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I. Where Hogs are Pastured on Acorns Either without Authority, or under Contract.
II. Where Hogs are Fed on Acorns on Land Belonging to Several Persons.
III. Where hogs Turned on Land to be Fed on Acorns under Contract, are Taken away by Stealth, Before the Tenth Part of Said Hogs are Delivered.
IV. Where Hogs are Found Wandering in Woodland.
V. Where a Drove of Animals, of any Kind, Enter upon the Pasture-land of Another Person.
VI. Public Notice shall be given of Strays by him who Finds them.
VII. Whoever Finds any Strays shall take Proper Care the Same.
VIII. No Stray Animal shall be Either Sheared, Branded or Appropriated by Anyone.
 

Whoever finds any hogs in his woodland, at the time acorns are ripe, must take something by way of pledge from the swineherd; and give notice to the master, or parents of the owner, that should they so desire, he will permit said hogs to run in his woodland, until the customary time to pay one tenth of said hogs, as compensation, has elapsed; and when said tenth has been delivered, he shall restore the pledge which he took from the swineherd. If, however, the owner should be unwilling to allow said hogs to run in his woodland, and he should find them there a second time, he shall have a right to kill one of them as a protection to his property, even when they are but few in number. Where there are many of said hogs, he shall have the right to kill [299] two of them, and he shall incur no liability for said act; and if he should find said hogs there for the third time, he must notify the owner thereof, that he can still leave his hogs upon his premises, if he will agree to give the tenth of said hogs by way of compensation, according to custom. If, however, the owner of the hogs should be unwilling to make such a contract, and the owner of the woodland should find them upon his premises for the third time, as aforesaid, he shall be entitled to retain one tenth of their entire number. If anyone, under such a contract, should leave his hogs in the woodland of another, and said hogs should feed until winter upon the lands of a third party, he who entered into the contract shall nevertheless be required to surrender his tenth of the same. If, after winter has set in, he who brought the hogs to the woodland, should be unwilling to keep them there, he shall be compelled to give to the owner of the woodland one twentieth of the number according to custom.

Where a dispute arises between persons holding oak forests in common, for the reason that one has more hogs there than the other, he who has the smaller number shall have a right to have the land so divided that each one may keep his hogs upon his own portion, in such a way that an equal number may be placed upon the same sized tract of land, and, afterwards, the tenths due for pasture shall be set apart in the same proportion as the divisions of the land.

Where anyone puts his hogs under contract, in the woodland of another, and secretly removes them, before the customary tenth has been paid, he shall be considered a thief, [300] and shall not only pay the tenth which is due from him, but shall also be liable for the compensation provided by law for the crime of theft. If the offender should be a slave, and should have acted without the knowledge of his master, he shall receive a hundred lashes; and his master shall be liable for no damages, but must deliver the tenth which is due. If however, the slave should have done this under the orders of his master, the latter must give pecuniary satisfaction, as in the case of theft.

Where anyone finds hogs straying in his woods, he must either notify his neighbors, or shut up said hogs. If the owner of the hogs should not make his appearance, he who took them up shall be entitled to keep one, and shall notify the nearest judge that he has stray hogs in his possession. Then, if the owner of the same should not be found, he may to keep them as his own, and exact the tenth part of their number, in compensation for pasturage, as is customary; and when the master does come, he shall be entitled to a reasonable compensation for keeping said hogs, which compensation shall be fixed by the judge, and shall depend upon the time they were under the care of the person who took them up.

Where a flock of sheep, or a drove of cattle enter upon the pasture-lands of another, the same rule shall he observed at has been determined in the case of hogs. But travelers or strangers shall incur no responsibility, for the reason that was well determined that they have the right to use pastures which are not enclosed. He who encloses his own part of a pasture, and uses that of another, in the absence of the master thereof, must not do so without the consent of the owner of the same.
[301]

It shall be lawful to take up horses, or any other animals, that have strayed; but he who does so, must immediately give notice of the fact to the bishop, the governor, the judge, the other authorities of the district, or to a public assembly of the neighbors. If said party should not give such notice, he shall incur the penalty of theft. A similar rule shall apply to other property taken up under the same circumstances.

Whoever finds animals wandering without a keeper, must take them up, so that they will not sustain any injury, and, while they are in his charge, must care for them, as though they were his own. Where the owner of a horse, or any other animal, finds him safe and sound, he shall pay for each of said animals, four siliquae, to him who has cared for it, and, in addition, as much as the latter has expended for the sustenance of the same. If, however, the person who took up said animal should injure it, he shall be compelled to give two others, of the same kind, to the owner thereof.

No one shall clip or sell a stray horse which he has taken up, nor shall he place any mark or brand upon any oxen, or cattle, of any description whatever. If anyone should sell, or give away, a stray animal. He shall be held as a thief under the law. Whoever shears a stray animal, shall be compelled [302] to pay three solidi, and he shall be liable to the same penalty, who places a mark, or brand of any kind, upon such an animal.⁽¹⁾

1. The reader cannot have failed to remark the striking analogy existing between the laws of the Forum Judicum relating to strays, and our own statutory enactments on the same subject. Indeed, aside from some of the penalties imposed, and the amount of compensation allowed, the regulations are, in many instances, almost identical. Unlike a great part of the Visigothic legislation, where trespass, and other violations of the law of real property are involved, few of the provisions concerning strays are derived from Roman sources. Most of them are unquestionably survivals of the ancient legal traditions of the wandering Gothic tribes, the great bulk of whose wealth consisted of flocks and herds of sheep and cattle.--[ED.