Of these and the like matters the wardens of the country
shall take cognizance, and be the judges of them and
assessors of the damage; in the more important cases,
as has been already said, the whole number of them
belonging to any one of the twelve divisions shall
decide, and in the lesser cases the commanders:
or, again, if any one pastures his cattle on his neighbour’s
land, they shall see the injury, and adjudge the penalty.
And if any one, by decoying the bees, gets possession
of another’s swarms, and draws them to himself
by making noises, he shall pay the damage; or if any
one sets fire to his own wood and takes no care of
his neighbour’s property, he shall be fined
at the discretion of the magistrates. And if in
planting he does not leave a fair distance between
his own and his neighbour’s land, he shall be
punished, in accordance with the enactments of many
lawgivers, which we may use, not deeming it necessary
that the great legislator of our state should determine
all the trifles which might be decided by any body;
for example, husbandmen have had of old excellent
laws about waters, and there is no reason why we should
propose to divert their course: He who likes
may draw water from the fountain-head of the common
stream on to his own land, if he do not cut off the
spring which clearly belongs to some other owner;
and he may take the water in any direction which he
pleases, except through a house or temple or sepulchre,
but he must be careful to do no harm beyond the channel.
And if there be in any place a natural dryness of
the earth, which keeps in the rain from heaven, and
causes a deficiency in the supply of water, let him
dig down on his own land as far as the clay, and if
at this depth he finds no water, let him obtain water
from his neighbours, as much as is required for his
servants’ drinking, and if his neighbours, too,
are limited in their supply, let him have a fixed
measure, which shall be determined by the wardens of
the country. This he shall receive each day,
and on these terms have a share of his neighbours’
water. If there be heavy rain, and one of those
on the lower ground injures some tiller of the upper
ground, or some one who has a common wall, by refusing
to give them an outlet for water; or, again, if some
one living on the higher ground recklessly lets off
the water on his lower neighbour, and they cannot
come to terms with one another, let him who will call
in a warden of the city, if he be in the city, or if
he be in the country, a warden of the country, and
let him obtain a decision determining what each of
them is to do. And he who will not abide by the
decision shall suffer for his malignant and morose
temper, and pay a fine to the injured party, equivalent
to double the value of the injury, because he was
unwilling to submit to the magistrates.