Codex Justinianus:
Coloni Bound to the Soil, c. 530 [Xl.51.i]
An earlier law had attached coloni to the soil in provinces of the Empire other than Palestine, but the application of the law was extended to that country by Justinian so that there was apparent uniformity in the matter of the colonate throughout the Empire.
Xl.51.i. Since throughout other provinces which lie under the control of our serene majesty, a law has been passed by the fathers which detains the coloni by a certain law of all time, so that they are not allowed to depart from those places, the fruits of which support them, nor to desert those lands which they once took up for cultivation, and since this is not allowed to the land-holders in Palestine, we ordain, that even throughout Palestine no colonus shall altogether of his own right boast himself a freeman or wanderer, but according to the example of other provinces he shall be attached to the lord of the land so that he may not be able to depart without suffering penalties; moreover, we further decree that full authority of recalling him may be given to the lord of the estate.
Codex Justinianus:
Violation of the Thracian Land Law, c. 530
Vigorous measures were taken by the Eastern Empire to bring its lands back to cultivation. By causing the forfeit of uncultivated land, by increasing the taxes upon such land, by abolition of the capitation tax, and by imposing fines on those who took the coloni of another, they hoped to remedy the agrarian evils of the day. The fine of two pounds of gold on those who removed coloni was sufficiently heavy to prevent wholesale removals of cultivators.
XI.52.i. Throughout the whole diocese of Thrace the land tax only is binding, enrollment for the capitation tax having been abolished forever. And lest by chance it seem to coloni that the bonds of tributary status have been loosed, and that the faculty of wandering and departing to wheresoever they will has been permitted them, they indeed are held by the original law; and though by condition they seem to be free, nevertheless they are considered slaves of that same estate where they were born nor have they the faculty of going where they will nor of changing from place to place, but their owners have power over them, their patrons have care of them, and their lords have potestas over them. But if any one should believe he must take and retain the colonus of another he is compelled to pay two pounds of gold to him whose fields he has made empty by the transfer of a cultivator, so that he should restore the same with all his goods and offspring.
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