928 APPENDIX TO Vor.. 111. 



refpecllve mailer in full property [/'], iu bar of all claim to the fame 

 by the children, parents, or. rclatioub.of Rich (laves, or any other 

 perfons, free or fiaves, by any deed of gift or grant, or by inheri- 

 tance or fucceffion, or lail will and tcftameijitjfwc declare; all fuch 

 difpofitions null and void ; as well as all promifcs, engagements, 

 and obli"ations, made or entered into by fuch flaves ; the iluiie being 

 deemed to have been made, entered into, and given, by perfons in- 

 capable of contrading and difpofing in their own name. 



XXIX. We will, neverthelefs,, fhat. mailers (hall be bound by 

 the a£l:s of their flaves, done in obedience to their order and com- 

 mand ; as alfo for what bufmefs, or aftairs, they may tranfa6t atid 

 negotiate in trade : and as for any private fpecies of commerce, en- 

 trufted to them by their mailers, they fliall be anfvverable only 

 fo fiir as it turns to the profit of their mafters. The emoluments 

 of the faid flaves, which their mafters have permitted them to ac- 

 quire, (hall be held liable to fecure their millers in payment of 

 what is due on their property of the dock in trade; but, if the, 

 emoluments confifl: wholly, or in part, of goods which, the flaves 

 are permitted to hold and traffic with feparately, tiielr mafters (hall 

 only come in for an equal dividend with other creditors [k]. 



XXX. Slaves (hall not be capable of holding, or exercifiug, any 

 office, or commifllon, that is attended with pubUc' functions ; nor 

 be appointed agents for any other, than their mafters, to manage 

 and condu(£l any bufmefs, or arbitration ; nor be wituelTes in any- 

 civil or criminal matter ; or, if admitted to give teftimony, their , 

 depofition (hall be conlidered as no more than a bare narrative, from 



[;■] This is agreeable to the civil hw; mentionetl by Jullinian, " ipfcfervm, qui in poipjlatt al. 

 tirius eft ; nihil Jiuim potfjl haocre " Among Ibiiie nations, however, it was cullomary to indulge 

 tht;ir flaves with a right ot- acquiring property to theinielves. And Pliny tells us, that he per- 

 mitted his flaves to difpofe of their ctrefts by a kind oif tertamentary dilbibiuion. This property, 

 which, ill fome places, and to a certain extent, they were allowed to hold, enjoy, .tor give a'\vay, ,) 

 indi'pcni'.cnt of their mafters, was called i\\€u fcatlium. But the villeinage-huvs did not admit of 

 this privilege 



{k^ The defign of this article feems to be, that the flaves (liall not be part or fole owners of 

 ftotk in trade; that their gains fliall lay at their maftcr's difpofal; and, in cafe of iufolvency, 

 that the goods fliall be liable to an equal dillribution, in which tlie nialU-rs fliall not, by beiiij; 

 fuch, be entitled to any advantage, in preference to comniou creditors. I canu t be certain ol 

 having given the exa6t fenfe of this article, as the rrcnch copy before nie is iinperfeiS. 



f wJiich 



