made before the union of the parties, and could never take place
after the marriage had once been celebrated. The first change in
this matter was made by our imperial father Justin, who, as it
had been allowed to increase dowries even after marriage,
issued a constitution authorizing the increase of gifts before
marriage during the continuance of the marriage tie in cases
where an increase had been made to the dowry. The name
`gift before marriage' was, however, still retained, though now
inappropriate, because the increase was made to it after the
marriage. We, however, in our desire to perfect the law, and
to make names suit the things which they are used to denote,
have by a constitution permitted such gifts to be first made, and
not merely increased, after the celebration of the marriage, and
have directed that they shall be called gifts `on account of'
(and not `before') marriage, thereby assimilating them to dowries;
for as dowries are not only increased, but actually constituted,
during marriage, so now gifts on account of marriage may be
not only made before the union of the parties, but may be first
made as well as increased during the continuance of that union.

4 There was formerly too another civil mode of acquisition,
namely, by accrual, which operated in the following way: if a
person who owned a slave jointly with Titius gave him his liberty
himself alone by vindication or by testament, his share in the
slave was lost, and went to the other joint owner by accrual.
But as this rule was very bad as a precedent -- for both the
slave was cheated of his liberty, and the kinder masters suffer-
ed all the loss while the harsher ones reaped all the gain -- we
have deemed it necessary to suppress a usage which seemed
so odious, and have by our constitution provided a merciful