161. On Drunkards

When a drunkard come from anywhere and attack anyone, or cut, or make someone bleed, yet not to death, to that drunkard one eye shall be removed and one hand cut off. But if a drunken man attack somebody or pull off his cap, or inflict some other shame, but do not make him bleed, he shall be beaten: one hundred strokes, that is, 100 times to be struck, and cast into prison, and afterwards be taken from prison and beaten again and released.

162. On Judges, on Litigants

When litigants come before the Tsar`s court, those words which they first utter, shall be believed and according to those words judgment shall be given, and according to the subsequent ones, nothing.

163. On Goldsmiths

Goldsmiths may nowhere dwell in the districts and in the lands of the Tsar, save in the market-towns where the Tsar hath determined that money may be minted.

164.

And let the goldsmiths abide in the towns of the Tsar, and let them make other necessary objects.

165.

And if a goldsmith be found in a town who coins money secretly, the goldsmith shall be branded, and the town shall pay such fine as the Tsar declares.

166.

And if a goldsmith be found in a village, the village shall be scattered, and the goldsmith branded.

167. On Justice

Imperial order: If the Tsar write a writ either from anger or from love, or by grace for someone, and that writ transgress the Code, and be not according to justice and the law, as written in the Law, the judges shall not believe that writ, but shall only judge and act according to justice.

168.

All judges shall judge according tot he law, rightly, as is written in the Code, and shall not judge out of fear of the Tsar.

169. On Escorts

Lords and lesser lords who go to the court of the Tsar, be it a Greek, or German, or Serb, or any other lord, if he bring with him a brigand or a thief, that master shall be punished as a thief and brigand.

170. On Patrimonial Estates

Ploughmen who have their own patrimonial land, and vineyards, and purchased lands, are free to give as dowry, or to bequeath to the Church, or sell, from their own vineyards and from land, but there shall always be labourers in that place for that master whose village it is. If there be no labourers in that place, he is free to take those vineyards and fields.

171. On Judges

The judge who is in the court of the Tsar, when any evil occur, let him pass judgment. If the litigants happen to be in the court of the Tsar, let the court judge pass judgment on them, and no one shall be summoned to the court of the Tsar outside the competence of the judges appointed by the Tsar, but let every one go before his own judge.

172. On the Law

All towns which are in the lands of the Tsar shall be under the law as they were in the times of previous tsars. For disputes which they have between themselves, let them be tried before the prefects of the towns and before the clergy. If a man from a district sue a citizen, let him sue before the prefect of the town and before the clergy according to the law.

173. On the Palace Court

Lords who permanently dwell in the house of the Tsar, if they are sued before the judge of the palace, then no one else shall try them.

174. Judges who send their clerks and writs somewhere, if any man disobey and repel the clerks, the judges shall send writs to the prefects and to the lords in whose province the disobedient ones are, that they execute the writs written by the judges. And if these do not execute the writs, let them be punished as disobedient ones.

175.

Let the judges go through the land within their jurisdiction to supervise and do justice to the poor and the needy.

176. On Recognizing Objects

And if anyone find something robbed, or stolen, or taken by force, and that very thing, let each party in the case give evidence. If anyone buy anywhere, either in the lands of my Empire or in another land, let him always give evidence of that. If he produce no evidence, let him pay according to the law.

177.

Imperial order to the judges: If there be a weighty case and they cannot decide it and pass judgment, however great the court may be, let one of the judges go with both litigants before the Tsar. And whatever the judges shall wish to try, let them write down each judgment, that there be no mistake, that it be proceeded according to the Law of the Tsar.

178.

Let no man who is within the jurisdiction of appointed judges, be authorized to take his case to the court of the Tsar or anywhere else, but every one shall go before his own judge in whose jurisdiction he is, so that the matter may be tried according tot he law.

179.

The shepherds of the Tsar shall go before the judges when they have disputes among themselves: for fines, for brigandage, for theft, for harbouring alien people, for murder, for land.

180.

Lords and prefects of the Tsar who hold the towns and market-towns, none of them may imprison a man without a writ of the Tsar. If any such do receive him without the command of the Tsar, let him pay five hundred perpers.

181.

In the same way, he who holds the prisons of the Tsar shall receive no one, nobody`s man, without a writ of the Tsar.

182.

Wheresoever the Tsar and Tsaritsa travel, with their train and equipment, or horses of the Tsar, in whatsoever village they spend the night, in that village afterwards no officer of the train may spend the night. If there be one to spend the night in that village, contrary to the law and the order of the Tsar, the one who is the head of the train and equipment shall be delivered bound to that village; for that which is wrecked, he shall pay sevenfold.

183. On Horses and Dogs

Wheresoever the horses, and dogs, and train and equipment of the Tsar go, whatever is written in the Tsar`s letter, shall be given to them, and nothing else.

184. On Collectors of Fines

The Collectors of fines who are with the judges, whatsoever fines the judges hall impose and after registering them deliver to the collectors of fines, such fines shall the collectors of fines take, and what the judges do not impose and after registering them do not give to the collectors of fines, they are not authorized to exact from any man.