2500
BC
The
Code of Hammurabi
Translated
by L. W. King
With
commentary from
Charles
F. Horne, Ph.D. (1915)
and
The
Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1910-
by
the Rev. Claude Hermann Walter Johns, M.A. Litt.D.
Introduction
Charles F. Horne, Ph.D.
1915
. . .[Hammurabi] was the ruler who chiefly established the greatness of
Babylon, the world's first metropolis. Many relics of Hammurabi's reign
([1795-1750 BC]) have been preserved, and today we can study this remarkable
King . . . as a wise law-giver in his celebrated code. . .
. . . [B]y far the most remarkable of the Hammurabi records is his code
of laws, the earliest-known example of a ruler proclaiming publicly to his
people an entire body of laws, arranged in orderly groups, so that all men
might read and know what was required of them. The code was carved upon a black
stone monument, eight feet high, and clearly intended to be reared in public
view. This noted stone was found in the year 1901, not in Babylon, but in a
city of the Persian mountains, to which some later conqueror must have carried
it in triumph. It begins and ends with addresses to the gods. Even a law code
was in those days regarded as a subject for prayer, though the prayers here are
chiefly cursings of whoever shall neglect or destroy the law. The code then regulates in clear and
definite strokes the organization of society. The judge who blunders in a law
case is to be expelled from his judgeship forever, and heavily fined. The
witness who testifies falsely is to be slain. Indeed, all the heavier crimes
are made punishable with death. Even if a man builds a house badly, and it
falls and kills the owner, the builder is to be slain. If the owner's son was
killed, then the builder's son is slain. We can see where the Hebrews learned
their law of "an eye for an eye." These grim retaliatory punishments
take no note of excuses or explanations, but only of the fact--with one
striking exception. An accused person was allowed to cast himself into
"the river," the Euphrates. Apparently the art of swimming was
unknown; for if the current bore him to the shore alive he was declared
innocent, if he drowned he was guilty. So we learn that faith in the justice of
the ruling gods was already firmly, though somewhat childishly, established in
the minds of men. Yet even with this
earliest set of laws, as with most things Babylonian, we find ourselves dealing
with the end of things rather than the beginnings. Hammurabi's code was not
really the earliest. The preceding sets of laws have disappeared, but we have
found several traces of them, and Hammurabi's own code clearly implies their
existence. He is but reorganizing a legal system long established.
Charles F. Horne, Ph.D.
BABYLONIAN LAW--The Code of
Hammurabi.
By the Rev. Claude Hermann Walter Johns,
M.A. Litt.D. from the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica,
1910-1911
The material for the study of Babylonian law is singularly extensive
without being exhaustive. The so-called "contracts," including a
great variety of deeds, conveyances, bonds, receipts, accounts and, most
important of all, the actual legal decisions given by the judges in the law
courts, exist in thousands. Historical inscriptions, royal charters and
rescripts, despatches, private letters and the general literature afford
welcome supplementary information. Even grammatical and lexicographical works,
intended solely to facilitate the study of ancient literature, contain many
extracts or short sentences bearing on law and custom. The so-called
"Sumerian Family Laws" are thus preserved. The discovery of the now
celebrated Code of Hammurabi (hereinafter simply termed the Code) has, however,
made a more systematic study possible than could have resulted from the
classification and interpretation of the other material. Some fragments of a
later code exist and have been published; but there still remain many points
upon which we have no evidence. This
material dates from the earliest times down to the commencement of our era. The
evidence upon a particular point may be very full at one period and almost
entirely lacking at another. The Code forms the backbone of the skeleton sketch
which is here reconstructed. The fragments of it which have been recovered from
Assur-bani-pal's library at Nineveh and later Babylonian copies show that it
was studied, divided into chapters entitled Ninu ilu sirum from its opening
words, and recopied for fifteen hundred years or more. The greater part of It
remained in force, even through the Persian, Greek and Parthian conquests,
which affected private life in Babylonia very little, and it survived to
influence Syro-Roman and later Mahommedan law in Mesopotamia. The law and
custom which preceded the Code we shall call "early," that of the New
Babylonian empire (as well as the Persian, Greek, &c.)
"late." The law in Assyria was
derived from Babylonia but conserved early features long after they had
disappeared elsewhere. When the
Semitic tribes settled in the cities of Babylonia, their tribal custom passed
over into city law. The early history of the country is the story of a struggle
for supremacy between the cities. A metropolis demanded tribute and military support
from its subject cities but left their local cults and customs unaffected. The
city rights and usages were respected by kings and conquerors alike. As late as the accession of Assur-bani-pal
and Samas-sum-yukin we find the Babylonians appealing to their city laws that
groups of aliens to the number of twenty at a time were free to enter the city,
that foreign women once married to Babylonian husbands could not be enslaved
and that not even a dog that entered the city could be put to death
untried. The population of Babylonia
was of many races from early times and intercommunication between the cities
was incessant. Every city had a large number of resident aliens. This freedom
of intercourse must have tended to assimilate custom. It was, however, reserved
for the genius of Hammurabi to make Babylon his metropolis and weld together
his vast empire by a uniform system of law.
Almost all trace of tribal custom has already disappeared from the law
of the Code. It is state-law; - alike self-help, blood-feud, marriage by
capture, are absent; though family solidarity, district responsibility, ordeal,
the lex talionis, are primitive features that remain. The king is a benevolent
autocrat, easily accessible to all his subjects, both able and willing to
protect the weak against the highest-placed oppressor. The royal power,
however, can only pardon when private resentment is appeased. The judges are
strictly supervised and appeal is allowed. The whole land is covered with
feudal holdings, masters of the levy, police, &c. There is a regular postal
system. The pax Babylonica is so assured that private individuals do not
hesitate to ride in their carriage from Babylon to the coast of the
Mediterranean. The position of women is free and dignified. The Code did not merely embody
contemporary custom or conserve ancient law. It is true that centuries of
law-abiding and litigious habitude had accumulated in the temple archives of
each city vast stores of precedent in ancient deeds and the records of judicial
decisions, and that intercourse had assimilated city custom. The universal
habit of writing and perpetual recourse to written contract even more modified
primitive custom and ancient precedent. Provided the parties could agree, the
Code left them free to contract as a rule. Their deed of agreement was drawn up
in the temple by a notary public, and confirmed by an oath "by god and the
king." It was publicly sealed and witnessed by professional witnesses, as
well as by collaterally interested parties. The manner in which it was thus
executed may have been sufficient security that its stipulations were not
impious or illegal. Custom or public opinion doubtless secured that the parties
would not agree to wrong. In case of dispute the judges dealt first with the
contract. They might not sustain it, but if the parties did not dispute it,
they were free to observe it. The judges' decision might, however, be appealed
against. Many contracts contain the proviso that in case of future dispute the
parties would abide by "the decision of the king." The Code made
known, in a vast number of cases, what that decision would be, and many cases
of appeal to the king were sent back to the judges with orders to decide in
accordance with it. The Code itself was carefully and logically arranged and
the order of its sections was conditioned by their subject-matter. Nevertheless
the order is not that of modern scientific treatises, and a somewhat different
order from both is most convenient for our purpose. The Code contemplates the whole population
as falling into three classes, the amelu, the muskinu and the ardu. The amelu was
a patrician, the man of family, whose birth, marriage and death were
registered, of ancestral estates and full civil rights. He had aristocratic
privileges and responsibilities, the right to exact retaliation for corporal
injuries, and liability to heavier punishment for crimes and misdemeanours,
higher fees and fines to pay. To this class belonged the king and court, the
higher officials, the professions and craftsmen. The term became in time a mere
courtesy title but originally carried with it standing. Already in the Code,
when status is not concerned, it is used to denote "any one." There
was no property qualification nor does the term appear to be racial. It is most
difficult to characterize the muskinu exactly. The term came in time to mean
"a beggar" and with that meaning has passed through Aramaic and
Hebrew into many modern languages; but though the Code does not regard him as
necessarily poor, he may have been landless. He was free, but had to accept
monetary compensation for corporal injuries, paid smaller fees and fines, even
paid less offerings to the gods. He inhabited a separate quarter of the city.
There is no reason to regard him as specially connected with the court, as a
royal pensioner, nor as forming the bulk of the population. The rarity of any
reference to him in contemporary documents makes further specification
conjectural. The ardu was a slave, his master's chattel, and formed a very
numerous class. He could acquire property and even hold other slaves. His
master clothed and fed him, paid his doctor's fees, but took all compensation
paid for injury done to him. His master usually found him a slave-girl as wife
(the children were then born slaves), often set him up in a house (with farm or
business) and simply took an annual rent of him. Otherwise he might marry a
freewoman (the children were then free), who might bring him a dower which his
master could not touch, and at his death one-half of his property passed to his
master as his heir. He could acquire his freedom by purchase from his master,
or might be freed and dedicated to a temple, or even adopted, when he became an
amelu and not a muskinu. Slaves were recruited by purchase abroad, from
captives taken in war and by freemen degraded for debt or crime. A slave often
ran away; if caught, the captor was bound to restore him to his master, and the
Code fixes a reward of two shekels which the owner must pay the captor. It was
about one-tenth of the average value. To detain, harbour, &c., a slave was
punished by death. So was an attempt to get him to leave the city. A slave bore
an identification mark, which could only be removed by a surgical operation and
which later consisted of his owner's name tattooed or branded on the arm. On
the great estates in Assyria and its subject provinces were many serfs, mostly
of subject race, settled captives, or quondam slaves, tied to the soil they
cultivated and sold with the estate but capable of possessing land and property
of their own. There is little trace of serfs in Babylonia, unless the muskinu
be really a serf. The god of a city
was originally owner of its land, which encircled it with an inner ring of
irrigable arable land and an outer fringe of pasture, and the citizens were his
tenants. The god and his viceregent, the king, had long ceased to disturb
tenancy, and were content with fixed dues in naturalia, stock, money or
service. One of the earliest monuments records the purchase by a king of a
large estate for his son, paying a fair market price and adding a handsome
honorarium to the many owners in costly garments, plate, and precious articles
of furniture. The Code recognizes complete private ownership in land, but
apparently extends the right to hold land to votaries, merchants (and resident
aliens?). But all land was sold subject to its fixed charges. The king,
however, could free land from these charges by charter, which was a frequent
way of rewarding those who deserved well of the state. It is from these
charters that we learn nearly all we know of the obligations that lay upon land.
The state demanded men for the army and the corvee as well as dues in kind. A
definite area was bound to find a bowman together with his linked pikeman (who
bore the shield for both) and to furnish them with supplies for the campaign.
This area was termed "a bow" as early as the 8th century B.C., but
the usage was much earlier. Later, a horseman was due from certain areas. A man
was only bound to serve so many (six?) times, but the land had to find a man
annually. The service was usually discharged by slaves and serfs, but the amelu
(and perhaps the muskenu) went to war. The "bows" were grouped in
tens and hundreds. The corvee was less regular. The letters of Hammurabi often
deal with claims to exemption. Religious officials and shepherds in charge of
flocks were exempt. Special liabilities lay upon riparian owners to repair
canals, bridges, quays, &c. The state claimed certain proportions of all
crops, stock, &c. The king's messengers could commandeer any subject's
property, giving a receipt. Further, every city had its own octroi duties,
customs, ferry dues, highway and water rates.
The king had long ceased to be, if he ever was, owner of the land. He
had his own royal estates, his private property and dues from all his subjects.
The higher officials had endowments and official residences. The Code regulates
the feudal position of certain classes. They held an estate from the king
consisting of house, garden, field, stock and a salary, on condition of
personal service on the king's errand. They could not delegate the service on
pain of death. When ordered abroad they could nominate a son, if capable, to
hold the benefice and carry on the duty. If there was no son capable, the state
put in a locum tenens, but granted one-third to the wife to maintain herself
and children. The benefice was inalienable, could not be sold, pledged,
exchanged, sublet, devised or diminished. Other land was held of the state for
rent. Ancestral estate was strictly tied to the family. If a holder would sell,
the family had the right of redemption and there seems to have been no
time-limit to its exercise. The
temple occupied a most important position. It received from its estates, from
tithes and other fixed dues, as well as from the sacrifices (a customary share)
and other offerings of the faithful, vast amounts of all sorts of naturalia;
besides money and permanent gifts. The larger temples had many officials and
servants. Originally, perhaps, each town clustered round one temple, and each
head of a family had a right to minister there and share its receipts. As the
city grew, the right to so many days a year at one or other shrine (or its
"gate") descended in certain families and became a species of
property which could be pledged, rented or shared within the family, but not
alienated. In spite of all these demands, however, the temples became great
granaries and store-houses; as they also were the city archives. The temple
held its responsibilities. If a citizen was captured by the enemy and could not
ransom himself the temple of his city must do so. To the temple came the poor
farmer to borrow seed corn or supplies for harvesters, &c.--advances which
he repaid without interest. The king's power over the temple was not
proprietary but administrative. He might borrow from it but repaid like other
borrowers. The tithe seems to have been the composition for the rent due to the
god for his land. It is not clear that all lands paid tithe, perhaps only such
as once had a special connexion with the temple. The Code deals with a class of persons
devoted to the service of a god, as vestals or hierodules. The vestals were
vowed to chastity, lived together in a great nunnery, were forbidden to open or
enter a tavern, and together with other votaries had many privileges. The Code recognizes many ways of disposing
of property--sale, lease, barter, gift, dedication, deposit, loan, pledge, all
of which were matters of contract. Sale was the delivery of the purchase (in
the case of real estate symbolized by a staff, a key, or deed of conveyance) in
return for the purchase money, receipts being given for both. Credit, if given,
was treated as a debt, and secured as a loan by the seller to be repaid by the
buyer, fr which he gave a bond. The Code admits no claim unsubstantiated by
documents or the oath of witnesses. A buyer had to convince himself of the
seller's title. If he bought (or received on deposit) from a minor or a slave
without power of attorney, he would be executed as a thief. If the goods were
stolen and the rightful owner reclaimed them, he had to prove his purchase by
producing the seller and the deed of sale or witnesses to it. Otherwise he
would be adjudged a thief and die. If he proved his purchase, he had to give up
the property but had his remedy against the seller or, if he had died, could
reclaim five-fold from his estate. A man who bought a slave abroad, might find
that he had been stolen or captured from Babylonia, and he had to restore him
to his former owner without profit. If he bought property belonging to a feudal
holding, or to a ward in chancery, he had to return it and forfeit what he gave
for it as well. He could repudiate the purchase of a slave attacked by the
bennu sickness within the month (later, a hundred days), and had a female slave
three days on approval. A defect of title or undisclosed liability would
invalidate the sale at any time.
Landowners frequently cultivated their land themselves but might employ
a husbandman or let it. The husbandman was bound to carry out the proper
cultivation, raise an average crop and leave the field in good tilth. In case
the crop failed the Code fixed a statutory return. Land might be let at a fixed
rent when the Code enacted that accidental loss fell on the tenant. If let on
share-profit, the landlord and tenant shared the loss proportionately to their
stipulated share of profit. If the tenant paid his rent and left the land in
good tilth, the landlord could not interfere nor forbid subletting. Waste land
was let to reclaim, the tenant being rent-free for three years and paying a
stipulated rent in the fourth year. If the tenant neglected to reclaim the land
the Code enacted that he must hand it over in good tilth and fixed a statutory
rent. Gardens or plantations were let in the same ways and under the same
conditions; but for date-groves four years' free tenure was allowed. The
metayer system was in vogue, especially on temple lands. The landlord found
land, labour, oxen for ploughing and working the watering-machines, carting,
threshing or other implements, seed corn, rations for the workmen and fodder
for the cattle. The tenant, or steward, usually had other land of his own. If
he stole the seed, rations or fodder, the Code enacted that his fingers should
be cut off. If he appropriated or sold the implements, impoverished or sublet
the cattle, he was heavily fined and in default of payment might be condemned
to be torn to pieces by the cattle on the field. Rent was as contracted. Irrigation was indispensable. If the irrigator
neglected to repair his dyke, or left his runnel open and caused a flood, he
had to make good the damage done to his neighbours' crops, or be sold with his
family to pay the cost. The theft of a watering-machine, water-bucket or other
agricultural implement was heavily fined.
Houses were let usually for the year, but also for longer terms, rent
being paid in advance, half-yearly. The contract generally specified that the
house was in good repair, and the tenant was bound to keep it so. The woodwork,
including doors and door frames, was removable, and the tenant might bring and
take away his own. The Code enacted that if the landlord would re-enter before
the term was up, he must remit a fair proportion of the rent. Land was leased
for houses or other buildings to be built upon it, the tenant being rent-free
for eight or ten years; after which the building came into the landlord's
possession. Despite the multitude of
slaves, hired labour was often needed, especially at harvest. This was matter
of contract, and the hirer, who usually paid in advance, might demand a
guarantee to fulfil the engagement. Cattle were hired for ploughing, working
the watering-machines, carting, threshing, etc. The Code fixed a statutory wage
for sowers, ox-drivers, field-labourers, and hire for oxen, asses, &c. There were many herds and flocks. The
flocks were committed to a shepherd who gave receipt for them and took them out
to pasture. The Code fixed him a wage. He was responsible for all care, must
restore ox for ox, sheep for sheep, must breed them satisfactorily. Any
dishonest use of the flock had to be repaid ten-fold, but loss by disease or
wild beasts fell on the owner. The shepherd made good all loss due to his
neglect. If he let the flock feed on a field of corn he had to pay damages
four-fold; if he turned them into standing corn when they ought to have been
folded he paid twelve-fold. In
commercial matters, payment in kind was still common, though the contracts
usually stipulate for cash, naming the standard expected, that of Babylon,
Larsa, Assyria, Carchemish, &c. The Code enacted, however, that a debtor
must be allowed to pay in produce according to statutory scale. If a debtor had
neither money nor crop, the creditor-must not refuse goods. Debt was secured on the person of the
debtor. Distraint on a debtor's corn was forbidden by the Code; not only must
the creditor give it back, but his illegal action forfeited his claim
altogether. An unwarranted seizure for debt was fined, as was the distraint of
a working ox. The debtor being seized for debt could nominate as mancipium or
hostage to work off the debt, his wife, a child, or slave. The creditor could
only hold a wife or child three years as mancipium. If the mancipium died a
natural death while in the creditor's possession no claim could lie against the
latter; but if he was the cause of death by cruelty, he had to give son for
son, or pay for a slave. He could sell a slave-hostage, unless she were a
slave-girl who had borne her master children. She had to be redeemed by her
owner. The debtor could also pledge
his property, and in contracts often pledged a field house or crop. The Code
enacted, however, that the debtor should always take the crop himself and pay
the creditor from it. If the crop failed, payment was deferred and no interest
could be charged for that year. If the debtor did not cultivate the field
himself he had to pay for the cultivation, but if the cultivation was already
finished he must harvest it himself and pay his debt from the crop. If the
cultivator did not get a crop this would not cancel his contract. Pledges were
often made where the intrinsic value of the article was equivalent to the
amount of the debt; but antichretic pledge was more common, where the profit of
the pledge was a set-off against the interest of the debt. The whole property
of the debtor might be pledged as security for the payment of the debt, without
any of it coming into the enjoyment of the creditor. Personal guarantees were
often given that the debtor would repay or the guarantor become liable
himself. Trade was very extensive. A
common way of doing business was for a merchant to entrust goods or money to a
travelling agent, who sought a market for his goods. The caravans travelled far
beyond the limits of the empire. The Code insisted that the agent should
inventory and give a receipt for all that he received. No claim could be made
for anything not so entered. Even if the agent made no profit he was bound to
return double what he had received, if he made poor profit he had to make up the
deficiency; but he was not responsible for loss by robbery or extortion on his
travels. On his return, the principal must give a receipt for what was handed
over to him. Any false entry or claim on the agent's part was penalised
three-fold, on the principal's part six-fold. In normal cases profits were
divided according to contract, usually equally. A considerable amount of forwarding was
done by the caravans. The carrier gave a receipt for the consignment, took all
responsibility and exacted a receipt on delivery. If he defaulted he paid
five-fold. He was usually paid in advance. Deposit, especially warehousing of
grain, was charged for at one-sixtieth. The warehouseman took all risks, paid
double for all shortage, but no claim could be made unless be had given a
properly witnessed receipt. Water traffic on the Euphrates and canals was early
very considerable. Ships, whose tonnage was estimated at the amount of grain
they could carry, were continually hired for the a transport of all kinds of
goods. The Code fixes the price for building and insists on the builder's
giving a year's guarantee of seaworthiness. It fixes the hire of ship and of
crew. The captain was responsible for the freight and the ship; he had to
replace all loss. Even if he refloated the ship he had to pay a fine of half
its value for sinking it. In the case of collision the boat under way was
responsible for damages to the boat at anchor. The Code also regulated the
liquor traffic, fixing a fair price for beer and forbidding the connivance of
the tavern-keeper (a female!) at disorderly conduct or treasonable assembly,
under pain of death. She was to hale the offenders to the palace, which implied
an efficient and accessible police system.
Payment through a banker or by written draft against deposit was
frequent. Bonds to pay were treated as negotiable. Interest a was rarely
charged on advances by the temple or wealthy land-owners for pressing needs,
but this may have been part of the metayer system. The borrowers may have been
tenants. Interest was charged at very high rates for overdue loans of this
kind. Merchants (and even temples in some cases) made ordinary business loans,
charging from 20 to 30%. Marriage
retained the form of purchase, but was essentially a contract to be man and
wife together. The marriage of young people was usually arranged between the
relatives, the bride- groom's father providing the bride-price, which with
other presents the suitor ceremonially presented to the bride's father. This
bride-price was usually handed over by her father to the bride on her marriage,
and so came back into the bridegroom's possession, along with her dowry, which
was her portion as a daughter. The bride-price varied much, according to the
position of the parties, but was in excess of that paid for a slave. The Code
enacted that if the father does not, after accepting a man's presents, give him
his daughter, he, must return the presents doubled. Even if his decision was
brought about by libel on the part of the suitor's friend this was done, and
the Code enacted that the faithless friend should not marry the girl. If a
suitor changed his mind, he forfeited the presents. The dowry might include
real estate, but generally consisted of personal effects and household
furniture. It remained the wife's for life, descending to her children, if any;
otherwise returning to her family, when the husband could deduct the
bride-price if it had not been given to her, or return it, if it had. The
marriage ceremony included joining of hands and the utterance of some formula
of acceptance on the part of the bridegroom, as "I am the son of nobles,
silver and gold shall fill thy lap, thou shalt be my wife, I will be thy
husband. Like the fruit of a garden I will give thee offspring." It must
be performed by a freeman. The
marriage contract, without which the Code ruled that the woman was no wife,
usually stated the consequences to which each party was liable for repudiating
the other. These by no means necessarily agree with the Code. Many conditions
might be inserted: as that the wife should act as maidservant to her
mother-in-law, or to a first wife. The married couple formed a unit as to
external responsibility, especially for debt. The man was responsible for debts
contracted by his wife, even before her marriage, as well as for his own; but
he could use her as a mancipium. Hence the Code allowed a proviso to be
inserted in the marriage contract, that the wife should not be seized for her
husband's prenuptial debts; but enacted that then he was not responsible for
her prenuptial debts, and, in any case, that both together were responsible for
all debts contracted after marriage. A man might make his wife a settlement by
deed of gift, which gave her a life interest in part of his property, and he might
reserve to her the right to bequeath it to a favourite child, but she could in
no case leave it to her family. Although married she always remained a member
of her father's house--she is rarely named wife of A, usually daughter of B, or
mother of C. Divorce was optional with the man, but he had
to restore the dowry and, if the wife had borne him children, she had the
custody of them. He had then to assign her the income of field, or garden, as
well as goods, to maintain herself and children until they grew up. She then
shared equally with them in the allowance (and apparently in his estate at his
death) and was free to marry again. If she had no children, he returned her the
dowry and paid her a sum equivalent to the bride-price, or a mina of silver, if
there had been none. The latter is the forfeit usually named in the contract
for his repudiation of her. If she
had been a bad wife, the Code allowed him to send her away, while he kept the
children and her dowry; or he could degrade her to the position of a slave in
his own house, where she would have food and clothing. She might bring an
action against him for cruelty and neglect and, if she proved her case, obtain
a judicial separation, taking with her her dowry. No other punishment fell on
the man. If she did not prove her case, but proved to be a bad wife, she was
drowned. If she were left without maintenance during her husband's involuntary
absence, she could cohabit with another man, but must return to her husband if
he came back, the children of the second union remaining with their own father.
If she had maintenance, a breach of the marriage tie was adultery. Wilful
desertion by, or exile of, the husband dissolved the marriage, and if he came
back he had no claim on her property; possibly not on his own. As a widow, the wife took her husband's
place in the family, living on in his house and bringing up the children. She
could only remarry with judicial consent, when the judge was bound to inventory
the deceased's estate and hand it over to her and her new husband in trust for
the children. They could not alienate a single utensil. If she did not remarry,
she lived on in her husband's house and took a child's share on the division of
his estate, when the children had grown up. She still retained her dowry and
any settlement deeded to her by her husband. This property came to her
children. If she had remarried, all her children shared equally in her dowry,
but the first husband's gift fell to his children or to her selection among
them, if so empowered. Monogamy was
the rule, and a childless wife might give her husband a maid (who was no wife)
to bear him children, who were reckoned hers. She remained mistress of her maid
and might degrade her to slavery again for insolence, but could not sell her if
she had borne her husband children. If the wife did this, the Code did not
allow the husband to take a concubine. If she would not, he could do so. The
concubine was a wife, though not of the same rank; the first wife had no power
over her. A concubine was a free woman, was often dowered for marriage and her
children were legitimate. She could only be divorced on the same conditions as
a wife. If a wife became a chronic invalid, the husband was bound to maintain
her in the home they bad made together, unless she preferred to take her dowry
and go back to her father's house; but he was free to remarry. In all these
cases the children were legitimate and legal heirs. There was, of course, no hindrance to a man
having children by a slave girl. These children were free, in any case, and
their mother could not be sold, though she might be pledged, and she was free
on her master's death. These children could be legitimized by their father's
acknowledgment before witnesses, and were often adopted. They then ranked
equally in sharing their father's estate, but if not adopted, the wife's
children divided and took first choice.
Vestal virgins were not supposed to have children, yet they could and often did marry. The Code
contemplated that such a wife would give
a husband a maid as above. Free women might
marry slaves and be dowered for the marriage. The children were free, and at the slave's death the wife
took her dowry and half what she and her husband had acquired in wedlock for
self and children; the master taking the other half as his slave's heir. A father had control over his children
till their marriage. He had a right to their labour in return for their keep.
He might hire them out and receive their
wages, pledge them for debt, even sell them outright. Mothers had the same
rights in the absence of the father; even elder brothers when both parents were
dead. A father had no claim on his married children for support, but they
retained a right to inherit on his death.
The daughter was not only in her father's power to be given in marriage,
but he might dedicate her to the service of some god as a vestal or a
hierodule; or give her as a concubine. She had no choice in these matters,
which were often decided in her childhood. A grown-up daughter might wish to
become a votary, perhaps in preference to an uncongenial marriage, and it seems
that her father could not refuse her wish. In all these cases the father might
dower her. If he did not, on his death the brothers were bound to do so, giving
her a full child's share if a wife, a concubine or a vestal, but one-third of a
child's share if she were a hierodule or a Marduk priestess. The latter had the
privilege of exemption from state dues and absolute disposal of her property.
All other daughters had only a life interest in their dowry, which reverted to
their family, if childless, or went to their children if they had any. A father
might, however, execute a deed granting a daughter power to leave her property
to a favourite brother or sister. A daughter's estate was usually managed for
her by her brothers, but if they did not satisfy her, she could appoint a
steward. If she married, her husband managed it. The son also appears to have received his share
on marriage, but did not always then leave his father's house; he might bring
his wife there. This was usual in child marriages. Adoption was very common, especially where
the father (or mother) was childless or had seen all his children grow up and
marry away. The child was then adopted to care for the parents' old age. This
was done by contract, which usually specified what the parent had to leave and
what maintenance was expected. The real children, if any, were usually
consenting parties to an arrangement which cut off their expectations. They
even, in some cases, found the estate for the adopted child who was to relieve
them of a care. If the adopted child failed to carry out the filial duty the
contract was annulled in the law courts. Slaves were often adopted and if they
proved unfilial were reduced to slavery again. A craftsman often adopted a son to learn
the craft. He profited by the son's labour. If he failed to teach his son the
craft, that son could prosecute him and get the contract annulled. This was a
form of apprenticeship, and it is not clear that the apprentice had any filial
relation. A man who adopted a son,
and afterwards married and had a family of his own, could dissolve the contract
but must give the adopted child one-third of a child's share in goods, but no
real estate. That could only descend in the family to which he had ceased to
belong. Vestals frequently adopted daughters, usually other vestals, to care
for their old age. Adoption had to be
with consent of the real parents, who usually executed a deed making over the
child, who thus ceased to have any claim upon them. But vestals, hierodules,
certain palace officials and slaves had no rights over their children and could
raise no obstacle. Foundlings and illegitimate children had no parents to object.
If the adopted child discovered his true parents and wanted to return to them,
his eye or tongue was torn out. An adopted child was a full heir, the contract
might even assign him the position of eldest son. Usually he was residuary
legatee. All legitimate children
shared equally in the father's estate at his death, reservation being made of a
bride-price for an unmarried son, dower for a daughter or property deeded to
favourite children by the father. There was no birthright attaching to the
position of eldest son, but he usually acted as executor and after considering
what each had already received equalized the shares. He even made grants in
excess to the others from his own share. When there were two mothers, the two
families shared equally in the father's estate until later times when the first
family took two-thirds. Daughters, in the absence of sons, had sons' rights.
Children also shared their own mother's property, but had no share in that of a
stepmother. A father could disinherit
a son in early times without restriction, but the Code insisted upon judicial
consent and that only for repeated unfilial conduct. In early times the son who
denied his father had his front hair shorn, a slave-mark put on him, and could
be sold as a slave; while if he denied his mother he had his front hair shorn,
was driven round the city as an example and expelled his home, but not degraded
to slavery. Adultery was punished
with the death of both parties by drowning, but if the husband was willing to
pardon his wife, the king might intervene to pardon the paramour. For incest
with his own mother, both were burned to death; with a stepmother, the man was
disinherited; with a daughter, the man was exiled; with a daughter-in-law, he
was drowned; with a son's betrothed, he was fined. A wife who for her lover's
sake procured her husband's death was gibbeted. A betrothed girl, seduced by
her prospective father-in-law, took her dowry and returned to her family, and
was free to marry as she chose. In
the criminal law the ruling principle was the lex talionis. Eye for eye, tooth
for tooth, limb for limb was the penalty for assault upon an amelu. A sort of
symbolic retaliation was the punishment of the offending member, seen in the
cutting off the hand that struck a father or stole a trust; in cutting off the
breast of a wet-nurse who substituted a changeling for the child entrusted to
her; in the loss of the tongue that denied father or mother (in the Elamite
contracts the same penalty was inflicted for perjury); in the loss of the eye
that pried into forbidden secrets. The loss of the surgeon's hand that caused
loss of life or limb or the brander's hand that obliterated a slave's
identification mark, are very similar. The slave, who struck a freeman or
denied his master, lost an ear, the organ of hearing and symbol of obedience.
To bring another into danger of death by false accusation was punished by
death. To cause loss of liberty or property by false witness was punished by
the penalty the perjurer sought to bring upon another. The death penalty was freely awarded for
theft and other crimes regarded as coming under that head, for theft involving
entrance of palace or temple treasury, for illegal purchase from minor or slave,
for selling stolen goods or receiving the same, for common theft in the open
(in default of multiple restoration) or receiving the same, for false claim to
goods, for kidnapping, for assisting or harbouring fugitive slaves, for
detaining or appropriating same, for brigandage, for fraudulent sale of drink,
for disorderly conduct of tavern, for delegation of personal service, for
misappropriating the levy, for oppression of feudal holders, for causing death
of a householder by bad building. The manner of death is not specified in these
cases. This death penalty was also fixed for such conduct as placed another in
danger of death. A specified form of death penalty occurs in the following
cases:-gibbeting (on the spot where crime was committed) for burglary, later
also for encroaching on the king's highway, for getting a slave-brand
obliterated, for procuring husband's death; burning for incest with own mother,
for vestal entering or opening tavern, for theft at fire (on the spot);
drowning for adultery, rape of betrothed maiden, bigamy, bad conduct as wife,
seduction of daughter-in-law. A
curious extension of the talio is the death of creditor's son for his father's
having caused the death of debtor's son as mancipium; of builder's son for his
father's causing the death of house-owner's son by building the house badly;
the death of a man's daughter because her father caused the death of another
man's daughter. The contracts
naturally do not concern such criminal cases as the above, as a rule, but marriage
contracts do specify death by strangling, drowning, precipitation from a tower
or pinnacle of the temple or by the iron sword for a wife's repudiation of her
husband. We are quite without evidence as to the executive in all these cases. Exile was inflicted for incest with a
daughter; disinheritance for incest with a stepmother or for repeated unfilial
conduct. Sixty strokes of an ox-hide scourge were awarded for a brutal assault
on a superior, both being amelu. Branding (perhaps the equivalent of
degradation to slavery) was the penalty for slander of a married woman or
vestal. Deprivation of office in perpetuity fell upon the corrupt judge.
Enslavement befell the extravagant wife and unfilial children. Imprisonment was
common, but is not recognized by the Code.
The commonest of all penalties was a fine. This is awarded by the Code
for corporal injuries to a muskinu or slave (paid to his master); for damages
done to property, for breach of contract. The restoration of goods
appropriated, illegally bought or damaged by neglect, was usually accompanied
by a fine, giving it the form of multiple restoration. This might be double,
treble, fourfold, fivefold, sixfold, tenfold, twelvefold, even thirtyfold,
according to the enormity of the offence.
The Code recognized the importance of intention. A man who killed
another in a quarrel must swear he did not do so intentionally, and was then
only fined according to the rank of the deceased. The Code does not say what
would be the penalty of murder, but death is so often awarded where death is caused
that we can hardly doubt that the murderer was put to death. If the assault
only led to injury and was unintentional, the assailant in a quarrel had to pay
the doctor's fees. A brander, induced to remove a slave's identification mark,
could swear to his ignorance and was free. The owner of an ox which gored a man
on the street was only responsible for damages if, the ox was known by him to
be vicious, even if it caused death. If the mancipium died a natural death
under the creditor's hand, the creditor was scot free. In ordinary cases
responsibility was not demanded for accident or for more than proper care.
Poverty excused bigamy on the part of a deserted wife. On the other hand carelessness and neglect
were severely punished, as in the case of the unskilful physician, if it led to
loss of life or limb his hands were cut off, a slave had to be replaced, the
loss of his eye paid for to half his value; a veterinary surgeon who caused the
death of an ox or ass paid quarter value; a builder, whose careless workmanship
caused death, lost his life or paid for it by the death of his child, replaced
slave or goods, and in any case had to rebuild the house or make good any
damages due to defective building and repair the defect as well. The
boat-builder had to make good any defect of construction or damage due to it
for a year's warranty. Throughout the
Code respect is paid to status.
Suspicion was not enough. The criminal must be taken in the act, e.g.
the adulterer, ravisher, &c. A man could not be convicted of theft unless
the goods were found in his possession.
In the case of a lawsuit the plaintiff preferred his own plea. There is
no trace of professional advocates, but the plea had to be in writing and the
notary doubtless assisted in the drafting of it. The judge saw the plea, called
the other parties before him and sent for the witnesses. If these were not at
hand he might adjourn the case for their production, specifying a time up to
six months. Guarantees might be entered into to produce the witnesses on a
fixed day. The more important cases, especially those involving life and death,
were tried by a bench of judges. With the judges were associated a body of
elders, who shared in the decision, but whose exact function is not yet clear.
Agreements, declarations and non-contentious cases are usually witnessed by one
judge and twelve elders. Parties and
witnesses were put on oath. The penalty for the false witness was usually that
which would have been awarded the convicted criminal. In matters beyond the
knowledge of men, as the guilt or innocence of an alleged wizard or a suspected
wife, the ordeal by water was used. The accused jumped into the sacred river,
and the innocent swam while the guilty drowned. The accused could clear himself
by oath where his own knowledge was alone available. The plaintiff could swear
to his loss by brigands, as to goods claimed, the price paid for a slave
purchased abroad or the sum due to him. But great stress was laid on the
production of written evidence. It was a serious thing to lose a document. The
judges might be satisfied of its existence and terms by the evidence of the
witnesses to it, and then issue an order that whenever found it should be given
up. Contracts annulled were ordered to be broken. The court might go a journey
to view the property and even take with them the sacred symbols on which oath
was made. The decision given was
embodied in writing, sealed and witnessed by the judges, the elders, witnesses
and a scribe. Women might act in all these capacities. The parties swore an
oath, embodied in the document, to observe its stipulations. Each took a copy
and one was held by the scribe to be stored in the archives. Appeal to the king was allowed and is well
attested. The judges at Babylon seem to have formed a superior court to those
of provincial towns, but a defendant might elect to answer the charge before
the local court and refuse to plead at Babylon. Finally, it may be noted that many immoral
acts, such as the use of false weights, lying, &c., which could not be
brought into court, are severely denounced in the Omen Tablets as likely to
bring the offender into "the hand of God" as opposed to "the
hand of the king."
Bibliography. Contracts in general: Oppert and Menant,
Documents juridiques de l'Assyrie et de la Chaldee (Paris, 1877); J. Kohler and
F. E. Peiser, Aus dem Babylonischen Rechtsleben (Leipzig, 1890 ff.); F. E.
Peiser, Babylonische Vertrage (Berlin, 1890), Keilinschrifiliche Actenstucke
(Berlin, 1889); Br. Meissner, Beitrage zur altbabylonischen Privatrecht
(Leipzig, 1893); F. E. Peiser, "Texte juristischen und geschaftlichen
Inhalts," vol. iv. of Schrader's Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (Berlin,
1896); C. H. W. Johns, Assyrian Deeds and Documents relating to the Transfer of
Property (3 vols., Cambridge, 1898); H. Radau, Early Babylonian History (New
York, 1900); C. H. W. Johns, Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and
Letters (Edinburgh, 1904).
For editions of texts and the innumerable articles in scientific
journals see the bibliographies and references in the above works. "The
Code of Hammurabi," Editio princeps, by V. Scheil in tome iv. of the
Textes Elamites-Semitiques of the Memoires de la delegation en Perse (Paris,
1902); H. Winckler, "Die Gesetze Hammurabis Konigs von Babylon um 2250 v.
Chr." Der alte Orient, iv. Jahrgang, Heft 4; D. H. Muller, Die Gesetze
Hammurabis (Vienna, 1903); J. Kohler and F. E. Peiser, Hammurabis Gesetz
(Leipzig, 1904); R. F. Harper, The Code of Hammurabi, King, of Babylon about
2250 B.C. (Chicago, 1904); S. A. Cook, The Laws of Moses and the Code of
Hammurabi (London, 1903).
Rev. Claude Hermann Walter Johns, M.A.
Litt.D. Master of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. Lecturer in Assyriology,
Queens' College, Cambridge, and King's College, London. Author of Assyrian
Deeds and Documents of the 7th Century B.C.; The Oldest Code of Laws;
Babylonian and Assyrian Laws; Contracts and Letters; etc. HAMMURABI'S CODE OF
LAWS (circa
1780 B.C.)
Translated by L. W. King
When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven
and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the
over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and
made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name,
made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose
foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel
called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring
about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the
evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule
over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further
the well-being of mankind. Hammurabi,
the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase, enriching Nippur
and Dur-ilu beyond compare, sublime patron of E-kur; who reestablished Eridu
and purified the worship of E-apsu; who conquered the four quarters of the
world, made great the name of Babylon, rejoiced the heart of Marduk, his lord
who daily pays his devotions in Saggil; the royal scion whom Sin made; who
enriched Ur; the humble, the reverent, who brings wealth to Gish-shir-gal; the
white king, heard of Shamash, the mighty, who again laid the foundations of
Sippara; who clothed the gravestones of Malkat with green; who made E-babbar
great, which is like the heavens, the warrior who guarded Larsa and renewed E-babbar,
with Shamash as his helper; the lord who granted new life to Uruk, who brought
plenteous water to its inhabitants, raised the head of E-anna, and perfected
the beauty of Anu and Nana; shield of the land, who reunited the scattered
inhabitants of Isin; who richly endowed E-gal-mach; the protecting king of the
city, brother of the god Zamama; who firmly founded the farms of Kish, crowned
E-me-te-ursag with glory, redoubled the great holy treasures of Nana, managed
the temple of Harsag-kalama; the grave of the enemy, whose help brought about
the victory; who increased the power of Cuthah; made all glorious in E-shidlam,
the black steer, who gored the enemy; beloved of the god Nebo, who rejoiced the
inhabitants of Borsippa, the Sublime; who is indefatigable for E-zida; the
divine king of the city; the White, Wise; who broadened the fields of Dilbat,
who heaped up the harvests for Urash; the Mighty, the lord to whom come scepter
and crown, with which he clothes himself; the Elect of Ma-ma; who fixed the temple
bounds of Kesh, who made rich the holy feasts of Nin-tu; the provident,
solicitous, who provided food and drink for Lagash and Girsu, who provided
large sacrificial offerings for the temple of Ningirsu; who captured the enemy,
the Elect of the oracle who fulfilled the prediction of Hallab, who rejoiced
the heart of Anunit; the pure prince, whose prayer is accepted by Adad; who
satisfied the heart of Adad, the warrior, in Karkar, who restored the vessels
for worship in E-ud-gal-gal; the king who granted life to the city of Adab; the
guide of E-mach; the princely king of the city, the irresistible warrior, who
granted life to the inhabitants of Mashkanshabri, and brought abundance to the
temple of Shidlam; the White, Potent, who penetrated the secret cave of the
bandits, saved the inhabitants of Malka from misfortune, and fixed their home
fast in wealth; who established pure sacrificial gifts for Ea and
Dam-gal-nun-na, who made his kingdom everlastingly great; the princely king of
the city, who subjected the districts on the Ud-kib-nun-na Canal to the sway of
Dagon, his Creator; who spared the inhabitants of Mera and Tutul; the sublime
prince, who makes the face of Ninni shine; who presents holy meals to the
divinity of Nin-a-zu, who cared for its inhabitants in their need, provided a
portion for them in Babylon in peace; the shepherd of the oppressed and of the
slaves; whose deeds find favor before Anunit, who provided for Anunit in the
temple of Dumash in the suburb of Agade; who recognizes the right, who rules by
law; who gave back to the city of Ashur its protecting god; who let the name of
Ishtar of Nineveh remain in E-mish-mish; the Sublime, who humbles himself
before the great gods; successor of Sumula-il; the mighty son of Sin-muballit;
the royal scion of Eternity; the mighty monarch, the sun of Babylon, whose rays
shed light over the land of Sumer and Akkad; the king, obeyed by the four
quarters of the world; Beloved of Ninni, am I. When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to
give the protection of right to the land, I did right and righteousness in . .
. , and brought about the well-being of the oppressed.
CODE OF LAWS
1. If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not
prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death. 2. If any one bring an accusation against a
man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the
river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove
that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought
the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall
take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser. 3. If any one bring an accusation of any
crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if
it be a capital offense charged, be put to death. 4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a
fine of grain or money, he shall receive the fine that the action
produces. 5. If a judge try a case,
reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall
appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay
twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed
from the judge's bench, and never again shall he sit there to render
judgement. 6. If any one steal the
property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the
one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death. 7. If any one buy from the son or the slave
of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or
female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge,
he is considered a thief and shall be put to death. 8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an
ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall
pay thirtyfold therefor; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall
pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death. 9. If any one lose an article, and find it
in the possession of another: if the person in whose possession the thing is
found say "A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses,"
and if the owner of the thing say, "I will bring witnesses who know my
property," then shall the purchaser bring the merchant who sold it to him,
and the witnesses before whom he bought it, and the owner shall bring witnesses
who can identify his property. The judge shall examine their testimony--both of
the witnesses before whom the price was paid, and of the witnesses who identify
the lost article on oath. The merchant is then proved to be a thief and shall
be put to death. The owner of the lost article receives his property, and he
who bought it receives the money he paid from the estate of the merchant. 10. If the purchaser does not bring the
merchant and the witnesses before whom he bought the article, but its owner
bring witnesses who identify it, then the buyer is the thief and shall be put
to death, and the owner receives the lost article. 11. If the owner do not bring witnesses to
identify the lost article, he is an evil-doer,
he has traduced, and shall be put to death. 12. If the witnesses be not at hand, then
shall the judge set a limit, at the expiration of six months. If his witnesses
have not appeared within the six months, he is an evil-doer, and shall bear the
fine of the pending case. [editor's note: there is no 13th law in the code, 13
being considered and unlucky and evil number]
14. If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to
death. 15. If any one take a male or
female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside
the city gates, he shall be put to death.
16. If any one receive into his house a runaway male or female slave of
the court, or of a freedman, and does not bring it out at the public
proclamation of the major domus, the master of the house shall be put to
death. 17. If any one find runaway male
or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the
master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver. 18. If the slave will not give the name of
the master, the finder shall bring him to the palace; a further investigation
must follow, and the slave shall be returned to his master. 19. If he hold the slaves in his house, and
they are caught there, he shall be put to death. 20. If the slave that he caught run away
from him, then shall he swear to the owners of the slave, and he is free of all
blame. 21. If any one break a hole
into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and
be buried. 22. If any one is
committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death. 23. If the robber is not caught, then shall
he who was robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the
community, and . . . on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it was
compensate him for the goods stolen.
24. If persons are stolen, then shall the community and . . . pay one
mina of silver to their relatives. 25.
If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye
upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the
master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire. 26. If a chieftain or a man (common
soldier), who has been ordered to go upon the king's highway for war does not
go, but hires a mercenary, if he withholds the compensation, then shall this
officer or man be put to death, and he who represented him shall take
possession of his house. 27. If a
chieftain or man be caught in the misfortune of the king (captured in battle),
and if his fields and garden be given to another and he take possession, if he
return and reaches his place, his field and garden shall be returned to him, he
shall take it over again. 28. If a
chieftain or a man be caught in the misfortune of a king, if his son is able to
enter into possession, then the field and garden shall be given to him, he
shall take over the fee of his father.
29. If his son is still young, and can not take possession, a third of
the field and garden shall be given to his mother, and she shall bring him up. 30. If a chieftain or a man leave his
house, garden, and field and hires it out, and some one else takes possession
of his house, garden, and field and uses it for three years: if the first owner
return and claims his house, garden, and field, it shall not be given to him,
but he who has taken possession of it and used it shall continue to use
it. 31. If he hire it out for one year
and then return, the house, garden, and field shall be given back to him, and
he shall take it over again. 32. If a
chieftain or a man is captured on the "Way of the King" (in war), and
a merchant buy him free, and bring him back to his place; if he have the means
in his house to buy his freedom, he shall buy himself free: if he have nothing
in his house with which to buy himself free, he shall be bought free by the
temple of his community; if there be nothing in the temple with which to buy
him free, the court shall buy his freedom. His field, garden, and house shall
not be given for the purchase of his freedom.
33. If a . . . or a . . . enter himself as withdrawn from the "Way
of the King," and send a mercenary as substitute, but withdraw him, then
the . . . or . . . shall be put to death.
34. If a . . . or a . . . harm the property of a captain, injure the
captain, or take away from the captain a gift presented to him by the king,
then the . . . or . . . shall be put to death. 35. If any one buy the cattle or sheep
which the king has given to chieftains from him, he loses his money. 36. The field, garden, and house of a
chieftain, of a man, or of one subject to quit-rent, can not be sold. 37. If any one buy the field, garden, and
house of a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent, his contract tablet of
sale shall be broken (declared invalid) and he loses his money. The field,
garden, and house return to their owners.
38. A chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent can not assign his
tenure of field, house, and garden to his wife or daughter, nor can he assign
it for a debt. 39. He may, however,
assign a field, garden, or house which he has bought, and holds as property, to
his wife or daughter or give it for debt.
40. He may sell field, garden, and house to a merchant (royal agents) or
to any other public official, the buyer holding field, house, and garden for
its usufruct. 41. If any one fence in
the field, garden, and house of a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent,
furnishing the palings therefor; if the chieftain, man, or one subject to
quit-rent return to field, garden, and house, the palings which were given to
him become his property. 42. If any
one take over a field to till it, and obtain no harvest therefrom, it must be
proved that he did no work on the field, and he must deliver grain, just as his
neighbor raised, to the owner of the field.
43. If he do not till the field, but let it lie fallow, he shall give
grain like his neighbor's to the owner of the field, and the field which he let
lie fallow he must plow and sow and return to its owner. 44. If any one take over a waste-lying
field to make it arable, but is lazy, and does not make it arable, he shall plow
the fallow field in the fourth year, harrow it and till it, and give it back to
its owner, and for each ten gan (a measure of area) ten gur of grain shall be
paid. 45. If a man rent his field for
tillage for a fixed rental, and receive the rent of his field, but bad weather
come and destroy the harvest, the injury falls upon the tiller of the
soil. 46. If he do not receive a fixed
rental for his field, but lets it on half or third shares of the harvest, the
grain on the field shall be divided proportionately between the tiller and the
owner. 47. If the tiller, because he
did not succeed in the first year, has had the soil tilled by others, the owner
may raise no objection; the field has been cultivated and he receives the
harvest according to agreement. 48. If
any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest
fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give
his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for
this year. 49. If any one take money
from a merchant, and give the merchant a field tillable for corn or sesame and
order him to plant corn or sesame in the field, and to harvest the crop; if the
cultivator plant corn or sesame in the field, at the harvest the corn or sesame
that is in the field shall belong to the owner of the field and he shall pay
corn as rent, for the money he received from the merchant, and the livelihood
of the cultivator shall he give to the merchant. 50. If he give a cultivated corn-field or a
cultivated sesame-field, the corn or sesame in the field shall belong to the
owner of the field, and he shall return the money to the merchant as rent. 51. If he have no money to repay, then he
shall pay in corn or sesame in place of the money as rent for what he received
from the merchant, according to the royal tariff. 52. If the cultivator do not plant corn or
sesame in the field, the debtor's contract is not weakened. 53. If any one be too lazy to keep his dam
in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the
fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for
money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined. 54. If he be not able to replace the corn,
then he and his possessions shall be divided among the farmers whose corn he
has flooded. 55. If any one open his
ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water flood the field of
his neighbor, then he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss. 56. If a man let in the water, and the
water overflow the plantation of his neighbor, he shall pay ten gur of corn for
every ten gan of land. 57. If a shepherd,
without the permission of the owner of the field, and without the knowledge of
the owner of the sheep, lets the sheep into a field to graze, then the owner of
the field shall harvest his crop, and the shepherd, who had pastured his flock
there without permission of the owner of the field, shall pay to the owner
twenty gur of corn for every ten gan.
58. If after the flocks have left the pasture and been shut up in the
common fold at the city gate, any shepherd let them into a field and they graze
there, this shepherd shall take possession of the field which he has allowed to
be grazed on, and at the harvest he must pay sixty gur of corn for every ten
gan. 59. If any man, without the
knowledge of the owner of a garden, fell a tree in a garden he shall pay half a
mina in money. 60. If any one give
over a field to a gardener, for him to plant it as a garden, if he work at it,
and care for it for four years, in the fifth year the owner and the gardener
shall divide it, the owner taking his part in charge. 61. If the gardener has not completed the
planting of the field, leaving one part unused, this shall be assigned to him
as his. 62. If he do not plant the
field that was given over to him as a garden, if it be arable land (for corn or
sesame) the gardener shall pay the owner the produce of the field for the years
that he let it lie fallow, according to the product of neighboring fields, put
the field in arable condition and return it to its owner. 63. If he transform waste land into arable
fields and return it to its owner, the latter shall pay him for one year ten
gur for ten gan. 64. If any one hand
over his garden to a gardener to work, the gardener shall pay to its owner
two-thirds of the produce of the garden, for so long as he has it in
possession, and the other third shall he keep. 65. If the gardener do not work in the
garden and the product fall off, the gardener shall pay in proportion to other
neighboring gardens. [Here a portion of
the text is missing, apparently comprising thirty-four paragraphs.] 100. . . . interest for the money, as much
as he has received, he shall give a note therefor, and on the day, when they
settle, pay to the merchant. 101. If
there are no mercantile arrangements in the place whither he went, he shall
leave the entire amount of money which he received with the broker to give to
the merchant. 102. If a merchant
entrust money to an agent (broker) for some investment, and the broker suffer a
loss in the place to which he goes, he shall make good the capital to the
merchant. 103. If, while on the
journey, an enemy take away from him anything that he had, the broker shall
swear by God and be free of obligation.
104. If a merchant give an agent corn, wool, oil, or any other goods to
transport, the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and compensate the
merchant therefor. Then he shall obtain a receipt form the merchant for the
money that he gives the merchant. 105.
If the agent is careless, and does not take a receipt for the money which he
gave the merchant, he can not consider the unreceipted money as his own. 106. If the agent accept money from the
merchant, but have a quarrel with the merchant (denying the receipt), then
shall the merchant swear before God and witnesses that he has given this money
to the agent, and the agent shall pay him three times the sum. 107. If the merchant cheat the agent, in
that as the latter has returned to him all that had been given him, but the
merchant denies the receipt of what had been returned to him, then shall this
agent convict the merchant before God and the judges, and if he still deny
receiving what the agent had given him shall pay six times the sum to the
agent. 108. If a tavern-keeper
(feminine) does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of drink,
but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she
shall be convicted and thrown into the water.
109. If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these
conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper
shall be put to death. 110. If a
"sister of a god" open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then
shall this woman be burned to death.
111. If an inn-keeper furnish sixty ka of usakani-drink to . . . she
shall receive fifty ka of corn at the harvest. 112. If any one be on a journey and entrust
silver, gold, precious stones, or any movable property to another, and wish to
recover it from him; if the latter do not bring all of the property to the
appointed place, but appropriate it to his own use, then shall this man, who
did not bring the property to hand it over, be convicted, and he shall pay
fivefold for all that had been entrusted to him. 113. If any one have consignment of corn or
money, and he take from the granary or box without the knowledge of the owner,
then shall he who took corn without the knowledge of the owner out of the
granary or money out of the box be legally convicted, and repay the corn he has
taken. And he shall lose whatever commission was paid to him, or due him. 114. If a man have no claim on another for
corn and money, and try to demand it by force, he shall pay one-third of a mina
of silver in every case. 115. If any
one have a claim for corn or money upon another and imprison him; if the
prisoner die in prison a natural death, the case shall go no further. 116. If the prisoner die in prison from
blows or maltreatment, the master of the prisoner shall convict the merchant
before the judge. If he was a free-born man, the son of the merchant shall be
put to death; if it was a slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina of gold, and
all that the master of the prisoner gave he shall forfeit. 117. If any one fail to meet a claim for
debt, and sell himself, his wife, his son, and daughter for money or give them
away to forced labor: they shall work for three years in the house of the man
who bought them, or the proprietor, and in the fourth year they shall be set
free. 118. If he give a male or female
slave away for forced labor, and the merchant sublease them, or sell them for
money, no objection can be raised.
119. If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and he sell the maid
servant who has borne him children, for money, the money which the merchant has
paid shall be repaid to him by the owner of the slave and she shall be
freed. 120. If any one store corn for
safe keeping in another person's house, and any harm happen to the corn in
storage, or if the owner of the house open the granary and take some of the
corn, or if especially he deny that the corn was stored in his house: then the
owner of the corn shall claim his corn before God (on oath), and the owner of
the house shall pay its owner for all of the corn that he took. 121. If any one store corn in another man's
house he shall pay him storage at the rate of one gur for every five ka of corn
per year. 122. If any one give another
silver, gold, or anything else to keep, he shall show everything to some
witness, draw up a contract, and then hand it over for safe keeping. 123. If he turn it over for safe keeping
without witness or contract, and if he to whom it was given deny it, then he
has no legitimate claim. 124. If any
one deliver silver, gold, or anything else to another for safe keeping, before
a witness, but he deny it, he shall be brought before a judge, and all that he
has denied he shall pay in full. 125.
If any one place his property with another for safe keeping, and there, either
through thieves or robbers, his property and the property of the other man be
lost, the owner of the house, through whose neglect the loss took place, shall
compensate the owner for all that was given to him in charge. But the owner of
the house shall try to follow up and recover his property, and take it away
from the thief. 126. If any one who
has not lost his goods state that they have been lost, and make false claims:
if he claim his goods and amount of injury before God, even though he has not
lost them, he shall be fully compensated for all his loss claimed. (I.e., the
oath is all that is needed.) 127. If
any one "point the finger" (slander) at a sister of a god or the wife
of any one, and can not prove it, this man shall be taken before the judges and
his brow shall be marked. (by cutting the skin, or perhaps hair.) 128. If a man take a woman to wife, but
have no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him. 129. If a man's wife be surprised (in
flagrante delicto) with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the
water, but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves. 130. If a man violate the wife (betrothed
or child-wife) of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in
her father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put
to death, but the wife is blameless.
131. If a man bring a charge against one's wife, but she is not
surprised with another man, she must take an oath and then may return to her
house. 132. If the "finger is
pointed" at a man's wife about another man, but she is not caught sleeping
with the other man, she shall jump into the river for her husband. 133. If a man is taken prisoner in war, and
there is a sustenance in his house, but his wife leave house and court, and go
to another house: because this wife did
not keep her court, and went to another house, she shall be judicially condemned
and thrown into the water. 134. If any
one be captured in war and there is not sustenance in his house, if then his
wife go to another house this woman shall be held blameless. 135. If a man be taken prisoner in war and
there be no sustenance in his house and his wife go to another house and bear
children; and if later her husband return and come to his home: then this wife
shall return to her husband, but the children follow their father. 136. If any one leave his house, run away,
and then his wife go to another house, if then he return, and wishes to take
his wife back: because he fled from his home and ran away, the wife of this
runaway shall not return to her husband.
137. If a man wish to separate from a woman who has borne him children,
or from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her
dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she
can rear her children. When she has brought up her children, a portion of all
that is given to the children, equal as that of one son, shall be given to her.
She may then marry the man of her heart.
138. If a man wishes to separate from his wife who has borne him no
children, he shall give her the amount of her purchase money and the dowry
which she brought from her father's house, and let her go. 139. If there was no purchase price he
shall give her one mina of gold as a gift of release. 140. If he be a freed man he shall give her
one-third of a mina of gold. 141. If a
man's wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it, plunges into debt,
tries to ruin her house, neglects her husband, and is judicially convicted: if
her husband offer her release, she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing
as a gift of release. If her husband does not wish to release her, and if he
take another wife, she shall remain as servant in her husband's house. 142. If a woman quarrel with her husband,
and say: "You are not congenial to me," the reasons for her prejudice
must be presented. If she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but
he leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall
take her dowry and go back to her father's house. 143. If she is not innocent, but leaves her
husband, and ruins her house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be cast
into the water. 144. If a man take a
wife and this woman give her husband a maid-servant, and she bear him children,
but this man wishes to take another wife, this shall not be permitted to him;
he shall not take a second wife. 145.
If a man take a wife, and she bear him no children, and he intend to take
another wife: if he take this second wife, and bring her into the house, this
second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife. 146. If a man take a wife and she give this
man a maid-servant as wife and she bear him children, and then this maid assume
equality with the wife: because she has borne him children her master shall not
sell her for money, but he may keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the
maid-servants. 147. If she have not
borne him children, then her mistress may sell her for money. 148. If a man take a wife, and she be
seized by disease, if he then desire to take a second wife he shall not put
away his wife, who has been attacked by disease, but he shall keep her in the
house which he has built and support her so long as she lives. 149. If this woman does not wish to remain
in her husband's house, then he shall compensate her for the dowry that she
brought with her from her father's house, and she may go. 150. If a man give his wife a field,
garden, and house and a deed therefor, if then after the death of her husband
the sons raise no claim, then the mother may bequeath all to one of her sons
whom she prefers, and need leave nothing to his brothers. 151. If a woman who lived in a man's house
made an agreement with her husband, that no creditor can arrest her, and has
given a document therefor: if that man, before he married that woman, had a
debt, the creditor can not hold the woman for it. But if the woman, before she
entered the man's house, had contracted a debt, her creditor can not arrest her
husband therefor. 152. If after the
woman had entered the man's house, both contracted a debt, both must pay the
merchant. 153. If the wife of one man
on account of another man has their mates (her husband and the other man's
wife) murdered, both of them shall be impaled. 154. If a man be guilty of incest with his
daughter, he shall be driven from the place (exiled). 155. If a man betroth a girl to his son,
and his son have intercourse with her, but he (the father) afterward defile
her, and be surprised, then he shall be bound and cast into the water
(drowned). 156. If a man betroth a
girl to his son, but his son has not known her, and if then he defile her, he
shall pay her half a gold mina, and compensate her for all that she brought out
of her father's house. She may marry the man of her heart. 157. If any one be guilty of incest with
his mother after his father, both shall be burned. 158. If any one be surprised after his
father with his chief wife, who has borne children, he shall be driven out of
his father's house. 159. If any one,
who has brought chattels into his father-in-law's house, and has paid the
purchase-money, looks for another wife, and says to his father-in-law: "I
do not want your daughter," the girl's father may keep all that he had
brought. 160. If a man bring chattels
into the house of his father-in-law, and pay the "purchase price"
(for his wife): if then the father of the girl say: "I will not give you
my daughter," he shall give him back all that he brought with him. 161. If a man bring chattels into his
father-in-law's house and pay the "purchase price," if then his
friend slander him, and his father-in-law say to the young husband: "You
shall not marry my daughter," the he shall give back to him undiminished
all that he had brought with him; but his wife shall not be married to the
friend. 162. If a man marry a woman,
and she bear sons to him; if then this woman die, then shall her father have no
claim on her dowry; this belongs to her sons.
163. If a man marry a woman and she bear him no sons; if then this woman
die, if the "purchase price" which he had paid into the house of his
father-in-law is repaid to him, her husband shall have no claim upon the dowry
of this woman; it belongs to her father's house. 164. If his father-in-law do not pay back
to him the amount of the "purchase price" he may subtract the amount
of the "Purchase price" from the dowry, and then pay the remainder to
her father's house. 165. If a man give
to one of his sons whom he prefers a field, garden, and house, and a deed
therefor: if later the father die, and the brothers divide the estate, then
they shall first give him the present of his father, and he shall accept it;
and the rest of the paternal property shall they divide. 166. If a man take wives for his son, but
take no wife for his minor son, and if then he die: if the sons divide the
estate, they shall set aside besides his portion the money for the
"purchase price" for the minor brother who had taken no wife as yet,
and secure a wife for him. 167. If a
man marry a wife and she bear him children: if this wife die and he then take
another wife and she bear him children: if then the father die, the sons must
not partition the estate according to the mothers, they shall divide the
dowries of their mothers only in this way; the paternal estate they shall
divide equally with one another. 168.
If a man wish to put his son out of his house, and declare before the judge:
"I want to put my son out," then the judge shall examine into his
reasons. If the son be guilty of no great fault, for which he can be rightfully
put out, the father shall not put him out.
169. If he be guilty of a grave fault, which should rightfully deprive
him of the filial relationship, the father shall forgive him the first time;
but if he be guilty of a grave fault a second time the father may deprive his
son of all filial relation. 170. If
his wife bear sons to a man, or his maid-servant have borne sons, and the
father while still living says to the children whom his maid-servant has borne:
"My sons," and he count them with the sons of his wife; if then the
father die, then the sons of the wife and of the maid-servant shall divide the
paternal property in common. The son of the wife is to partition and
choose. 171. If, however, the father
while still living did not say to the sons of the maid-servant: "My
sons," and then the father dies, then the sons of the maid-servant shall
not share with the sons of the wife, but the freedom of the maid and her sons
shall be granted. The sons of the wife shall have no right to enslave the sons
of the maid; the wife shall take her dowry (from her father), and the gift that
her husband gave her and deeded to her (separate from dowry, or the
purchase-money paid her father), and live in the home of her husband: so long
as she lives she shall use it, it shall not be sold for money. Whatever she
leaves shall belong to her children.
172. If her husband made her no gift, she shall be compensated for her
gift, and she shall receive a portion from the estate of her husband, equal to
that of one child. If her sons oppress her, to force her out of the house, the
judge shall examine into the matter, and if the sons are at fault the woman
shall not leave her husband's house. If the woman desire to leave the house,
she must leave to her sons the gift which her husband gave her, but she may take
the dowry of her father's house. Then she may marry the man of her heart. 173. If this woman bear sons to her second
husband, in the place to which she went, and then die, her earlier and later
sons shall divide the dowry between them.
174. If she bear no sons to her second husband, the sons of her first
husband shall have the dowry. 175. If
a State slave or the slave of a freed man marry the daughter of a free man, and
children are born, the master of the slave shall have no right to enslave the
children of the free. 176. If,
however, a State slave or the slave of a freed man marry a man's daughter, and
after he marries her she bring a dowry from a father's house, if then they both
enjoy it and found a household, and accumulate means, if then the slave die,
then she who was free born may take her dowry, and all that her husband and she
had earned; she shall divide them into two parts, one-half the master for the
slave shall take, and the other half shall the free-born woman take for her
children. If the free-born woman had no gift she shall take all that her
husband and she had earned and divide it into two parts; and the master of the
slave shall take one-half and she shall take the other for her children. 177. If a widow, whose children are not
grown, wishes to enter another house (remarry), she shall not enter it without
the knowledge of the judge. If she enter another house the judge shall examine
the state of the house of her first husband. Then the house of her first
husband shall be entrusted to the second husband and the woman herself as
managers. And a record must be made thereof. She shall keep the house in order,
bring up the children, and not sell the house-hold utensils. He who buys the
utensils of the children of a widow shall lose his money, and the goods shall
return to their owners. 178. If a
"devoted woman" or a prostitute to whom her father has given a dowry
and a deed therefor, but if in this deed it is not stated that she may bequeath
it as she pleases, and has not explicitly stated that she has the right of
disposal; if then her father die, then her brothers shall hold her field and
garden, and give her corn, oil, and milk according to her portion, and satisfy
her. If her brothers do not give her corn, oil, and milk according to her
share, then her field and garden shall support her. She shall have the usufruct
of field and garden and all that her father gave her so long as she lives, but
she can not sell or assign it to others. Her position of inheritance belongs to
her brothers. 179. If a "sister
of a god," or a prostitute, receive a gift from her father, and a deed in
which it has been explicitly stated that she may dispose of it as she pleases,
and give her complete disposition thereof: if then her father die, then she may
leave her property to whomsoever she pleases. Her brothers can raise no claim
thereto. 180. If a father give a
present to his daughter--either marriageable or a prostitute
(unmarriageable)--and then die, then she is to receive a portion as a child
from the paternal estate, and enjoy its usufruct so long as she lives. Her
estate belongs to her brothers. 181.
If a father devote a temple-maid or temple-virgin to God and give her no
present: if then the father die, she shall receive the third of a child's
portion from the inheritance of her father's house, and enjoy its usufruct so
long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers. 182. If a father devote his daughter as a
wife of Mardi of Babylon (as in 181), and give her no present, nor a deed; if
then her father die, then shall she receive one-third of her portion as a child
of her father's house from her brothers, but Marduk may leave her estate to
whomsoever she wishes. 183. If a man
give his daughter by a concubine a dowry, and a husband, and a deed; if then
her father die, she shall receive no portion from the paternal estate. 184. If a man do not give a dowry to his
daughter by a concubine, and no husband; if then her father die, her brother
shall give her a dowry according to her father's wealth and secure a husband
for her. 185. If a man adopt a child
and to his name as son, and rear him, this grown son can not be demanded back
again. 186. If a man adopt a son, and
if after he has taken him he injure his foster father and mother, then this
adopted son shall return to his father's house. 187. The son of a paramour in the palace
service, or of a prostitute, can not be demanded back. 188. If an artizan has undertaken to rear a
child and teaches him his craft, he can not be demanded back. 189. If he has not taught him his craft,
this adopted son may return to his father's house. 190. If a man does not maintain a child
that he has adopted as a son and reared with his other children, then his
adopted son may return to his father's house.
191. If a man, who had adopted a son and reared him, founded a
household, and had children, wish to put this adopted son out, then this son
shall not simply go his way. His adoptive father shall give him of his wealth
one-third of a child's portion, and then he may go. He shall not give him of
the field, garden, and house. 192. If
a son of a paramour or a prostitute say to his adoptive father or mother:
"You are not my father, or my mother," his tongue shall be cut
off. 193. If the son of a paramour or
a prostitute desire his father's house, and desert his adoptive father and
adoptive mother, and goes to his father's house, then shall his eye be put
out. 194. If a man give his child to a
nurse and the child die in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and
mother nurse another child, then they shall convict her of having nursed
another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts
shall be cut off. 195. If a son strike
his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
[ An eye for an eye ] 197. If he break
another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed
man, he shall pay one gold mina. 199.
If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he
shall pay one-half of its value. 200.
If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out. [ A
tooth for a tooth ] 201. If he knock
out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina. 202. If any one strike the body of a man
higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in
public. 203. If a free-born man strike
the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold
mina. 204. If a freed man strike the
body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money. 205. If the slave of a freed man strike the
body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off. 206. If during a quarrel one man strike
another and wound him, then he shall swear, "I did not injure him
wittingly," and pay the physicians.
207. If the man die of his wound, he shall swear similarly, and if he
(the deceased) was a free-born man, he shall pay half a mina in money. 208. If he was a freed man, he shall pay
one-third of a mina. 209. If a man
strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten
shekels for her loss. 210. If the
woman die, his daughter shall be put to death. 211. If a woman of the free class lose her
child by a blow, he shall pay five shekels in money. 212. If this woman die, he shall pay half a
mina. 213. If he strike the
maid-servant of a man, and she lose her child, he shall pay two shekels in
money. 214. If this maid-servant die,
he shall pay one-third of a mina. 215.
If a physician make a large incision with an operating knife and cure it, or if
he open a tumor (over the eye) with an operating knife, and saves the eye, he
shall receive ten shekels in money.
216. If the patient be a freed man, he receives five shekels. 217. If he be the slave of some one, his
owner shall give the physician two shekels.
218. If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and
kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his
hands shall be cut off. 219. If a
physician make a large incision in the slave of a freed man, and kill him, he
shall replace the slave with another slave.
220. If he had opened a tumor with the operating knife, and put out his
eye, he shall pay half his value. 221.
If a physician heal the broken bone or diseased soft part of a man, the patient
shall pay the physician five shekels in money. 222. If he were a freed man he shall pay
three shekels. 223. If he were a slave
his owner shall pay the physician two shekels. 224. If a veterinary surgeon perform a
serious operation on an ass or an ox, and cure it, the owner shall pay the
surgeon one-sixth of a shekel as a fee.
225. If he perform a serious operation on an ass or ox, and kill it, he
shall pay the owner one-fourth of its value.
226. If a barber, without the knowledge of his master, cut the sign of a
slave on a slave not to be sold, the hands of this barber shall be cut
off. 227. If any one deceive a barber,
and have him mark a slave not for sale with the sign of a slave, he shall be
put to death, and buried in his house. The barber shall swear: "I did not
mark him wittingly," and shall be guiltless. 228. If a builder build a house for some
one and complete it, he shall give him a fee of two shekels in money for each
sar of surface. 229 If a builder build a house for some one, and
does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill
its owner, then that builder shall be put to death. 230. If it kill the son of the owner the
son of that builder shall be put to death.
231. If it kill a slave of the owner, then he shall pay slave for slave
to the owner of the house. 232. If it
ruin goods, he shall make compensation for all that has been ruined, and
inasmuch as he did not construct properly this house which he built and it
fell, he shall re-erect the house from his own means. 233. If a builder build a house for some
one, even though he has not yet completed it; if then the walls seem toppling,
the builder must make the walls solid from his own means. 234. If a shipbuilder build a boat of sixty
gur for a man, he shall pay him a fee of two shekels in money. 235. If a shipbuilder build a boat for some
one, and do not make it tight, if during that same year that boat is sent away
and suffers injury, the shipbuilder shall take the boat apart and put it
together tight at his own expense. The tight boat he shall give to the boat
owner. 236. If a man rent his boat to
a sailor, and the sailor is careless, and the boat is wrecked or goes aground,
the sailor shall give the owner of the boat another boat as compensation. 237. If a man hire a sailor and his boat,
and provide it with corn, clothing, oil and dates, and other things of the kind
needed for fitting it: if the sailor is careless, the boat is wrecked, and its
contents ruined, then the sailor shall compensate for the boat which was
wrecked and all in it that he ruined.
238. If a sailor wreck any one's ship, but saves it, he shall pay the
half of its value in money. 239. If a
man hire a sailor, he shall pay him six gur of corn per year. 240. If a merchantman run against a
ferryboat, and wreck it, the master of the ship that was wrecked shall seek
justice before God; the master of the merchantman, which wrecked the ferryboat,
must compensate the owner for the boat and all that he ruined. 241. If any one impresses an ox for forced
labor, he shall pay one-third of a mina in money. 242. If any one hire oxen for a year, he
shall pay four gur of corn for plow-oxen.
243. As rent of herd cattle he shall pay three gur of corn to the
owner. 244. If any one hire an ox or
an ass, and a lion kill it in the field, the loss is upon its owner. 245. If any one hire oxen, and kill them by
bad treatment or blows, he shall compensate the owner, oxen for oxen. 246. If a man hire an ox, and he break its
leg or cut the ligament of its neck, he shall compensate the owner with ox for
ox. 247. If any one hire an ox, and
put out its eye, he shall pay the owner one-half of its value. 248. If any one hire an ox, and break off a
horn, or cut off its tail, or hurt its muzzle, he shall pay one-fourth of its
value in money. 249. If any one hire
an ox, and God strike it that it die, the man who hired it shall swear by God
and be considered guiltless. 250. If
while an ox is passing on the street (market) some one push it, and kill it,
the owner can set up no claim in the suit (against the hirer). 251. If an ox be a goring ox, and it shown
that he is a gorer, and he do not bind his horns, or fasten the ox up, and the
ox gore a free-born man and kill him, the owner shall pay one-half a mina in
money. 252. If he kill a man's slave,
he shall pay one-third of a mina. 253.
If any one agree with another to tend his field, give him seed, entrust a yoke
of oxen to him, and bind him to cultivate the field, if he steal the corn or
plants, and take them for himself, his hands shall be hewn off. 254. If he take the seed-corn for himself,
and do not use the yoke of oxen, he shall compensate him for the amount of the
seed-corn. 255. If he sublet the man's
yoke of oxen or steal the seed-corn, planting nothing in the field, he shall be
convicted, and for each one hundred gan he shall pay sixty gur of corn. 256. If his community will not pay for him,
then he shall be placed in that field with the cattle (at work). 257. If any one hire a field laborer, he shall
pay him eight gur of corn per year.
258. If any one hire an ox-driver, he shall pay him six gur of corn per
year. 259. If any one steal a
water-wheel from the field, he shall pay five shekels in money to its
owner. 260. If any one steal a shadduf
(used to draw water from the river or canal) or a plow, he shall pay three
shekels in money. 261. If any one hire
a herdsman for cattle or sheep, he shall pay him eight gur of corn per
annum. 262. If any one, a cow or a
sheep . . . 263. If he kill the cattle
or sheep that were given to him, he shall compensate the owner with cattle for
cattle and sheep for sheep. 264. If a
herdsman, to whom cattle or sheep have been entrusted for watching over, and who
has received his wages as agreed upon, and is satisfied, diminish the number of
the cattle or sheep, or make the increase by birth less, he shall make good the
increase or profit which was lost in the terms of settlement. 265. If a herdsman, to whose care cattle or
sheep have been entrusted, be guilty of fraud and make false returns of the
natural increase, or sell them for money, then shall he be convicted and pay
the owner ten times the loss. 266. If
the animal be killed in the stable by God ( an accident), or if a lion kill it,
the herdsman shall declare his innocence before God, and the owner bears the
accident in the stable. 267. If the
herdsman overlook something, and an accident happen in the stable, then the
herdsman is at fault for the accident which he has caused in the stable, and he
must compensate the owner for the cattle or sheep. 268. If any one hire an ox for threshing,
the amount of the hire is twenty ka of corn.
269. If he hire an ass for threshing, the hire is twenty ka of
corn. 270. If he hire a young animal
for threshing, the hire is ten ka of corn.
271. If any one hire oxen, cart and driver, he shall pay one hundred and
eighty ka of corn per day. 272. If any
one hire a cart alone, he shall pay forty ka of corn per day. 273. If any one hire a day laborer, he
shall pay him from the New Year until the fifth month (April to August, when
days are long and the work hard) six gerahs in money per day; from the sixth
month to the end of the year he shall give him five gerahs per day. 274. If any one hire a skilled artizan, he
shall pay as wages of the . . . five gerahs, as wages of the potter five
gerahs, of a tailor five gerahs, of . . . gerahs, . . . of a ropemaker four
gerahs, of . . . gerahs, of a mason . . . gerahs per day. 275. If any one hire a ferryboat, he shall
pay three gerahs in money per day.
276. If he hire a freight-boat, he shall pay two and one-half gerahs per
day. 277. If any one hire a ship of
sixty gur, he shall pay one-sixth of a shekel in money as its hire per
day. 278. If any one buy a male or
female slave, and before a month has elapsed the benu-disease be developed, he
shall return the slave to the seller, and receive the money which he had
paid. 279. If any one by a male or
female slave, and a third party claim it, the seller is liable for the
claim. 280. If while in a foreign
country a man buy a male or female slave belonging to another of his own
country; if when he return home the owner of the male or female slave recognize
it: if the male or female slave be a native of the country, he shall give them
back without any money. 281. If they
are from another country, the buyer shall declare the amount of money paid
therefor to the merchant, and keep the male or female slave. 282. If a slave say to his master: "You
are not my master," if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.
THE EPILOGUE
LAWS of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established. A righteous law, and pious statute did he teach the land. Hammurabi, the protecting king am I. I have not withdrawn myself from the men, whom Bel gave to me, the rule over whom Marduk gave to me, I was not negligent, but I made them a peaceful abiding-place. I expounded all great difficulties, I made the light shine upon them. With the mighty weapons which Zamama and Ishtar entrusted to me, with the keen vision with which Ea endowed me, with the wisdom that Marduk gave me, I have uprooted the enemy above and below (in north and south), subdued the earth, brought prosperity to the land, guaranteed security to the inhabitants in their homes; a disturber was not permitted. The great gods have called me, I am the salvation-bearing shepherd, whose staff is straight, the good shadow that is spread over my city; on my breast I cherish the inhabitants of the land of Sumer and Akkad; in my shelter I have let them repose in peace; in my deep wisdom have I enclosed them. That the strong might not injure the weak, in order to protect the widows and orphans, I have in Babylon the city where Anu and Bel raise high their head, in E-Sagil, the Temple, whose foundations stand firm as heaven and earth, in order to bespeak justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all injuries, set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial stone, before the image of me, as king of righteousness. The king who ruleth among the kings of the cities am I. My words are well considered; there is no wisdom like unto mine. By the command of Shamash, the great judge of heaven and earth, let righteousness go forth in the land: by the order of Marduk, my lord, let no destruction befall my monument. In E-Sagil, which I love, let my name be ever repeated; let the oppressed, who has a case at law, come and stand before this my image as king of righteousness; let him read the inscription, and understand my precious words: the inscription will explain his case to him; he will find out what is just, and his heart will be glad, so that he will say: "Hammurabi is a ruler, who is as a father to his subjects, who holds the words of Marduk in reverence, who has achieved conquest for Marduk over the north and south, who rejoices the heart of Marduk, his lord, who has bestowed benefits for ever and ever on his subjects, and has established order in the land." When he reads the record, let him pray with full heart to Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady; and then shall the protecting deities and the gods, who frequent E-Sagil, graciously grant the desires daily presented before Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady. In future time, through all coming generations, let the king, who may be in the land, observe the words of righteousness which I have written on my monument; let him not alter the law of the land which I have given, the edicts which I have enacted; my monument let him not mar. If such a ruler have wisdom, and be able to keep his land in order, he shall observe the words which I have written in this inscription; the rule, statute, and law of the land which I have given; the decisions which I have made will this inscription show him; let him rule his subjects accordingly, speak justice to them, give right decisions, root out the miscreants and criminals from this land, and grant prosperity to his subjects. Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash has conferred right (or law) am I. My words are well considered; my deeds are not equaled; to bring low those that were high; to humble the proud, to expel insolence. If a succeeding ruler considers my words, which I have written in this my inscrip