THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS OF THE EMPEROR LEO.
~  XIII  ~
CONCERNING PERPETUAL EMPHYTEUSIS.



 
S. P. Scott, The Civil Law, XVII, Cincinnati, 1932 ).
 

 
The Same Emperor to Stephen, Most Holy Archbishop of Constantinople, and Universal Patriarch.

  It has come to Our ears that the officials having charge of houses consecrated to God, that is to say churches, hospitals, and asylums intended for the support of widows and orphans, are in the habit of fraudulently and illegally extorting money from the tenants to whom they have leased these buildings. It is stated that when the leases have expired and renewal is in question, instead of being content with the fixed rent which is due to them, the said persons exact sums to the amount which their avarice may suggest. Therefore, as extortion of this kind is very burdensome to all lessees, and especially cruel to the poor who are thereby reduced to dire extremity, We expressly forbid it by this law, and prohibit Our officials, under such circumstances, from collecting more than double the sum stated in the emphyteutical contract; everything which they exact over and above the former rent shall be set forth in the lease; and, moreover, they shall not make any change in the building leased that is rather for their own benefit than for the usefulness of the said building.