If the informer should be proved to have had knowledge of the theft, he
shall incur no penalty, and shall not be subject to payment of damages;
but he cannot demand any reward for the information he furnishes,
because it is sufficient compensation for him to be permitted to depart
in safety. Where the property stolen was divided between him and the
thief, he shall only be required to restore to the owner what he
received and kept for himself.
=ANCIENT LAW.=
=IV. Concerning the Compensation of an Informer.=
Where anyone gives information concerning a thief, even if he should
not personally have been aware that the theft was committed, he shall
not receive any more for the information he furnishes than the stolen
property was worth; and then only after full satisfaction has been made
to the owner. If the circumstances should be such, that the execution
of the thief was necessary, and no property belonging to him could be
found; or if he was a slave, and his master claimed his property as
his own, and therefore no compensation was available for him who was
robbed; in such cases the third part of the property recovered shall be
set aside as a reward for the information, and the informer shall not
be permitted to demand more than that amount.
=ANCIENT LAW.=
=V. Where an Innocent Person is Accused of Crime by an Informer.=
When anyone is accused of crime, that is to say, of poisoning,
witchcraft, theft, or any other unlawful act, his accuser must go
before the governor of the city, or the judge who has jurisdiction in
the district, in order that the case may be investigated according to
law; and as soon as the commission of the crime has been established,
the governor or the judge shall cause the culprit to be arrested;
and if he should not be convicted of a capital offence, the accuser
shall be compelled to give him pecuniary satisfaction; and where the
latter has not the means to do so, he shall be delivered up to him
as a slave. Where the accused person is proved to be innocent, he
shall be discharged; and the accuser shall pay both the penalty and
the damages for which the accused would have been liable, had he been
convicted. Neither the governor nor the judge shall presume to apply
torture, unless in public; lest there may be some collusion, so that
an innocent man may suffer unjustly. But he shall not undergo the
penalty for the crime until its commission has been proved in court by
competent testimony; or, as has been provided for by other laws, before
the accuser has bound himself to substantiate the charge; and then, and
then only, torture may be applied in the presence of the judges.
TITLE II. CONCERNING THIEVES AND STOLEN PROPERTY.
=I.= _He who is Searching for Stolen Property must Describe
it._
=II.= _Where a Slave Commits a Theft Before, or After, he has
Received his Freedom._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The Visigothic code : $b (Forum Judicum) — John Shaqi
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