Those who governed the Empire before Us thought that it was necessary, as in the case of this Royal City, to appoint in every town a body of men of noble rank, and form them into a Senate or Curia, by means of which the public business could be regularly conducted. This arrangement proved to be eminently successful, and the order flourished to such an extent that there are many families of decurions, and on account of their large numbers, none of them found the duties of his office intolerable; for where an employment is divided among several persons, the burden is hardly felt by those who sustain it. But when the decurions began to withdraw from the curia, and found opportunities to be released from its requirements, the curise were, under innumerable pretexts, reduced in importance; so if they still preserved any private property, that which was public and common property was greatly diminished, and there remained only a very small number of persons to perform the official duties, and the pecuniary resources of the latter were constantly lessened; the cities, in their turn, were subjected to loss; the duties of the curia were discharged by unprincipled men who were styled "avengers," and the curia being thus deprived of usefulness, the State, in consequence, became afflicted with abuses and all kinds of injustice.
  (1) After having frequently and diligently considered this subject, We have thought it advisable to remedy it. And We do so with a degree of ardor proportionate to the skill displayed by the decurions in evading laws justly promulgated, and in defrauding the Treasury. For when they saw that they were legally compelled to preserve a fourth of their property for the benefit of the curia, they began to squander their fortunes to such an extent that they rendered themselves insolvent; and so far from leaving the curia that portion of their estates which was prescribed by law, they only left it their poverty. In order to deprive the curia of their personal services, they invented the most wicked expedient that could be imagined, for the decurions refrained from contracting legitimate marriages, and preferred to remain without children than to render themselves useful to their families and their curias. Again, a law enacted by their agency has existed for a long time, which enabled them to dispose of their property gratuitously, without being obliged to obtain a decree for that purpose, and which provided that they could not sell their property except by virtue of a decree. Hence, in order to dispose of their property in this way, decurions were compelled to obtain a decree; but they could give it away as a donation without doing this, and in consequence, the estates of decurions were distributed among many persons, without their curise receiving anything. Thus had anyone investigated this subject, he would have found the curise of Our Empire entirely stripped of both men and property, or having very few members, and almost no property whatever.
  (2) Therefore We formerly promulgated the constitutions by which We directed that sales, simple donations, and every act by which the immovable property of decurions was transferred should, in pursuance of a decree, be subject to the observance of certain formalities. Hence as decurions were accustomed to make donations under false pretenses, We forbade them by a second law to make any simple donations in favor of any person whomsoever, but We made an exception of those given in consideration of marriage; the reason for which was that these are not true donations, but a species of contracts entered into to secure maintenance for any children which may be born, which is a matter of special interest to Us, especially where decurions are concerned. After having enacted this second law, and ascertained that many frauds were still being committed, We have promulgated the third, which authorizes the curia to succeed to three-twelfths of the estate of each decurion, whether the latter leaves or does not leave any children to take his place; and which does not permit anyone to bequeath less than that sum to his curia; to use any artifice for the purpose of fraud or to diminish the said three-twelfths in any way whatsoever; and whether the son of the deceased decurion is a member of the same, or whether he is not, the curia shall still be entitled to this amount.
  (3) We did not even confine Ourselves to this, for We have in addition decreed that women shall be obliged to give a certain part of their property for their own appointment, so that, as We have previously stated, the curia shall not, for any reason whatsoever, have a fourth of the property of the decurion, which should be reserved for its benefit, diminished. We have also forbidden decurions to make many and excessive gifts, and We do not permit them to be released from the obligations of their curia, unless to enable them to accept offices of great importance, for instance, those of the patriciate, consulate, or civil or military prefecture; and as the law states that prefectures are offices involving the command of the army, where anyone is administering the affairs of a prefecture, whether he despatches civil business, or issues commands to soldiers, he is, by virtue of Our law, exempt from curial requirements, all other exceptions being annulled. We also directed that honorary distinctions, such, for instance, as those attached to the prefecture and the command of the army, shall not release those who obtained them from curial obligations. These are the provisions which We formerly decreed, and now confirm, together with many others which it will be permissible to disregard. We wish, however, that the different pragmatic sanctions, by virtue of which We have released certain persons, by name, from curial duties, shall remain in force; and We also desire this law to become operative from the day of the eleventh indiction, recently expired, the time at which We first determined to enact it.
  (4) But, as We have observed that there are some decurions who are so hostile to their own country that they prefer to convey their property to strangers, rather than to leave the fourth part of it to the curia, We have deemed it necessary by means of this law to increase this amount when decurions have left no children.

  Therefore, if after the promulgation of this law a decurion should not leave any issue either male or female, he shall be compelled to bequeath all his estate to the curia with the exception of one-fourth of the same, of which he can make any disposition which he may desire, as the curia will take the place of one or several children; that is to say, the entire city will, so far as he is concerned, represent the children and heirs of his good reputation and his immortal memory. When any decurion has no legitimate children, but only natural ones, he shall be permitted to appoint them as heirs, subject to the rights of the curia; and, under these circumstances, their appointment will be equivalent to a donation, without there being any necessity to have recourse to the ancient laws, and without the decurion being obliged, during his lifetime, to make a formal donation; but as soon as his natural children become members of the curia, and his heirs, they will be entitled to nine-twelfths of the estate of their father, in conformity to the distribution that he made among them. He will do still better if he leaves them his entire property. In every instance, however, he will be obliged to leave them nine-twelfths, and he is hereby notified that if he bequeaths them less, the amount lacking to make up this share will be supplied by the law. The children will be required to discharge curial functions in order to give them a right to a share of their father's estate, and if some of them should be willing to do this, and others refuse, the share of the latter shall accrue to the former; and even when all the natural children are unwilling to perform curial duties, the curia will be entitled to nine-twelfths of the estate, just as if there were no children.

  When a decurion is silent as to the disposition of his estate, and leaves no legitimate children, a fourth of it shall go to his heirs at law; and if he leaves any natural children, who are willing to perform curial functions, they shall be admitted to the succession, and nine-twelfths of their father's estate shall go to one or more among them who are willing to assume the obligations of the curia, whether all, or only a few, consent to discharge the duties of members of the same. Where a decurion has had children by a female slave, and has emancipated them either during his lifetime or by his will, if he has offered them to the curia, or if they have manifested a desire to discharge curial functions, and have been admitted to do so, they shall be entitled to nine-twelfths of their father's estate, as We have just provided in the case of free natural children. For where a decurion dies either testate or intestate, We desire those of his children who become members of his curia to receive nine-twelfths of his estate, but if he should only manumit his children by a female slave, without offering them to the curia, and all of them, or one, or only a few, should be willing to discharge its duties, then nine-twelfths of his property shall go to the one or more of them who become members of the curia. But where none of the said natural children is willing to assume the curial obligations, or should not be offered by their father for this purpose, in this case, the curia shall be entitled to the nine-twelfths of the estate.

  But if a decurion should leave any legitimate children, then in order that the operation of the law may be perfect, and the curia derive the greatest benefit possible, it must be determined whether the children are males or females, or both were included, so far as the obligations to the curia are concerned. If the deceased left only male children, or male grandchildren by a predeceased son, he will be required at his death to divide nine-twelfths of his estate among all of them; and he can make this distribution in any way that he pleases, provided he does not violate the law having reference to inofficious testaments (cases of ingratitude being excepted). For We do not wish to repeal any laws enacted on this subject, but, on the other hand, We maintain them in their entirety, by directing that nine-twelfths of the paternal estate shall be divided among the children who are not ungrateful. In this way each one of them will discharge the curial duties of his father, who can then only dispose of three-twelfths of his estate for the benefit of a stranger.

  Where only married women, who are the children of a decurion, and are the wives of other decurions of the same city exist, the testator will be permitted to divide all his estate among them or only nine-twelfths of the same as he pleases, always without violating the provisions of the law relating to intestate successions. Where some of the daughters of a decurion are married to decurions, and others to men who do not occupy this position, the father will be required to leave nine-twelfths of his estate to those who are the wives of decurions, which shall be divided among them in the same way that he desired, and the remainder of his property shall go to those of his daughters who are not the wives of decurions, or to other heirs; the portion established by law always being preserved for the former. When any of the daughters of the decurion are still unmarried, they shall be heirs to nine-twelfths of his estate conditionally, until they are actually married to decurions of the same town. If they refuse to marry decurions, or if their father requested them to do so and they do not consent, nine-twelfths of the estate shall go to the curia of the city, and three-twelfths shall be distributed among them all, as prescribed by law, after the amount of their dowries has been deducted.

  We, however, except from this Constitution Theodosius and his brothers and the sons of John whose surname is Xescon, although they were born of fathers who were decurions, and were placed in the class of officials of the Imperial Treasury before the tenth indiction, and We hereby annul everything that has been decreed with reference to their liberation. For We do not wish them to enjoy the benefit of this law, and desire that they remain decurions; that they discharge the functions of that office; and that they shall not profit by anything promulgated in their favor either from Our palace or elsewhere.

  Therefore Your Excellency will hasten to obey and cause to be executed the law which We have just enacted for the benefit of towns and cwriss, and anyone who presumes to violate this law shall incur a penalty of twenty pounds of gold.