All suits at law, whether well founded or not, and also all criminal cases, which shall not have been brought or determined in thirty years; or any disputes relating to the ownership or possession of slaves, which have not been settled within that time, shall under no circumstances be prosecuted afterwards. Where any person attempts to bring a suit thirty years after the cause of action has arisen, he shall be barred by the limitation aforesaid, and shall be compelled to give a pound of gold to whomever the king may direct. =THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.= =IV. The Limitation of Thirty Years shall Run in all Cases, Excepting those where the Slaves of the Crown are Concerned.= Want of care and resolution in an owner often disturbs the rightful possession of property, and what vigilance was not exerted to preserve, illegal license appropriates. The passage of the aforesaid period of thirty years is seen to occur so constantly in human affairs, that now it does not seem to have originated in the institutions of man, but rather to have arisen, in the course of nature, from the affairs themselves; and for this reason, therefore, we hereby decree, for all time hereafter, that if any beneficiary of the king, or any employee of the Crown, except royal slaves, should have held any property belonging to anyone for the space of thirty years, he shall have the right to claim and retain said property for himself, forever; and the demand of no one shall avail against said limitation, after it shall have been legally established. Royal slaves whose servile origin is publicly known, who are at large, and wandering from place to place, even though they should pay no taxes, and should lie concealed in hiding places, or remain under the protection of any person for the space of thirty years, as aforesaid, shall not thereby escape the restraints of slavery, but shall be restored to their original condition without regard to lapse of time. Those only shall be excepted from the operation of this law who have received their freedom from the king. =FLAVIUS CHINTASVINTUS, KING.= =V. Concerning Claims made within Thirty Years.=