The cunning of certain persons often requires the enactment of new laws, as soon as the employment of new and wicked forms of fraud, contrived for the deception of others, becomes publicly known. Henceforth, for the reason that many persons, with the intent to deceive their creditors, enter into false obligations in writing, which allege their indebtedness to others; we hereby promulgate the following law, which is to be perpetually valid, to wit: Wherever anyone who is indebted to another, should fraudulently draw up any writing in which he asserts that he is indebted to a third party, and, thereby anyone should be deceived; and, by means of said fraudulent document, he should contrive to nullify the claim of a party to whom he is justly indebted; or if it should happen that anyone should craftily, and fraudulently deceive another to the above mentioned end, not in writing but verbally; the party guilty of such offences shall be publicly branded as infamous, shall be liable in damages to him whom he has defrauded, and shall also be punished as provided in the law concerning forgery. He, also, shall be liable to similar damages and penalty, who has been convicted of having stated that he was indebted to another, by means of a fraudulent paper, executed subsequently to the one evidencing his indebtedness to his genuine creditor. He who shall be convicted of having made such a fraudulent document, as well as he for whose benefit it is alleged to have been executed; where the latter is known to be cognizant of the fraud; shall be liable to the damages and penalty hereinbefore provided; and the fraudulent document, having been declared void, the validity of the other, although it was apparently subsequently executed, shall be firmly established. =FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.= =VIII. Concerning Later Documents Fraudulently Executed.=