mailer has
declared his
option.
A fecond offence
by the
fame Have, is
fubjeft to the
fame rules.
A flave comm
itting two
different offences
is made
over, in adequate
proportions,
to
the avengers.
A flave comm
itting a variety
o f offences,
the
mailer may
farislg^ the
the contrary, he die after the matter had adopted the option of redeeming
him, he [the matter] is not acquitted by that circumftance,
but it is ftill incumbent on him to pay the redemptiemary atonement,
becaufe, upon his chufing to pay that in preference, the right of the
avenger of offence is transferred from the perfon of the flave to his
[the matter’s] perfon.
I f a matter pay a redemption for his offending flave, and the flave
afterwards commit another offence, the fecond offence is fubjedt to the
fame rules with the firft ; becaufe, upon being cleared from his firft
offence, he ftands in the fame predicament as if he never had offended
before.
I f a flave commit two offences, the matter mutt be defired to
make him over to the two avengers o f offence, in order that they
may mare him between them according to their refpedtive claims
from bffence ; becaufe the attachment of the jir jl offence to his perfon
dóes not prevent the fecond offence from fo attaching; for as the
matter’ s right in the flave did not prevent it in the fir fl inftance, that
of the firft avenger cannot prevent it in the fecond, a fo rtio ri; (and
the fame rule alfo obtains where a flave commits more than two offences.)—
If, therefore, a flave kill one man, and put out the eye of
another, he is made over between the heir of the perfon flain, and
the perfon deprived of the eye, in three portions, the fine for an eye
being one half of the fine for the perfon. T h e fame rule alfo obtains
with refpedt to wounds;— that is, i f aflave wound feveral perfons,
he is made over, and divided among them, according to the injury
each may have fuftained.
W here a flave commits a number of different offences, the matter
is at liberty to fatisfy fome of the plaintiffs by paying a redemptionary
atonement,, and others by making over a proportionable part of the
flave; for the rights of all are different, becaufe of the difference in
the
F I N E S.
the grounds of them, namely, the offences, that committed upon each
in particular being diftindt and feparate from thofe committed upon all
the others;— whence it is lawful for the mafter to adopt a mode of
fettlement with one different from what he purfues with refpedt to
another. It is otherwife where a flave kills one perfon, having two
heirs;—for in this cafe it is not lawful for the mafter to pay a redemption
to the oije heir, and make over a proportionable part o f the flave
to the other, as the rights of both are one and the fame in-this in-
ftancq, the offence being one;— whence it is not lawful to make a
diftindtion in the atonements for the one offence, by giving a redemption
to the one, and making over a part of the flave to the other.
If a mafter emancipate his flave who has committed an offence,
of which he [the mafter] is at that time ignorant, he is refponfible
for whichever is the fmalleft of the two, the value of the flave, or
the fine for the offence. If, on the contrary, he emancipate him,
knowing the offence, he is refponfible for the complete fine, to whatever
amount. The reafon of this is that, in the former inftance, the
mafter, in emancipating the flave, oppofes the right of the avenger of
offence, (namely, the making over of the flave to him,) as the fub-
jedt to be made over no longer remains; and is therefore refponfible :
but he is fo only for the leaft fum, between the value of the flave and
the fine; becaufe, being ignorant of the offence at the time of emancipation,
he cannot be accounted to adt under an option, of making
over the Have, or paying the ranfom for him, fince he could not pof-
fibly make an option unlefs he were aware of the offence. In the
latter inftance, on the contrary, he is accounted to have adopted the
option of paying the redemption ; becaufe the manumiffion of the
Have prevents the making of him over; and upon his proceeding to
emancipate him, at the fame time that he is aware of his offence, it
becomes evident that he has adopted the payment of a redemptionary
atonement. What is obferved with refpedt to thefe two inftances ap-
plies equally to the cafes of a mafter felling his offending flave, or
5
feveral p lain tiffs
in various
ways.
A mafter ig norant
ly
emancipating
his offending
flave
is refponfible
to the avenger
for the fmalleft
fum b e tween
the fine
and the value:
bu t if he
emancipate
him , knowing
o f the offence,
he is
accounted to
have adopted
the mode of
redemption,
and is accordingly
refpon-
fible for the
complete
fine;
gDi vingO;