Book XVIII
Concerning burial places
De sepulcrorum
Antoninus Caracalla, 25 October 213:
If buried remains are disturbed by the force of a river of if another proper and necessary reason arises, they may, upon order of the Representative of the Town, be translated to another place.
Antoninus Caracalla, 30 March 215:
If you buried a body in a sepulchre, you hallowed that ground; and there is no doubt that when this was done, that land could not be sold or pledged as security for a debt, since the sanctity of the law forbids that.
Philip, 26 November 245:
That a place devoted to the dead cannot be sold is clear. Nor is it doubtful, on the other hand, that a field not so consecrated, which is close to a monument, is governed by the rules pertaining to the profane, and may, therefore, be sold without hindrance.
Diocletian and Maximian, 31 August 286:
It is clear that sepulchres cannot be bequeathed in wills, but no one is forbidden to bequeath the right of burying a dead person therein.
Diocletian and Maximian, 6 December 287:
If a dead body has not yet been buried in a permanent sepulchre, it is not forbidden for it to be translated to one.
Constantius II, 28 March 349:
If anyone touches a sepulchre with intent to injure it, they will be punished by no less a fine than the known penalty of twenty pounds.
Constantius II, Milan, 13 June 357:
Those who violate sepulchres for building materials – the houses, as I might say, of the dead – seem to perpetrate a double crime; for they despoil the dead by tearing down, and they pollute the living by erecting a building with the material taken from the sepulchres. If anyone, therefore, takes stones, marble, columns or any other material from sepulchres for the purpose of building, or sale, they shall be compelled to pay no less than ten pounds to the Treasury. This punishment is in addition to the former penalty; for the former punishment of a fine of twenty pounds imposed on violators of sepulchres is in no way modified. Persons who rob interred bodies or steal the ornaments buried with them are subject to the same penalty.
Julian, Antioch, 12 February 363:
Audacity extends to the tombs of the dead and to burial mounds, whom our forefathers considered it almost a sacrilege to even move a stone therefrom, or disturb the earth or tear up the sod. And some of the things are removed for ornaments for dining rooms and porticoes. Consulting their interest, we prohibit this to be done, lest the transgressors fall into the sin of disturbing the sanctity of the dead.