Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 05).djvu/181

 the first husband the dowry which the latter had given tc the woman, and to pay a fine, more or less—such an amount as the judge should order him to give. If the husband were a chief, and caught his wife in the act of committing adultery, he had the right to punish her with death, and the adulterer also, and could slay them with impunity. If he killed one and the other escaped, there would be open war between the two families until the other adulterer died. If both escaped, they must pay for their lives with a certain weight of gold. If they were chiefs, the penalty was one hundred taes, fifty for the woman and fifty for the adulterer. This done, they were pardoned, and remained friends. If they were timaguas, they incurred a lighter penalty.

Wars. In wars and slavery among the Moros, they observed the same customs as did the Pintados.

Thieves. There was among the natives a law concerning thieves. It was a petty theft if the amount were less than four taes (that is, twenty pesos); but if more than that sum, it was a serious offense. He who committed the former must return the gold, and then be sentenced, at the will of the judge, to pay a fine in money. If it were the greater theft, involving an amount of four taes or upward, he incurred the penalty of slavery. But if the goods stolen amounted to a cati [catty] of gold, the penalty was death, or the enslavement of the culprit and his children and all those of his household.

It was also a law that for the first theft the penalty was a fine in money, and for the second, slavery; for further offenses, it was death. Or if pardoned, as described above, he was made a slave, with his wife and children. This punishment did not apply to the