property is registered as belonging to some one who
is absent, possession shall be given to him who offers
sufficient security on behalf of the absentee; or if
the property is not registered, let it remain with
the three eldest magistrates, and if it should be
an animal, the defeated party must pay the cost of
its keep. A man may arrest his own slave, and
he may also imprison for safe-keeping the runaway
slave of a friend. Any one interfering with him
must produce three sureties; otherwise, he will be
liable to an action for violence, and if he be cast,
must pay a double amount of damages to him from whom
he has taken the slave. A freedman who does not
pay due respect to his patron, may also be seized.
Due respect consists in going three times a month
to the house of his patron, and offering to perform
any lawful service for him; he must also marry as
his master pleases; and if his property be greater
than his master’s, he must hand over to him the
excess. A freedman may not remain in the state,
except with the consent of the magistrates and of
his master, for more than twenty years; and whenever
his census exceeds that of the third class, he must
in any case leave the country within thirty days,
taking his property with him. If he break this
regulation, the penalty shall be death, and his property
shall be confiscated. Suits about these matters
are to be decided in the courts of the tribes, unless
the parties have settled the matter before a court
of neighbours or before arbiters. If anybody claim
a beast, or anything else, let the possessor refer
to the seller or giver of the property within thirty
days, if the latter reside in the city, or, if the
goods have been received from a stranger, within five
months, of which the middle month shall include the
summer solstice. All purchases and exchanges
are to be made in the agora, and paid for on the spot;
the law will not allow credit to be given. No
law shall protect the money subscribed for clubs.
He who sells anything of greater value than fifty
drachmas shall abide in the city for ten days, and
let his whereabouts be known to the buyer, in case
of any reclamation. When a slave is sold who
is subject to epilepsy, stone, or any other invisible
disorder, the buyer, if he be a physician or trainer,
or if he be warned, shall have no redress; but in
other cases within six months, or within twelve months
in epileptic disorders, he may bring the matter before
a jury of physicians to be agreed upon by both parties;
and the seller who loses the suit, if he be an expert,
shall pay twice the price; or if he be a private person,
the bargain shall be rescinded, and he shall simply
refund. If a person knowingly sells a homicide
to another, who is informed of his character, there
is no redress. But if the judges—who
are to be the five youngest guardians of the law—decide
that the purchaser was not aware, then the seller
is to pay threefold, and to purify the house of the
buyer.


