have any legitimate sons who are of age, it shall be lawful for them to act in the place of the husband, and to prove the fact of adultery in court. But if there are no sons, or they have not the proper age or experience to conduct this matter lawfully; in order that there may be no delay in the punishment of adultery; or for fear that the adulteress may kill her husband; or her children or relatives may, for this reason, be deprived of her property; it is hereby decreed that the relations of the husband, shall have the power, under such circumstances, of accusing the said adulteress. And if, after accepting this trust, the adultery of the woman should be plainly proved in court, then both parties who have been convicted of this crime shall be at once given up, with all their property, to serve as slaves to those who, according to the provisions of the law, have proved this accusation.
We make, however, an exception in favor of such as have manifested signs of repentance, and seem to be worthy of pity; and we hereby decree that they shall receive the punishment of the scourge. And if the sons of the adulteress were not of sufficient age, at the time the crime was committed, to appear in court, the relatives of the husband, after the death of the latter, if there are no sons, shall be entitled to the property of the woman. If the sons should be unwilling, or not of a sufficient age or experience to prosecute the adulteress; then the nearest relative of the husband, who produced evidence of the crime, shall have the fifth part of the property of the adulteress for his pains, and the other four-fifths shall belong to the sons aforesaid. If there should be any lukewarmness on the part of the relatives, or negligence on the part of the sons, or if the parties should be corrupted by gifts; the conduct of such matters shall not be committed to persons of this character; and should the cause come to the knowledge of the king, he shall determine, according to his mercy, either by whom the case must be prosecuted, or how much of the property of the woman the prosecutor shall have as a fee for his trouble. But because it is difficult to prove the adultery of a woman by the evidence of persons who are free, as generally this crime is perpetrated in secret; henceforth, whenever the evidence of a freeborn person is not available to prove adultery, it shall be lawful for the person aforesaid, to whom it is granted by the present law to bring an accusation of this kind, to put the slaves of both parties to the torture, that the crime may be proved in court.