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78
THE LAW OF THE WE8TGOTH8.
with him. The third shall be from that land, in which he has found his animal.
He, who has it in his possession, shall give it up because of this evidence, if he
does not wish to defend himself with twelfthoath, that on his farm, "there
was this animal homeborn, and therefore I own him and thou hast not any
part therein." Dares he not-swear to this, then the other shall prove this by
three men, that he owns that animal "and thou not". Lead it to the third
man, or pay fine according to law.
A man finds another man’s animal in a thief s halter or drives the thief off,
then he shall make it known as the law says, and clear himself from theft.
Comes he after it, who has recognized it as his own, then he shall step forth
with a twelfthoath and two men’s testimony. Ask the gods so to help him
and his witnesses, that "I found this animal in a thief’s halter or I drove the
thief off, therefore am I worthy of lawful flndingfee, and I made it known to
the first man I met, and in the nearest village, and at the third thing, therefore
am I worthy to be free from theft". Then he shall go forth, who has
recognized his animal and swear, that "this animal was stolen from me, and
nowhere did I recognize it before here, and I own and thou not". Then he who
has redeemed his animal, shall pay two ore for a horse as flndingfee, if he finds
him outside the county, and one ore if he redeems him within the county, and
not more even if they are more than one about it. 1)
15.
A mare is stolen and is not with foal, becomes afterwards with foal,
another happens to buy the mare, the owner happens to find his property, he
shall sequester it, and set a seventh-night-thing, and redeem his property
according to law, if the other does not take the oath of homeborn. He shall
own the colt, on whose farm it was born.
16.
A man steals another man’s slave or slavewoman, runs away, he pursues,
who owns them, gets his property back, and leads it up to him, whom he calls
thief, to yard and to gate, with such evidence, that he is not able to clear
himself from the accusation of theft according to right law, to him he shall pay
for that case of theft, eight örtugs less than four marks, the same to the king
and the same to all men.
1) Ok eigh py meræ at flere se æn en mapær a: and not more even if they
are more than one man about it. The expression admits of two
interpretations. One is that flere refers to the owners of the horse, that they were
several, and on account thereof a larger sum might be expected, and the other
that the finders were flere and could therefore each expect finding fee. The last
seems to be the one which the context suggests.
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