I. Where Anyone Casts Away, or Abandons, a Freeborn Child, he shall Serve as its Slave.

If anyone, induced by compassion, should rescue, and care for a child, of either sex, who has been abandoned, and such child, after having been brought up, should be acknowledged by its parents; where the latter are freeborn persons, they shall either give a slave, or the price of one, as compensation for the service performed. If they should neglect to do this, compensation shall be made by order of the judge of the district; and the parents who have been guilty of such wickedness shall be condemned to perpetual exile. Where he who casts away the child has not sufficient property to redeem it, he shall serve as its slave; and he whom the pity of others has preserved, shall enjoy complete freedom. It shall be lawful for the judge both to prosecute and impose sentence for this crime whenever committed.

II. Where any Male or Female Slave shall be Proved to have Cast Away a Child, with or without the Knowledge of his or her Master.

If a slave, of either sex, in order to defraud his or her master, should expose and abandon their own child, without the knowledge of said master, and anyone should bring it up, the latter shall be entitled to receive the third part of its value; but, under such circumstances, the master must swear or prove that he was ignorant that his slave had abandoned the child. If, however, it should be shown that the master was aware of the fact, the child shall become the slave of him who reared it.

III. What Compensation for Support anyone shall Receive for the Bringing up of a Child committed to his Care by its Parents.

If anyone should accept from its parents a little child to be reared, he shall receive as compensation one solidus every year, until the child has reached the age of ten; but he shall be entitled to no further compensation after it has completed its tenth year, because after that time the services of the child should be sufficient to pay for its support. And if he who seeks to take the child again should be unwilling to pay this sum, it shall be held in slavery by him who reared it.

TITLE V. CONCERNING SUCH PROPERTY AS IS VESTED BY THE LAWS OF NATURE.

I.Concerning the Disinheriting of Children; and What Disposition Parents should make of their Property.
II.What Part of her Dowry a Woman has a Right to Bequeath.
III.What Property Parents should Bestow upon their Children, at the Time of their Marriage.
IV.Concerning Children Born of Different Parents; and What Distinctions Parents may Make in the Disposition of their Estates.
V.Concerning such Property as Children may have Acquired during the Lives of their Parents.

I. Concerning the Disinheriting of Children; and What Disposition Parents should make of their Property.

As soon as we have ascertained that any unlawful acts have been committed, it behooves us to prevent, by legal measures, similar occurrences in the future. For many persons living reckless lives, squander their property upon strangers, either on account of riotous living, or through the unwise counsel of others, and, as a result of this, leave their inoffensive children or grandchildren weak and penniless; for those cannot be of any benefit whatever to the community upon whom the duty of labor has not been enjoined by the example and virtues of their parents. And, in order that, under such circumstances, the rights of the community may not be sacrificed, or children or grandchildren be deprived of the benefits of that natural affection which should be bestowed upon them, the law, by which a father or mother, or grandfather or grandmother, have the right to give their property to a stranger, should they wish to do so, or a woman to dispose of her dowry in any way that she pleases, is hereby abrogated; and we decree that the following more equitable law shall be observed by all, to wit: that neither parents nor grandparents shall have the absolute right to dispose of all their property, nor that children nor grandchildren shall, through an unjust will, be deprived of the inheritance of their parents and grandparents; therefore, any father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, who wish to bestow any of their property upon their children or grandchildren, must observe the following rule, viz: that in the bestowal of said gifts upon their children or grandchildren they do not exceed the third part of their property; nor shall it be lawful for them to transfer any of their property to any stranger, unless they should not have any legitimate children or grandchildren living.