Deuteronomy 19
Deuteronomy 19:14 | |
14. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's land-mark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. | 14. Non transferes terminum proximi tui quem finierint majores in haereditate tua, quam haereditate accipies in terra quam Jehova Deus tuus dat tibi ut possideas eam. |
A kind of theft is here condemned which is severely punished by the laws of Rome;1 for that every one's property may be secure, it is necessary that the land-marks set up for the division of fields should remain untouched, as if they were sacred. He who fraudulently removes a landmark is already convicted by this very act, because he disturbs the lawful owner in his quiet possession of the land;2 whilst he who advances further the boundaries of his own land to his neighbor's loss, doubles the crime by the deceptive concealment of his theft. Whence also we gather that not only are those thieves, who actually carry away their neighbor's property, who take his money out of his chest, or who pillage his cellars and granaries, but also those who unjustly possess themselves of his land.
1 "In the digests there is a vague law, de termino moto, Digestor. Lib. 47. tit. 21, on which Calmer remarks, that, though the Romans had no determined punishment for those who removed the ancient land-marks, yet, if slaves were found to have done it with an evil design, they were put to death; that persons of quality were sometimes exiled when found, guilty; and that others were sentenced to primary fines, or corporal punishment. -- Adam Clarke, in loco.
2 "Est desia assez convaincu par ce seul acte d'avoir voulu debouter le possesseur de son champ;" is already sufficiently convicted by this act alone of having wished to deprive the possessor of his land. -- Fr.