consultation with the priests and guardians of the law, shall appoint an
heir of the house; for the house and family belong to the state, being
a 5040th portion of the whole. And the state is bound to preserve
her families happy and holy; therefore, when the heir of a house has
committed a capital offence, or is in exile for life, the house is to be
purified, and then the kinsmen of the house and the guardians of the law
are to find out a family which has a good name and in which there are
many sons, and introduce one of them to be the heir and priest of the
house. He shall assume the fathers and ancestors of the family, while
the first son dies in dishonour and his name is blotted out.
Some actions are intermediate between the voluntary and involuntary.
Those done from anger are of this class. If a man wound another in
anger, let him pay double the damage, if the injury is curable; or
fourfold, if curable, and at the same time dishonourable; and fourfold,
if incurable; the amount is to be assessed by the judges. If the wounded
person is rendered incapable of military service, the injurer, besides
the other penalties, shall serve in his stead, or be liable to a suit
for refusing to serve. If brother wounds brother, then their parents
and kindred, of both sexes, shall meet and judge the crime. The damages
shall be assessed by the parents; and if the amount fixed by them is
disputed, an appeal shall be made to the male kindred; or in the last
resort to the guardians of the law. Parents who wound their children are
to be tried by judges of at least sixty years of age, who have children
of their own; and they are to determine whether death, or some lesser
punishment, is to be inflicted upon them--no relatives are to take part
in the trial. If a slave in anger smite a freeman, he is to be delivered
up by his master to the injured person. If the master suspect collusion
between the slave and the injured person, he may bring the matter to
trial: and if he fail he shall pay three times the injury; or if he
obtain a conviction, the contriver of the conspiracy shall be liable to
an action for kidnapping. He who wounds another unintentionally shall
only pay for the actual harm done.