typical examples are houses. The lender (M644) has a house in pledge. To
him it is rent-free until the loan is repaid. Hence the common phrase
“rent is nought, interest is nought.” There was then no reckoning made one
against the other.(691) The creditor might not, however, care to take the
pledge in perpetuity against interest of a loan, never repaid. Usually a
date was fixed for repayment, at which time the debtor was bound to take
back his pledge. Thus a house might be pledged definitely for three
years.(692)
(M645) A reckoning might also be made, to check off profit against
interest. Thus D pledges a field to L, but on condition that, if in any
year the crop is less than will meet the interest due, he shall pay the
difference; but if, on the other hand, it be worth more, he shall take the
balance.(693)
(M646) The value of the pledge might, however, be such that it would
outweigh both loan and interest. At any rate, it should be as valuable as
the loan. Hence it could not be used as a further pledge to another. There
is often a guarantee that the pledge given has not been already pledged,
that no other creditor has a lien upon it.
(M647) In these cases the creditor enters into possession of the pledge
and enjoyment of it. He has some responsibilities towards it. He cannot
destroy it, or waste it. As a rule, he assumed full liability for all
cases for wear and tear. He also fed and clothed a slave pledged to him.
Now and then we find the debtor responsible for clothing the slave pledged
by him.(694) It is not essential, however, to the idea of pledge that it
should come into the possession of the creditor, only it is hypothecated
to him. This practice was very common in later Babylonian times.(695)
(M648) Such pledges give an eventual possession. Something like a
reversion occurs in the pledge of a share not yet divided.(696) Thus a sum
was borrowed on the understanding that if not returned by the proper time,
a slave shall be handed over as an antichretic pledge.(697) The man who
gives a pledge may not be in actual possession of it, but pledges it on
the understanding that he will hand it over as soon as it becomes his.
Thus B bought a slave and her two young children for sixty-five shekels,
but before they were handed over, he pledged them for fifty-five shekels.
Nine months later he sold them for sixty shekels.(698)
(M649) A common case is where the debtor pledges all he has to the
creditor, a pledge usually greatly in excess of the value of the loan and
its interest for a reasonable term, but remains in possession himself.
Hence the creditor has only a right over the pledge, a lien upon it, but
no usufruct. For this he had the bond. This also gives only an eventual
possession.
(M650) We often meet with after-pledge. The creditor, being in possession
of the pledge, might traffic in its profits. If he held a house as pledge,
he was not bound to live in it, but could sublet it. Hence he might pledge
the rent of it. Or he could repay himself his loan by repledging the house
to another. He could also pledge the loan which was due to him. This makes
a rather complicated case.
(M651) Thus L makes an advance _a_ to D and receives a pledge _p_. He may
then pledge both _a_ and _p_. If these are given to two separate persons,
_a_ to A and _p_ to P, then P has a cause for uneasiness. If D comes in
and pays up _a_, he has a right to the pledge _p_ which is in P’s
possession. But the money he advanced is not thereby paid to him. Further,
A has a right to the money _a_ just paid in by D, which is all that is in
evidence. Hence L will have succeeded in getting two sums, and unless he
can succeed in realizing his investments of them, is called on to pay both
A and P with one amount. Either A or P may suffer. But if L pledges both
_a_ and _p_ to one man C, then C is quite independent of the relations of
L to D. Now D simply has to pay C and gets his pledge back. C is sure of
his money.
(M652) Such a transfer of the responsibility of D from L to C was effected
by handing over to C, with the pledge, also D’s bond to L. C now holds
this bond, which, with his pledge, D wishes to get back. The following is
a complicated case illustrating these points:(699) D had a house and
pledged it to L, who lived in it. Two others were guarantees that D would
repay the loan. The pledge was antichretic, “rent nothing, interest
nothing.” Now L wanted money; so he pledged the house to C. But he did not
wish to vacate. So he hired it of C, at such a rate that he would repay
C’s loan in about five years. It is clear that this house was not good
security for C, since D might turn out L at any time by repaying him. L
would then owe money to C for which C had no security at all. But L in
addition pledged all his own property, his slave, and all his goods in
town and country. Further, he not only pledged the house, but handed over
D’s bond to him. C thus held the house in after-pledge, and the advance
with its security in pledge. He was therefore amply secured, since D must
pay him.
Now L died and was succeeded by his son M. L had already paid nearly a
third of his debt. M thus owed less interest on the loan still due and was
accepted by C as tenant at a lower rent. By this means M really made a
small profit to himself. In three years M had paid off the whole sum
borrowed by his father, and due from him as heir and executor, so he gave
back his father’s bond to C, also D’s bond to L. Now D paid back his loan
to M. His bond to L was destroyed. The claim of C on D was annulled, the
guarantees of D were free. A final deed of settlement was drawn up, in
which C acknowledged that he had no claims on D or M, nor on D’s sureties.
He had to say this, because he was not only creditor to M, but as long as
he held transferred to him the pledge of D, and the credit of L, he was a
creditor with claims on D also. Further, M declares that he has no credit
on D.(700)
(M653) A guarantee arises from certain persons undertaking to fulfil a
responsibility which is legally incumbent on another, in case he fails to
do so himself; or to secure that he shall fulfil it himself. Thus,
guarantees are very frequent at all times, especially in the later
Babylonian period, and are of many different kinds.
(M654) A guarantee for debt was an additional security to the creditor. Of
course, the original debtor is the security that the guarantor shall not
lose. A good example showing all sides is the following bond for three
minas due from D to L. G and W come in and guarantee that D will pay; if
not, they will. To protect themselves, they take as a pledge of D some of
his people. But D paid and received back his people, so that the bond was
returned to D.(701) Why D did not give his people as pledge to L direct is
not clear. G and W were probably persons of greater credit and perhaps
related to D. The guarantor was sometimes called on to pay. Thus G
guarantees for D, is called on to pay and D repays him.(702) The guarantor
was legally protected against the defaulting debtor.(703)
(M655) A guarantee for appearance may have been only to come and pay, as
when G guarantees the creditor, a temple, that D will come on a fixed
date, and pay his debt; or if not, G will himself pay.(704) It may be a
guarantee that a man will not go away; by which may be meant escape
payment, or fail to appear for judgment. This is called a guarantee “for
the foot of” the person thus indorsed. The “foot” is said to be in the
“hand” of him who demands the guarantee. It often refers to debt. G
guarantees for the foot of D, out of the hand of L. If he goes away, G
will pay thirty-five _GUR_ of dates. Here G is the mother of D.(705) So,
probably on account of debt, G guarantees for the foot of D, his
son-in-law, from the hand of L;(706) again, G guarantees for D to L that D
will come on a certain day. G takes the responsibility for all D owes to
L, and will pay if D does not come.(707) Or, G guarantees for D and E that
they will not leave for another place. If they do, he will pay six
minas.(708)
(M656) But the appearance may be needed for a different purpose. G
guarantees to bring a witness to Opis, and give witness against L that one
who was guarantee for the foot of someone to L shall return at the right
time. If the guarantee shall prove that L was paid, he is free; if not, he
is bound to pay.(709)
D owed L a debt. L ceded this debt to M, but had to guarantee that D will
come and pay.(710)
(M657) Solidarity is in some cases a form of guarantee. Thus two men D and
E owe a debt to L. Each is taken as guarantee for the other that they will
pay.(711) This is one of the commonest forms of guarantee. The debt could
then be recovered in its entirety from either.
(M658) An example of a guarantee against theft is also found.(712)
(M659) A warrant against defects in a slave is very common. The seller
warrants that if the slave prove to have certain undisclosed defects,
vices, or liabilities, which would detract from his value to the buyer,
the seller will indemnify the buyer. This indemnification seems to be
effected by a return of the purchase-money and accepting the slave back.
But, in some cases, the seller returned part of the purchase-money
according to a fixed scale of allowances. In the sale of an estate, the
seller guarantees that he will indemnify the buyer in case of any defect
of title to sell, or any lien upon the estate.
(M660) Very common at all times was a personal guarantee not to dispute
the compact entered into. In fact, this may always be said to be assumed.
The oaths by which parties swore to observe the terms of the compact are a
form of this guarantee. The penalties, so prominent in Assyrian times, are
voluntary undertakings to forfeit stated sums, if found attempting to go
behind the contract.
(M661) As the pledge did not always leave the debtor’s possession, the
creditor only had a lien upon it. Hence the giver of the pledge had to
guarantee that no creditor had a previous lien upon it. This is also
extremely common. A slave pledged for debt might run away. His labor as
the offset against the interest was thus annulled. The borrower then
becomes liable for the interest lost to the creditor.(713)
XXV. Wages Of Hired Laborers
(M662) Despite the existence of slaves, who were for the most part
domestic servants, there was considerable demand for free labor in ancient
Babylonia. This is clear from the large number of contracts relating to
hire which have come down to us. The variability of the terms agreed upon
is witness for the existence of competition. As a rule, the man was hired
for the harvest and was free directly after. But there are many examples
in which the term of service was different—one month, half a year, or a
whole year.
(M663) One might hire labor from the master of a slave, or from the
parents of a young man, not yet independent, and then the wages were
small, a shekel or two. These wages were paid to the master or parents,
not to the laborer himself.
Reapers for the harvest had half a shekel,(714) or two shekels,(715) each.
The first may be the daily wages, the latter the price for a specific job.
It is probable that the _GUR_ of corn for ten days also represents the
wages for the whole period.(716)
(M664) Average wages have been estimated by Meissner(717) to be six
shekels per year, according to the Code, and some actual examples of
contracts. But it was evidently a matter of agreement, for we have rates
as low as four shekels and as high as eight. Usually the employer paid
down a sum, for example, a shekel, as earnest-money; the rest was paid by
a monthly or daily rate, or in a lump sum at the end of the term of
service. Occasionally the wages might be paid down at the start, but this
was rare and the amount less.
(M665) Very frequently, of course, the wages were paid in corn instead of
money. Many difficulties lie in the way of finding an equivalent of the
shekel in corn. Harvest labor was probably far dearer than any other,
because of its importance, the skill and exertion demanded, and the fact
that so many were seeking for it at once. Further, after harvest, when the
wages were paid, corn was at its lowest price. Meissner’s actual examples
show that two hundred and fifty _ḲA_ might be accepted as yearly wages. We
have such a variety of rates that it is difficult to draw any clear
conclusion, but two young slaves at harvest could earn three hundred _ḲA_,
and for a whole year the wages might be over six hundred _ḲA_, or even as
much as three _GUR_, or nine hundred _ḲA_.(718) The Code names ten _ḲA_ as
daily wages. The average value of a _GUR_ of corn was a shekel, hence this
gives a yearly rate of twelve shekels. In this case we may suppose that
the laborer supported himself.
(M666) The laborer had to be bound to perform his task. A penalty was
attached to his failure to appear at the proper time, and guarantees were
sometimes taken for his appearance. In other cases it is stipulated that
the penalty for non-appearance shall be fixed by the king’s decision.(719)
(M667) It was usual to name expressly the time of his commencing and
leaving off his work. These clauses are incidentally of importance as
fixing the names and sequence of the months at this period. Thus, from the
example below we see that the month Tirinu preceded Elul.
(M668) Of course, the employer took all responsibility for the slave whom
he hired. He fed and clothed him during his term of service. If he
suffered any injury, the employer had to compensate the master.
Occasionally the slave clothed himself,(720) and then his wages were
higher.
As an example we may take the following:(721)
Nâmir-nûrshu from Rutum, Rîsh-Shamash, son of Marduk-nâṣir, for
wages, for one year, has hired. His wages for one year,
twenty-four _ḲA_ of oil, he shall pay, and he shall clothe him. In
Elul he shall enter, in Tirinu he shall leave. Two witnesses.
Dated in the reign of Ḥammurabi.
(M669) In the Assyrian times we have certain examples of advances of corn,
or money, at harvest-time for the payment of reapers, which have already
been noticed under loans.(722) An advance of money and food to workmen may
perhaps be put here. But it is also a contract to do work. It reads thus:
Shamash-bâni-aplu, Latubashâni, Ukîn-abîa, Aḫu ... in all four
workmen. Two talents of bronze, three homers one _ŠE_ of cooked
corn. On the tenth of the month they shall do the work. All the
repairs and the beams they shall make fast. They shall fix the
balks, and set up the roof. If the bricks are not sufficient ...
the month they do not give, they shall work and finish. Then
follow seven witnesses. Dated on the sixth of some month, B.C.
734.
Unfortunately, parts of the tablet are injured and so the sense is not at
all clear; but the workmen seem to have had four days in which to do the
work. The price offered was considerable.
In later Babylonian times we do not obtain much further information. Here
is a good example:(723)
From the twentieth of Nisan to the tenth of Ab, Zamama-iddin, son
of Shamash-uballiṭ, son of the smith, shall be at the disposal of
Nabû-usallim, son of Limnîa, and he shall pay him as his wages ten
shekels of silver. He shall pay half the wages in Nisan and the
rest in Tammuz. Whoever breaks the contract shall pay five shekels
of silver.
The hire is nearly thirty shekels a year, as in the next example:(724)
Bultâ, son of Ḥabaṣiru, son of the oxherd, has put himself in the
hands of Marduk-nâṣir-apli, son of Itti-Marduk-balâṭu, son of
Egibi, for wages of half a mina of silver for one year. From the
first of Sebat shall Bultâ be at the disposal of
Marduk-nâṣir-apli. Bultâ has received one-third of a mina of
silver from Marduk-nâṣir-apli.
XXVI. Lease Of Property
(M670) In case of lease, the specifications of the house are usually the
same as in a sale. But this is often not so full, since the identity of
the house is less in evidence. A very interesting text referring to the
sale or lease of a house next to the palace, in the district of Tirḳa, a
house belonging to gods Shamash, Dagan, and Idur-mêr is published by M.
Thureau-Dangin in _Revue d’Assyriologie_.(725) It belonged to the King of
Ḥana, whose seal it bears. His name was Isar-lim, son of Idin-Kakka. The
receiver was Kaki-Dagan’s son. The oath was by Shamash, Dagan, Idur-mêr
and Isar-lim the king. The names are very interesting—Igid-lim, an
official of the god Amurrû; Idin-abu, king’s son; Ili-esuḫ, a judge;
Idin-Nani, son of Idin-Marduk; Sin-ukûr, son of Amur-sha-Dagan;
Iazi-Dagan; Ṭuri-Dagan; Ṣilli-Shamash. These prove that the land of Ḥana,
already known by a votive offering of one of its kings, Tukulti-mêr, was
largely Semitic. The names are either of the Babylonian or Aramaic type.
It is, of course, not easy to date, as the style of writing in Ḥana may
have been different from that in Babylonia at the same epoch.
(M671) Meissner estimates the average rent of a house to be one shekel per
annum. But there are noteworthy variations which, with our available data,
cannot be explained. Perhaps the best way is to take account of the size
of the house, usually given in the Babylonian fashion by the area of its
ground-plan. Rents were often paid in corn, but are so variable that a
value for corn in money cannot safely be deduced.
(M672) A small part of the rent was usually paid as earnest-money to close
the bargain. In the case of short leases the rest was paid on quitting the
house, in longer leases half-yearly. Usually the term of tenancy was
carefully stated. It was most commonly one year. The cost of repairs fell
on the tenant, according to the Code,(726) but he was forbidden to make
any alterations until he had paid over the earnest-money. The Code perhaps
only means to forbid his closing the door and fastening it, until the
deposit was made. The landlord, in fact, preserved the right of free entry
until then.
(M673) The usual term of lease for fields was three years. It is not
possible as yet to explain why three years was stipulated, but it was
probably due to something more than an accident of custom. Possibly a
rotation of crops or an alternation of crop and fallow may have been in
vogue.
(M674) According to the Code the tenant was bound to keep the land in good
condition. His duties included the ploughing or trenching, sowing the
seed, snaring or driving off the birds and stray beasts, weeding,
watering, and harvesting. Gardens he had to fence. The watering-machines
were of great importance and had to be kept in order. They were worked by
oxen—often as many as eight oxen were required to work them. A certain
amount of stock was frequently leased with the land. It is not clear that
oxen were used for the plough; they may have been kept for the
watering-machines.
(M675) The landlord was in a very real sense a partner with his tenant,
though he may be described as a “silent partner”.
In the case of the great temple landowners it seems to have been the
custom to supply a very large amount of the tenant’s necessities.
Seed-corn was frequently furnished, also corn for food for farmer and men,
until the crop was gathered. The stock and farm implements were also
provided by the landlord. This metayer system of leasing land probably
accounts for loans without interest. It is not clear that such a system
was already in vogue in early times.
(M676) In hiring a field it might be stipulated that the lessee should
place a dwelling upon it,(727) _manaḫtu ana eḳlim išakkanu_. Here the
field was at a distance from the city, “beyond the upper stream.” If the
crop was to be properly looked after, protected from birds, stray beasts,
and robbers the farmer must live there some part of the year. There was no
dwelling. The lessee was therefore called on to erect a dwelling. Probably
a simple edifice sufficed. At the end of the tenancy the tenant was called
on to resign this building.
(M677) There were two sorts of land. That called _AB-SIN_ or _šeru’_,
seems always to have paid six to eight _GUR_ of corn per _GAN_. The other
sort, _KI-DAN_, probably read _kigallu_, and certainly meaning land, not
cultivated but to be brought into cultivation, was exceedingly variable in
quality. It is set down for a rent of from three up to eighteen _GUR_ per
_GAN_, but some land is rented at seventy-two _GUR_ per _GAN_.(728)
(M678) On account of the hire, some deposit was usually made, which seems
to bear no direct relation to amount of rent. But while this was in many
cases money—one to three shekels—a number of cases exhibit a list of
quantities of food and drink. What these were it is difficult to say, as
the terms are written ideographically. But joints of meat, pieces of
flesh, drinks, bread and oil, seem to be intended. The custom is obscure.
Possibly these are set down as weekly or monthly rations secured on the
whole rent and to be set off against it later. That the quantities are in
some sense distributive is certain, “so much each,” but whether “each
person,” “each day,” “each month,” or “each year” is not stated. One
plausible suggestion is that the landlord, like the votary in the Code
whose brothers do not content her, let the farm to a man who covenanted to
support or maintain him. The contention is strengthened by the fact that
the cases known to us are all female landlords, and may actually be
examples of what the Code contemplates. Having only a life interest in the
property and being without capital, they could not afford to wait until
harvest to receive the rent, but needed a frequent allowance for
maintenance.
(M679) (M680) The lease of an estate for a term exceeding a few years was
always rare. One is found on a tablet which is one of the most interesting
of all those supposed to be of the First Dynasty of Babylon. The script
and the language recall Assyrian types most vividly and it is full of
non-Babylonian names, which suggest Hittite, or even Armenian, origin.
Unfortunately, it is not dated. It might well have been found at Kalaḫ, or
Asshur, and belong to somewhat early Assyrian times, perhaps before
Assyrian independence of Babylonia. Not one person named in it occurs in
the other tablets of the Bu. 91-5-9 Collection—a thing which cannot be
said of another of them. If this was really found with them, we can only
suppose that centralization was carried to such a pitch that important
legal documents, even when executed as far away as Assyria, or Mesopotamia
proper, had to be sent in duplicate to the capital of Babylonia. Or was it
possible that the principal party came to the capital with this document
in his possession, deposited it in the temple archives there, and died,
leaving no one to reclaim it.
Dr. T. G. Pinches gave a transcription and translation of the text in the
_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1897, pp. 589 ff., with many
interesting and valuable comments:
Six homers of corn [land] belonging to Ishtar-KI-TIL-LA, son of
Teḫip-TIL-LA, Kibîa, son of Palîa, Urḫîa, son of Itḫip-sharru, and
Irishenni, son of Iddin-PU-SI, have taken for three homers of
land, to harvest and transport. As long as Ishtar-KI-TIL-LA lives,
Kibîa, Urḫîa, and Irishenni shall transport the crop of three
homers of land and shall deliver the same in caldrons. If Kibîa,
Urḫîa, and Irishenni do not harvest and transport and deliver the
same in caldrons, and the corn perish, they shall pay in full one
mina of silver and one mina of gold to Ishtar-KI-TIL-LA. Each is
surety for the other. Before Aḫli-Têshup, son of Taishenni; before
Ukuia, son of Geshḫai; before Shellu, son of Wantia; before
Kushshu, son of Ḥuluḳḳu; before Durar-Têshup, son of Gil-Têshup;
before Aḫli-Babu, the _ḫazânu_, son of Nubananu; before Zinu, son
of Kiannibu, the scribe.
(M681) The names of the witnesses are here given in full because of their
exceptional interest. Until we are sure of his nationality it is scarcely
safe to suppose the principal’s name was really pronounced
Ishtar-kitilla—the latter part of the name may well be an ideogram. The
name of his father ending also in _TIL-LA_ suggests that that group of
signs is separable. If so, the signs read Ishtar-_KI_ may perhaps be
ideographic also. It is evident that Teḫip is from the same root as Itḫip,
and the form looks Semitic.