For the reason that many women to whom the privilege was granted of
disposing of their dowries as they pleased, have been found to have
bestowed them upon persons with whom they were living illegally, to
the injury of their children or grandchildren; therefore, we declare
it to be both necessary and proper that those for the rearing of
whom the marriage was celebrated, should receive some benefit from
said property. In pursuance whereof we decree that, if any woman has
children or grandchildren, and should wish to bestow a gift upon the
Church, or upon freedmen, or upon any other person or persons; she
shall not have the right to dispose of more than the fourth part of
her dowry in this manner. Three fourths of it shall be left, without
question, to her children or grandchildren, whether there be one,
or many of them. On the other hand, a wife shall have full power to
dispose of her entire dowry, in any way she pleases, when she leaves
no legitimate children or grandchildren. Nevertheless, it shall not
be lawful for any woman who has married two husbands, or more, to
give the dowry she has received from one husband, to the children or
grandchildren of another; but the children and grandchildren born in a
certain line of descent shall, after the death of their mother, have
the entire dowry given by their father or grandfather.
=FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.=
=III. What Property Parents should Bestow upon their Children, at the
Time of their Marriage.=
Wherever wrong is done by parents to the interests of their children
it must be remedied by law. Therefore, because the duplicity of
parents sometimes prompts them to deprive their children of what they
have given them at the time of their marriage, we hereby declare such
acts to be void; and decree that the following law shall hereafter be
observed forever, to wit: that if any property should be transferred
to any person, either by writing, or in the presence of witnesses, at
the time of his or her marriage, excepting such as is usually given
in the way of ornaments or clothes, as a marriage gift, whether said
property consists of slaves, lands, vineyards, buildings, clothing, or
jewels, presented by the parents to the children, either at the time
of the marriage, or after it, the said children shall have full power
to dispose of such property as they wish, with this exception: that,
after the death of their parents, the inheritance shall belong to the
children exclusive of what said parents have previously given to them
according to law, and an equal distribution of said inheritance shall
be made among the heirs; so that a son or daughter shall have full
power to dispose of what they received from their parents at the time
of their marriage, according to the provisions aforesaid.
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