ANCIENT LAW.
XIII. Concerning the Disposition of the Property of a Person who has been set Free, should he Die without Leaving Legitimate Children.
Where a liberated slave dies without leaving any legitimate children, and his patron should have given him anything after he had been set free; or even if he should have forsaken his service, and attached himself to another; all his property shall revert to his former master, or to the heirs of the latter. And if said freedman should remain on the estates of his patron, and should acquire any property by the fruits of his labor, half of said property shall belong to the patron, and the freedman shall have a right to dispose of the other half at his pleasure. If he should place himself under the protection of another patron, and, while in his service, he should acquire any property, the master who liberated him shall be entitled to half of it, and the other half shall descend to the nearest relatives of the freedman, whether they be slaves or free; or he shall have the right to bestow said half of said property upon anyone he may select; but whatever he received from his former master shall belong to the latter.
The same rule shall apply in the case of female slaves who have been liberated, and we add the following provision, as being conformable to justice, to wit: that no freedman or freedwoman who has received his or her liberty from either master or mistress, shall abandon the latter while they are living. And should they venture to do so, they shall lose the property which they have received, and shall be forcibly returned to the service of their master or mistress.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
XIV. Concerning the Conditions Imposed by a Master, where Slaves are Liberated by an Instrument in Writing.
When anyone confers liberty upon a slave by an instrument in writing, and specifies therein that it shall not be lawful for him to dispose of his own property; and afterwards the person who has been set free sells it, or gives it away, his act shall be absolutely void; and his patron, or the children of the latter, shall be entitled to all of said property. But if no such condition was made, the freedman shall have a right to do what he pleases with his own possessions; and should he die intestate, and leaving no legitimate children, even though his master has inserted no other condition in the instrument conferring liberty upon him, his patron or the children of the latter, shall be entitled to his entire estate.
FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.
XV. Concerning the Liberation of Slaves belonging to the Crown.
If no ambiguity should arise in the determination of legal questions, we should not be under the necessity of making laws for future generations. For the reason that, under the pretence of liberty fraudulently asserted by slaves, the public service is often injuriously affected, and without any prejudice to the well-deserving, but as a warning to those who act rashly, we hereby decree, that, should freedom be granted hereafter to a slave of the Crown, the act shall be invalid, unless confirmed by the royal signature.