We know that We have already published a law prohibiting sureties from being required of women kept in houses of prostitution to insure their remaining and pursuing their infamous calling. This law does not afford any opportunity for repentance to persons who exact such security, but it even threatens them with severe punishment, and it also provides that the sureties shall not be responsible, and that there is no necessity for them to represent the women for whom they have become bound.
But We have ascertained that, at the present time, a cruel and intolerable fraud has been committed against chastity, which is something greatly revered by Us; for, as We have forbidden sureties to be taken, a much more abominable method has been devised, and those who profit by the vile profession of prostitutes compel them to swear that they will never abandon their base and wicked life; and these wretched women, influenced in this way, think that they are acting honorably if they remain, and they keep their oaths to the destruction of their chastity, when they should be aware that such transgressions are more agreeable to God than the observance of such oaths.
For if anyone has, at the instigation of another, sworn, for instance, to kill, to commit adultery, or to commit any other unlawful act, this oath need not be observed, as it is base and unlawful, and leads to perdition.
Therefore, even though a woman may have taken such an oath, she shall be permitted to violate it, and to live chastely without danger of prosecution for perjury if, indeed, the penalty applies to a case of this kind , for it is more acceptable to God that punishment should be inflicted upon him who required the oath to be taken.
Wherefore We impose the penalty of ten pounds of gold upon anyone who presumes to exact and receive an oath of this kind, as soon as it is tendered. We order that this sum shall be collected by the Governor of the province, and given to the unfortunate woman to assist her in leading a virtuous life. Governors are hereby notified that if they should be negligent in this respect, they themselves will be required to pay it at the end of their administration; and that their heirs and successors, as well as their estates, will be liable for it, because they have neglected to perform a meritorious act.
