8/11/2019 Liber Iudiciorum
1/2
http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/visigoths.htm
The Visigothic Code: (Forum judicum)
Book III: Concerning Marriage
FLAVI! "#C#!VI$%!& 'I$(.
II. It shall be as La)*ul *or a "oman +oman to Marr, a (oth&
as *or a (othic +oman
to Marr, a "oman.
The zealous care of the prince is recognized, when, for the sake
of future utility, the benefit of
the people is provided for; and it should be a source of no
little congratulation, if the ancient
law, which sought improperly to prevent the marriage of persons
equal in dignity and lineage,
should be abrogated. For this reason, we hereby sanction a
better law; and, declaring the
ancient one to be void, we decree that if any Goth wishes to
marry a oman woman, or any
oman a Gothic woman, permission being first requested, they
shall be permitted to marry.
!nd any freeman shall have the right to marry any free woman;
permission of the "ouncil andof her family having been previously
obtained.
FLAVI! "#C#!VI$%!& 'I$(.
V. +omen Advanced in -ears shall not Marr, -oung Men.
The law of nature is framed in the direct hope of progeny when
the nuptial contract is entered
into with all due solemnity For if a marriage takes place
between persons who are
incompetent, either through age or some personal defect, to
properly perform their marital
duties, how can their offspring be other than dwarfed or
deformed# For that cannot be perfect
whose origin is defective. $e sometimes see persons who, not
observing the laws of nature,
but induced by avarice, dispose of their children in marriage so
improperly, that neither the
age, rank, or morals of the parties concerned, are considered by
them. For though men have
received their name from the fact that they control women by
their superior strength; some, in
violation of the laws of nature, give the priority to women,
when they unite females of
advanced age with boys who are little more than children; and
thus, for the sake of gain, and
through unwise delay, encourage the commission of vice by the
former. Therefore, that an end
may be put to practices whose results are unfavorable to future
generations, we now decree,
that, hereafter, women shall always marry men who are older than
themselves, and a marriage
under other circumstances shall not be valid, if either of the
parties should ob%ect. ! space of
time, not longer than two years, shall be permitted to elapse
from the day of betrothal to the
day of marriage; unless a longer period shall be agreed upon by
the parents or relations, or bythe parties themselves, if they are
of age ...
FLAVI! CI$%A!VI$%!& 'I$(.
VI. +hat ropert, the 0o)r, shall consist o*.
!s disputes concerning the dowry often arise between parties
contemplating marriage, it is a
matter of common advantage that no doubt should hereafter be
possible under this our law.
Therefore, we decree and declare, that the following law shall
be perpetually observed
hereafter, to wit& that if any one of the nobles of our
palace, or of the principal personages of
the Gothic nation, should demand in marriage for his son either
the daughter of another, or the
widow of any one; or if any one should choose for himself a
wife, of the aforesaid rank; noperson shall pay, or bind himself to
pay, as the dowry of the girl or woman, more than the
http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/visigoths.htmhttp://libro.uca.edu/vcode/visigoths.htm
8/11/2019 Liber Iudiciorum
2/2
tenth part, of his property. 'ut if it should happen that a
parent should wish to give the dowry
for the benefit of his daughter(in(law, he can then give as said
dowry, the tenth part of the
property which his son would inherit from him in case of his
death; and, in addition, he must
give ten young men and ten young girls, and twenty horses&
or, in ornaments, as much as
would amount in value to a thousand solidi. !nd the wife shall
have absolute liberty to
dispose of this property if she should not leave any sons, and
if she should die intestate, thisdonation shall go to the nearest
heirs of the husband.
)t shall not be lawful for the parents of the girl, or for the
girl herself, or for any woman, to
ask more as a dowry from the bridegroom, than is provided for by
this law, and, as was
permitted by the oman laws, the girl, or the woman, may give to
the bridegroom as much
out of her own property as she herself has demanded of him,
should she desire to do so ... )n
regard to others who desire to make marriage contracts, we deem
it proper, and so decree; that
whoever is known to possess ten thousandsolidi, shall give to
his bride as a dowry, as much
as a thousandsolidi out of all his possessions. !nd he who has
only a thousand solidi shall, in
the same proportion, give a hundred as a dowry.
Book VI: Concerning Crimes and %ortures
%itle IV: Concerning In1uries& +ounds& and
Mutilations& In*licted upon Men
I. Concerning the In1ur, o* Freemen and !laves.
$here one freeborn person strikes another any kind of a blow
upon the head, he shall pay five
solidi for a bruise, tensolidi if the skin is broken,
twentysolidi for a wound e*tending to the
bone, and a hundredsolidi where a bone is broken. )f a freeborn
man should commit any of
the above named acts upon the slave of another, he shall pay
half of the above named
penalties, according to the degree of his offence. )f one slave
should strike another, as above
stated, he shall pay a third part of the above penalties,
proportionate to his offence, and shall
receive fifty lashes. )f a slave, however, should wound a
freeborn person, he shall pay the
largest sum hereinbefore mentioned, which is e*acted from
freeborn persons for assaults upon
slaves, and shall receive seventy lashes. )f the master should
not be willing to give satisfaction
for the acts of his slave, he must surrender him on account of
his crime.
