Source: Link to article on Internet archives
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BEAUMONT'S LAW [This was written in Latin and probably contains translation errors made by machine using Google translate. ]
By letters of emancipation from Count Louis de Chiny and his wife Jeanne, the town of Virton was placed under the Beaumont Law in July 1270.
This law remained in effect until May 3, 1775, when the Edict of Marie Thérèse repealed it.
Our register contains, on pages 399 to 413, a copy that we reproduce because, although defective in several points, it corrects in others the texts printed in the works of Jeantin and M. Defourny (1).
We also know that the original law of the Archbishop of Reims, William of the White Hands, underwent modifications in the various localities where it was applied.
Copy of the Beaumont bill of rights
Premier
Item all bourgeois each on his place to sell and buy frankly without rent or without any thougneulx [debt] (2) to pay.
I
The lords have retained for themselves the mills which will be where their subjects and bourgeoisie will go to grind their wheat by ban and on sixty sols of almonds, of which they will pay four uns without flour donated (3).
(1) See Jeantin: Les chroniques de Ardenne et les Woëpvres. [The Chronicles of the Ardenne and the Woëpvres]. Defourny: Le Loy de Beaumont [The Law of Beaumont].
(2) Thougneulx, a patois word probably derived from tonlieu, market place tax.
(3) Which refers to bledz. According to Messrs. Jeantin and Defourny, the tax would be one in twenty-four.
Wherefore the mayors and justice will have the Visitation to protect the public property, the Visitation of the quarters, pougnetz (1) and the milling at the slow of said mill, to raise the arch (2) to see if there is any crime or fault and where fault is found, the said millmaster will remain at sixty sols of almonds and the pougnetz broken and will be deemed cowardly and wicked and untrustworthy.
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2
The grant is extended by the lords or bourgeoisie the use and course of the waters and the woods as well as which will be assigned to them and shown on condition that they will not be able to return them or put them outside the place except for the profit and increase of the city where the wood has been falling on pain and danger of returning from where it would have come and punish the offenders according to the requirement of the case.
3
A man who is taken for any reason and escapes or breaks the prison, his property is acquired by the lord and if he is taken again he must be punished for breaking the prison even if he has not committed the case for which he would be subjected or noted.
4
The lords have granted to the bourgeois permanently that they may excise each year on the feast day of Pentecost a mayor and seven aldermen and a dean of justice who will swear feasibility to the lord and the bourgeois of the rents and homage of the city will answer to us or to our clerks but the mayors and swear beyond one year will remain there or to the city who have the impulse to do this which is done on the day of Pentecost by the forties and bourgeoisies (3)
(1) Pougnetz patois word measurement still in use in Virton for the sale of potatoes
(2)Lift the arch open the chest Jeantin says lift the rock nonsense
(3) The execution of this article of the law was rigorously observed until the edict of Marie Thérèse
5
The man who will cause blood and wound tantalum (4) to other than what is proven by two loyal witnesses he owes to the Lord four livres less two sols to the interested party eighteen sols to the mayor twelve deniers to the sworn twelve of the said deniers all Parisian the doctor paid the stays satisfied the wounds healed entirely and the legal costs paid.
(4) Tantalle we have not found this word in any dictionary Could it come from tantus so great or could it be derived from the old French word tenter sonder Et lui tentèrent ses woundes et vont mettre sur ce elles scurent que bon feust Perceforest XVe siècle The word tente is still used today to designate a feather duster of lint A tantalum wound would therefore be a serious wound requiring proper dressing the intervention of a man of the art The following article would only cover insignificant wounds that allow blood to escape but heal by the sole efforts of nature for example a nasal hemorrhage produced by a punch what Jeantin calls with an incomprehensible spelling cent courant His text also includes wounde without room nonsense.
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6
Whoever will bleed another without wound tantalum he will be fined sixty sols Parisian but it must be proven by two loyal witnesses namely forty eight sols to the Lord ten sols to the person concerned twelve deniers to the mayor twelve of the said deniers to the swearer with the costs of Justice made to the prosecution and charge of the mothers of the law.
7
The man who has a claim against another or they claim against each other before Justice, they must each pay a hundred sols in fines because of the honor of Justice, if therefore one calls the other a thief, then he could claim a claim without a fine, the honor of the Lord and Justice preserved and saved.
8
The man who will kill fruit-bearing trees will be at the will of the Lord and whoever cuts them down or removes them will be liable to sixty sols in fines and to the rapouille (1) and to the expense of justice going to make a wish for places.
9
Any person who attempts to stay on a road or path will be fined sixty sols and will have to destroy the property and litter the place with legal costs.
10
The baker who cooks bread must do so honestly and sell well cooked and well-baked according to the standards of justice, which standards must be made from the finest bread on the market or to within two pennies. And if, on the contrary, he is found to be so poorly cooked as to be too small, he will be given to the poor at sixty sols a month for the bread, and if he were still in default of not having cooked bread for twenty-four hours, he would be subject to the said fine.
(1) 1 Repair Opposite to stripping and derived from empouilles
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11
The woman cannot lose her dower for something that her husband has proven that she is not guilty or consenting to the case; she will not lose her shares of her property and if she were guilty or guilty of the case, her body and her property would be judged according to the contents of the debate (1) as her husband.
(1) Jeantin's text is a crime instead of a debate
12
The man who will tear up the boundary stones will be liable to sixty sols and from there on he will no longer be credible and will no longer bear credit and the said boundary stone will be replanted at his own expense and justice must be done there and the children, young and there, will be brought before them then justice must have the said boundary stone replanted by the offender while crying thanks to God, to the Lord and to Justice and to the one from whom the said boundary stone was torn up.
13
The man who comes to live from one place to another must first and foremost swear to the mayor to be good and loyal to the lord and to the city before he can take liberty or resolutely (2) stay in the city.
(2) The texts of Jeantin and Defourny give emolument instead of resolutely
14
The lords have retained in themselves the bannaux ovens where the bourgeois will go to bake their breads and the Lord will have twenty-four loaves of bread and if the baker was at fault that the bourgeois' breads were not baked properly or that it was too much or too little he must be repaid the value of the bread And whoever is found to have baked bread in his oven will be fined sixty sols and give the bread to the poor
15
The man who for the good of the prince of the city and the public good that will bring new to the profit of the place must not be named But the lord or justice must summon the accuser secretly and according to the denomination to question him and according to who will be found will be able to inquire and do as reason and justice wishes (3)
(3) MM Jeantin and Defourny give but the lord or the accuser must be summoned or the justice secretly and according to the denunciation question him. It seems to us that our text is worth more except for the word denomination to which we prefer that of denunciation.
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16
The man who puts his hand to the plow of a plowman by causing damage to the harnesses attached to the said plow must be condemned to the will of the sovereign and to confiscation of all his property.
Note: There are 137 items to translate in this law.
All the articles hereinbefore said and clarified one after the other you must listen and note well that all must be proven by loyal witnesses not convinced nor reconcilable and if there is contradiction the fault let appear by day assign sufficient If one requires it without making a fault because justice must always have God before the eyes and one's neighbor that no harm be done to him or that he would want to be done to him and death before the eyes one does not know when or how one will die and one must render an account and relic Amen.