The Visigothic code

by Unknown

III. Concerning the Law of Retaliation, and the Amount to be Paid in Lieu of the Enforcement of said Law.

The bloody rashness of some persons must be legally revenged by even the most severe penalties; for when anyone fears that he will suffer for what he has done, he is liable to abstain from the commission of crime. Therefore, if any freeborn person should dare to shave the head of another; or should mark, or scar him by violence inflicted either upon his face, or upon any other part of his body, by the use of a scourge, a whip, or any weapon; or, by maliciously dragging him upon the ground, should soil or defile him; or should maim him in any part of his limbs; or should restrain him of his liberty, by placing him in jail, or in any other place of confinement; or should order him to be imprisoned by others; or to be kept in custody and sold as a slave; having been apprehended by the judge, the same person shall receive by way of retaliation, whatever he inflicted, or attempted to inflict, upon another. And if he who suffered from his violence, or endured insult through his agency, should desire to receive pecuniary compensation from the culprit, he shall be entitled to recover such a sum as he may estimate will compensate him for the injuries he has sustained. We forbid, however, retaliation to be made for a blow with the fist or with the foot, or for any stroke upon the head; lest, when the retaliation is inflicted, a greater or more dangerous injury may result.

Where an aggressor commits such acts without causing any injury to the limbs, for a slap, he shall receive ten lashes; for a blow with the fist, or a kick, he shall receive twenty lashes; for a stroke on the head, if the blood should not flow, thirty lashes. And if he by whom the injury was produced, or who is said to have instigated it, where the act was not deliberately committed, but was the result of a sudden quarrel, should prove that it was caused by the fault of another, and against his own will, and, in the affray, an eye should have been lost, he shall pay a hundred solidi as a penalty. But if it should appear that the party injured can still see with the damaged eye, he may accept a pound of gold from the aggressor, by way of compensation. Where anyone is struck on the nose, and it should be entirely destroyed, the culprit shall pay a hundred solidi. If the blow upon the nose should be of such a character as to lay open the nostrils, the judge shall impose a penalty according to the deformity produced; and we decree that the same rule shall apply to injuries done to the lips and to the ears. A hundred solidi shall be paid for any injury to the loins. Whoever cuts off the hand of another entirely, or injures it with a blow so that the party cannot make use of it, shall pay a hundred solidi by way of reparation for such injury. Fifty solidi shall be paid for the loss of the thumb; for that of the forefinger, forty solidi; for that of the middle finger, thirty; for that of the fourth, twenty; for that of the fifth finger, ten solidi. Similar sums also shall be exacted for injuries inflicted upon the feet. For every tooth lost by violence, twelve solidi shall be paid. Whoever breaks the leg of another, and the latter thereby is rendered lame, shall pay him a pound of gold; and all the provisions above stated in regard to such injuries, shall apply where the rights of freemen are involved. But if a slave should commit any of the unlawful acts hereinbefore specified, or should he only shave the head of a freeman, he shall be delivered up into the power of the latter to be dealt with according to his pleasure. If, on the other hand, a freeborn person should shave the head of a slave belonging to another, or should give orders to shave the head of a peasant, he shall pay his master ten solidi. Where the slave is of superior rank, the offender shall not only be forced to pay the aforesaid sum of ten solidi to his master, but shall also receive a hundred lashes. If he has maimed the slave in any part of his body, or has ordered another to mutilate him, he shall receive two hundred lashes; and shall be compelled to give to the master of said slave, another of equal value to the one he has injured, by way of satisfaction. And if any freedman should commit any of the crimes hereinbefore specified against any freeman; for the reason that he was of inferior rank, not only shall the violence he committed be visited also upon him, but he shall, in addition, receive a hundred lashes with the scourge. And if a person born free should injure a freedman in any of the ways hereinbefore mentioned, he shall pay the third part of the amount for which freeborn persons are liable. If one slave should mutilate another without the knowledge of his master, or should shave his head, he shall undergo the same injury which he has inflicted, and shall receive a hundred lashes in public. If a slave, without the knowledge of his master, should seize and confine a freeborn person, he shall receive two hundred lashes in public. But where a slave commits any of these acts, with the consent of his master, the master only shall undergo the penalty, and pay the damages which are prescribed by this law in the case of freeborn persons. Where a freeborn person imprisons the slave of another who is innocent, he shall pay three solidi to his master. If one slave should imprison another, without the consent of the latter’s master, he shall receive a hundred lashes. Where the slave committed the act, with the knowledge of his master, the master of said slave shall be compelled to pay three solidi. If any freeborn man shall detain the innocent slave of another in custody, day or night, or should cause him to be detained by another, he shall pay to the master of the said slave, for every day that he is thus restrained of his liberty, three solidi, and for every night an equal sum; and if the innocent slave is proved to have been thus imprisoned by the said freeman for several days, the latter shall be compelled to pay to the master the same sum of three solidi for every single day and night during which said slave was imprisoned. Any freeman who shall strike the slave of another with a whip, or scourge, or any kind of weapon, in such a way as to cause the blood to flow, or a bruise to appear, shall pay to the master of the slave one solidus for every blow inflicted; or, if serious injury should result, by which he who was struck was either killed or maimed, the offender shall pay for such an act, whatever sum the court, in its judgment, shall deem proper. Where one slave commits an assault upon another slave, the judge shall determine, according to the nature of the injury, the amount of the sum to be paid by the slave, or his master; which sum shall be equal to half that paid by a freeman under similar circumstances, and the slave shall receive a hundred lashes, in addition, for his insolence. All the provisions of this law shall apply to the cases of men as well as to those of women, in order that the questions left to the discretion of the judge by this and other laws, may be quickly decided.

If a judge, influenced by friendship, or corrupted by a bribe, should not dispose of a case in an equitable manner, or should neglect to at once impose a penalty, he shall be deprived of his judicial power for the future, and shall be compelled by the bishop, or the governor, to render satisfaction out of his own property, to an amount which said bishop or governor shall determine, to him to whom he refused to do justice; in order that he, who voluntarily refused to redress the wrongs of another, may be forced to undergo the loss of his own possessions.

ANCIENT LAW.

IV. Where a Person Deprives a Traveller of his Liberty, against the Will of the Latter, and with Intent to do him Injury.

If anyone, while on a journey, should be unlawfully restrained of his liberty by another, and no indebtedness should exist between them, he who has been so restrained shall be entitled to five solidi for the injury he has undergone; and if the offender should not have such a sum, he shall receive fifty lashes. But if one party should be indebted to another, and should refuse to pay the debt, the creditor may, without inflicting any injury upon him, bring him before the judge of the district, and the latter shall make such an order as he thinks to be just. Where a slave commits such an act, without the order of his master, he shall receive a hundred lashes. But if he should have done this under the direction of his master, said master shall be liable for the payment of the sum hereinbefore mentioned.

FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.

V. He who Violates the Law by Inflicting Injury upon Another, shall undergo the same Punishment which he Himself Inflicted.

It is no less a fault to be ignorant of the laws than, knowing them, to commit crimes. Wherefore, whoever, up to this time, or hereafter, has perpetrated, or shall perpetrate, any act forbidden by law, and shall either declare that he was ignorant of the law, or shall plot to carry out any act that shall enure to the injury or danger of anyone, alleging, at the same time, that such act is not prohibited by law, and that for this reason he cannot be held liable for its commission, and should such person be convicted, he shall at once undergo the same dangers, ignominy, tortures, suffering, or pecuniary loss, which he inflicted, or attempted to inflict, upon another; shall receive, in addition, a hundred lashes in public, and shall be scalped, as a mark of perpetual infamy.[36]