Laws eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 837 pages of information about Laws.

Laws eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 837 pages of information about Laws.
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.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Laws from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.