=X.= _Where the Items of a Dowry, relating to any kind of Property, are reduced to Writing, it shall not be Contested._ =THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.= =I. Marriage shall not be Entered Into without a Dowry.= Marriage is recognized to have greater dignity and honor, where the dowry is given before the nuptial contract has been entered into in writing. For where the dowry has been neither given, nor stated in writing, what expectation can there be of future conjugal dignity, when propriety does not confirm the celebration of the marriage, nor the honorable obligation of the written contract accompany it? =FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.= =II. It shall be as Lawful for a Roman Woman to Marry a Goth, as for a Gothic Woman to Marry a Roman.= The zealous care of the prince is recognized, when, for the sake of future utility, the benefit of the people is provided for; and it should be a source of no little congratulation, if the ancient law, which sought improperly to prevent the marriage of persons equal in dignity and lineage, should be abrogated. For this reason, we hereby sanction a better law; and, declaring the ancient one to be void, we decree that if any Goth wishes to marry a Roman woman, or any Roman a Gothic woman, permission being first requested, they shall be permitted to marry. And any freeman shall have the right to marry any free woman; permission of the Council and of her family having been previously obtained. =III. Where a Girl Marries against the Will of her Father, while she is Betrothed to Another.= Where anyone is betrothed to a girl, either by the consent of her father, or of any near relative in whom authority in these matters is vested by all, and the girl, in defiance of the wishes of her father, desires to marry another than him to whom she has been betrothed; this we decree shall under no circumstances be permitted. But if the girl, against the will of her father, should have fled to him who was her choice, and should have married him, both shall be delivered into the power of him to whom, with her father’s consent, she had previously been betrothed. And if her mother, or brothers, or other relatives, should grant her wishes, and give her to him whom she has chosen, against the will of her father, those who have plotted this shall pay a pound of gold to whomever the king may direct. Nor shall the act of the parties be valid, but both of them, as has hereinbefore been stated, shall be delivered up, with all their property, to him to whom the girl had already been betrothed. And we decree that this law shall be observed where the father shall have made arrangements concerning the marriage of his daughter, and the amount of the dowry has been agreed upon, and her father dies before the marriage has been concluded; in such a case the girl shall be given to him to whom she had been contracted by either her father or her mother.