Transcribed from the 1903 T. & T. Clark edition by David Price, email
ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
THE OLDEST CODE OF LAWS IN THE WORLD
THE CODE OF LAWS PROMULGATED BY
HAMMURABI, KING OF BABYLON
B.C. 2285-2242
_TRANSLATED_
BY
C. H. W. JOHNS, M.A.
LECTURER IN ASSYRIOLOGY, QUEENS' COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
AUTHOR OF "ASSYRIAN DEEDS AND DOCUMENTS"
"AN ASSYRIAN DOOMSDAY BOOK"
EDINBURGH
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET
1903
PRINTED BY
MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED
FOR
T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
FIRST IMPRESSION . . . _February_ 1903.
SECOND IMPRESSION . . . _March_ 1903.
THIRD IMPRESSION . . . _May_ 1903.
FOURTH IMPRESSION . . . _June_ 1903.
"The discovery and decipherment of this Code is the greatest event in
Biblical Archaeology for many a day. A translation of the Code, done by
Mr. Johns of Queens' College, Cambridge, the highest living authority on
this department of study, has just been published by Messrs. T. & T.
Clark in a cheap and attractive booklet. Winckler says it is the most
important Babylonian record which has thus far been brought to
light."--_The Expository Times_.
INTRODUCTION
The Code of Hammurabi is one of the most important monuments in the
history of the human race. Containing as it does the laws which were
enacted by a king of Babylonia in the third millennium B.C., whose rule
extended over the whole of Mesopotamia from the mouths of the rivers
Tigris and Euphrates to the Mediterranean coast, we must regard it with
interest. But when we reflect that the ancient Hebrew tradition ascribed
the migration of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to this very period, and
clearly means to represent their tribe father as triumphing over this
very same Hammurabi (Amraphel, Gen. xiv. 1), we can hardly doubt that
these very laws were part of that tradition. At any rate, they must have
served to mould and fix the ideas of right throughout that great empire,
and so form the state of society in Canaan when, five hundred years
later, the Hebrews began to dominate that region.
Such was the effect produced on the minds of succeeding generations by
this superb codification of the judicial decisions of past ages, which
had come to be regarded as 'the right,' that two thousand years and more
later it was made a text-book for study in the schools of Babylonia,
being divided for that purpose into some twelve chapters, and entitled,
after the Semitic custom, _Ninu ilu sirum_, from its opening words. In
Assyria also, in the seventh century B.C., it was studied in a different
edition, apparently under the name of 'The Judgments of Righteousness
which Hammurabi, the great king, set up.' These facts point to it as
certain to affect Jewish views before and after the Exile, in a way that
we may expect to find as fundamental as the Babylonian influence in
cosmology or religion.
For many years fragments have been known, have been studied, and from
internal evidence ascribed to the period of the first dynasty of Babylon,
even called by the name Code Hammurabi. It is just cause for pride that
Assyriology, so young a science as only this year to have celebrated the
centenary of its birth, is able to emulate astronomy and predict the
discovery of such bright stars as this. But while we certainly should
have directed our telescopes to Babylonia for the rising of this light
from the East, it was really in Elam, at Susa, the old Persepolis, that
the find was made. The Elamites were the great rivals of Babylonia for
centuries, and it seems likely that some Elamite conqueror carried off
the stone from a temple at Sippara, in Babylonia.
However that may be, we owe it to the French Government, who have been
carrying on explorations at Susa for years under the superintendence of
M. J. de Morgan, that a monument, only disinterred in January, has been
copied, transcribed, translated, and published, in a superb quarto
volume, by October. The ancient text is reproduced by photogravure in a
way that enables a student to verify word by word what the able editor,
Father V. Scheil, _Professeur a l'Ecole des Hautes-Etudes_, has given as
his reading of the archaic signs. The volume, which appears as _Tome
IV., Textes Elamites-Semitiques_, of the _Memoires de la Delegation en
Perse_ (Paris, Leroux, 1902), is naturally rather expensive for the
ordinary reader. Besides, the rendering of the eminent French savant,
while distinguished by that clear, neat phrasing which is so charming a
feature of all his work, is often rather a paraphrase than a translation.
The ordinary reader who desires to estimate for himself the importance of
the new monument will be forced to wonder how and why the same word in
the original gets such different renderings. Prolonged study will be
needed to bring out fully the whole meaning of many passages, and it may
conduce to such a result to present the public with an alternative
rendering in an English dress. Needless to say, scholars will continue
to use Scheil's edition as the ultimate source, but for comparative
purposes a literal translation may be welcome as an introduction.
The monument itself consists of a block of black diorite, nearly eight
feet high, found in pieces, but readily rejoined. It contains on the
obverse a very interesting representation of the King Hammurabi,
receiving his laws from the seated sun-god Samas, 'the judge of heaven
and earth.' Then follow, on the obverse, sixteen columns of writing with
1114 lines. There were five more columns on this side, but they have
been erased and the stone repolished, doubtless by the Elamite conqueror,
who meant to inscribe his name and titles there. As we have lost those
five columns we may regret that he did not actually do this, but there is
now no trace of any hint as to who carried off the stone. On the reverse
side are twenty-eight columns with more than 2500 lines of inscription.
A great space, some 700 lines, is devoted by the king to setting out his
titles, his glory, his care for his subjects, his veneration of his gods,
and incidentally revealing the cities and districts under his rule, with
many interesting hints as to local cults. He also invokes blessing on
those who should preserve and respect his monument, and curses those who
should injure or remove it. A translation of this portion is not given,
as it is unintelligible without copious comment and is quite foreign to
the purpose of this book, which aims solely at making the Code
intelligible.
I desire to express my obligations to Dr. F. Carr for his many kind
suggestions as to the meaning of the Code.
The Index will, it is hoped, serve more or less as a digest of the Code.
One great difficulty of any translation of a law document must always be
that the technical expressions of one language cannot be rendered in
terms that are co-extensive. The rendering will have implications
foreign to the original. An attempt to minimise misconceptions is made
by suggesting alternative renderings in the Index. Further, by labelling
a certain section, as the law of incest, for example, one definitely
fixes the sense in which the translation is to be read. Hence it is
hoped that the Index will be no less helpful than the translation in
giving readers an idea of what the Code really meant.
No doubt this remarkable monument will be made the subject of many
valuable monographs in the future, which will greatly elucidate passages
now obscure. But it was thought that the interest of the subject
warranted an immediate issue of an English translation, which would place
the chief features of the Code before a wider public than those who could
read the original. The present translation is necessarily tentative in
many places, but it is hoped marks an advance over those already
published.
Dr. H. Winckler's rendering of the Code came into my hands after this
work was sent to the publishers, and I have not thought it necessary to
withdraw any of my renderings. In some points he has improved upon
Professor Scheil's work, in other points he is scarcely so good. But any
discussion is not in place here. I gratefully acknowledge my obligations
to both, but have used an independent judgment all through. I hope
shortly to set out my reasons for the differences between us in a larger
work. A few of Dr. Winckler's renderings are quoted in the Index, and
marked--Winckler's tr.
C. H. W. JOHNS.
CAMBRIDGE,
_January_ 31, 1903.
THE TEXT OF THE CODE
section 1. If a man weave a spell and put a ban upon a man, and has not
justified himself, he that wove the spell upon him shall be put to death.
section 2. If a man has put a spell upon a man, and has not justified
himself, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river, he
shall plunge into the holy river, and if the holy river overcome him, he
who wove the spell upon him shall take to himself his house. If the holy
river makes that man to be innocent, and has saved him, he who laid the
spell upon him shall be put to death. He who plunged into the holy river
shall take to himself the house of him who wove the spell upon him.
section 3. If a man, in a case pending judgement, has uttered threats
against the witnesses, or has not justified the word that he has spoken,
if that case be a capital suit, that man shall be put to death.
section 4. If he has offered corn or money to the witnesses, he shall
himself bear the sentence of that case.
section 5. If a judge has judged a judgement, decided a decision,
granted a sealed sentence, and afterwards has altered his judgement, that
judge, for the alteration of the judgement that he judged, one shall put
him to account, and he shall pay twelvefold the penalty which was in the
said judgement, and in the assembly one shall expel him from his
judgement seat, and he shall not return, and with the judges at a
judgement he shall not take his seat.
section 6. If a man has stolen the goods of temple or palace, that man
shall be killed, and he who has received the stolen thing from his hand
shall be put to death.
section 7. If a man has bought silver, gold, manservant or maidservant,
ox or sheep or ass, or anything whatever its name, from the hand of a
man's son, or of a man's slave, without witness and bonds, or has
received the same on deposit, that man has acted the thief, he shall be
put to death.
section 8. If a man has stolen ox or sheep or ass, or pig, or ship,
whether from the temple or the palace, he shall pay thirtyfold. If he be
a poor man, he shall render tenfold. If the thief has nought to pay, he
shall be put to death.
section 9. If a man who has lost something of his, something of his that
is lost has been seized in the hand of a man, the man in whose hand the
lost thing has been seized has said, 'A giver gave it me,' or 'I bought
it before witnesses,' and the owner of the thing that is lost has said,
'Verily, I will bring witnesses that know my lost property,' the buyer
has brought the giver who gave it him and the witnesses before whom he
bought it, and the owner of the lost property has brought the witnesses
who know his lost property, the judge shall see their depositions, the
witnesses before whom the purchase was made and the witnesses knowing the
lost property shall say out before God what they know; and if the giver
has acted the thief he shall be put to death, the owner of the lost
property shall take his lost property, the buyer shall take the money he
paid from the house of the giver.
section 10. If the buyer has not brought the giver who gave it him and
the witnesses before whom he bought, and the owner of the lost property
has brought the witnesses knowing his lost property, the buyer has acted
the thief, he shall be put to death; the owner of the lost property shall
take his lost property.
section 11. If the owner of the lost property has not brought witnesses
knowing his lost property, he has lied, he has stirred up strife, he
shall be put to death.
section 12. If the giver has betaken himself to his fate, the buyer
shall take from the house of the giver fivefold as the penalty of that
case.
section 13. If that man has not his witnesses near, the judge shall set
him a fixed time, up to six months, and if within six months he has not
driven in his witnesses, that man has lied, he himself shall bear the
blame of that case.
section 14. If a man has stolen the son of a freeman, he shall be put to
death.
section 15. If a man has caused either a palace slave or palace maid, or
a slave of a poor man or a poor man's maid, to go out of the gate, he
shall be put to death.
section 16. If a man has harboured in his house a manservant or a
maidservant, fugitive from the palace, or a poor man, and has not
produced them at the demand of the commandant, the owner of that house
shall be put to death.
section 17. If a man has captured either a manservant or a maidservant,
a fugitive, in the open country and has driven him back to his master,
the owner of the slave shall pay him two shekels of silver.
section 18. If that slave will not name his owner he shall drive him to
the palace, and one shall enquire into his past, and cause him to return
to his owner.
section 19. If he confine that slave in his house, and afterwards the
slave has been seized in his hand, that man shall be put to death.
section 20. If the slave has fled from the hand of his captor, that man
shall swear by the name of God, to the owner of the slave, and shall go
free.
section 21. If a man has broken into a house, one shall kill him before
the breach and bury him in it (?).
section 22. If a man has carried on brigandage, and has been captured,
that man shall be put to death.
section 23. If the brigand has not been caught, the man who has been
despoiled shall recount before God what he has lost, and the city and
governor in whose land and district the brigandage took place shall
render back to him whatever of his was lost.
section 24. If it was a life, the city and governor shall pay one mina
of silver to his people.
section 25. If in a man's house a fire has been kindled, and a man who
has come to extinguish the fire has lifted up his eyes to the property of
the owner of the house, and has taken the property of the owner of the
house, that man shall be thrown into that fire.
section 26. If either a ganger or a constable, whose going on an errand
of the king has been ordered, goes not, or hires a hireling and sends him
in place of himself, that ganger or constable shall be put to death; his
hireling shall take to himself his house.
section 27. If a ganger or a constable, who is diverted to the
fortresses of the king, and after him one has given his field and his
garden to another, and he has carried on his business, if he returns and
regains his city, one shall return to him his field and his garden, and
he shall carry on his business himself.
section 28. If a ganger or a constable who is diverted to the fortresses
of the king, his son be able to carry on the business, one shall give him
field and garden and he shall carry on his father's business.
section 29. If his son is young and is not able to carry on his father's
business, one-third of the field and garden shall be given to his mother,
and his mother shall rear him.
section 30. If a ganger or a constable has left alone his field, or his
garden, or his house, from the beginning of his business, and has caused
it to be waste, a second after him has taken his field, his garden, or
his house, and has gone about his business for three years, if he returns
and regains his city, and would cultivate his field, his garden, and his
house, one shall not give them to him; he who has taken them and carried
on his business shall carry it on.
section 31. If it is one year only and he had let it go waste, and he
shall return, one shall give his field, his garden, and his house, and he
shall carry on his business.
section 32. If a ganger or a constable who is diverted on an errand of
the king's, a merchant has ransomed him and caused him to regain his
city, if in his house there is means for his ransom, he shall ransom his
own self; if in his house there is no means for his ransom, he shall be
ransomed from the temple of his city; if in the temple of his city there
is not means for his ransom, the palace shall ransom him. His field, his
garden, and his house shall not be given for his ransom.
section 33. If either a governor or a magistrate has taken to himself
the men of the levy, or has accepted and sent on the king's errand a
hired substitute, that governor or magistrate shall be put to death.
section 34. If either a governor or a magistrate has taken to himself
the property of a ganger, has plundered a ganger, has given a ganger to
hire, has stolen from a ganger in a judgement by high-handedness, has
taken to himself the gift the king has given the ganger, that governor or
magistrate shall be put to death.
section 35. If a man has bought the cattle or sheep which the king has
given to the ganger from the hand of the ganger, he shall be deprived of
his money.
section 36. The field, garden, and house of a ganger, or constable, or a
tributary, he shall not give for money.
section 37. If a man has bought the field, garden, or house of a ganger,
a constable, or a tributary, his tablet shall be broken and he shall be
deprived of his money. The field, garden, or house he shall return to
its owner.
section 38. The ganger, constable, or tributary shall not write off to
his wife, or his daughter, from the field, garden, or house of his
business, and he shall not assign it for his debt.
section 39. From the field, garden, and house which he has bought and
acquired, he may write off to his wife or his daughter and give for his
debt.
section 40. A votary, merchant, or foreign sojourner may sell his field,
his garden, or his house; the buyer shall carry on the business of the
field, garden, or house which he has bought.
section 41. If a man has bartered for the field, garden, or house of a
ganger, constable, or tributary, and has given exchanges, the ganger,
constable, or tributary shall return to his field, garden, or house, and
shall keep the exchanges given him.
section 42. If a man has taken a field to cultivate and has not caused
the corn to grow in the field, and has not done the entrusted work on the
field, one shall put him to account and he shall give corn like its
neighbour.
section 43. If he has not cultivated the field and has left it to
itself, he shall give corn like its neighbour to the owner of the field,
and the field he left he shall break up with hoes and shall harrow it and
return to the owner of the field.
section 44. If a man has taken on hire an unreclaimed field for three
years to open out, and has left it aside, has not opened the field, in
the fourth year he shall break it up with hoes, he shall hoe it, and
harrow it, and return to the owner of the field, and he shall measure out
ten _GUR_ of corn _per GAN_.
section 45. If a man has given his field for produce to a cultivator,
and has received the produce of his field, and afterwards a thunderstorm
has ravaged the field or carried away the produce, the loss is the
cultivator's.
section 46. If he has not received the produce of his field, and has
given the field either for one-half or for one-third, the corn that is in
the field the cultivator and the owner of the field shall share according
to the tenour of their contract.
section 47. If the cultivator, because in the former year he did not set
up his dwelling, has assigned the field to cultivation, the owner of the
field shall not condemn the cultivator; his field has been cultivated,
and at harvest time he shall take corn according to his bonds.
section 48. If a man has a debt upon him and a thunderstorm ravaged his
field or carried away the produce, or the corn has not grown through lack
of water, in that year he shall not return corn to the creditor, he shall
alter his tablet and he shall not give interest for that year.
section 49. If a man has taken money from a merchant and has given to
the merchant a field planted with corn or sesame, and said to him,
'Cultivate the field, reap and take for thyself the corn and sesame which
there is,' if the cultivator causes to grow corn or sesame in the field,
at the time of harvest the owner of the field forsooth shall take the
corn or sesame which is in the field and shall give corn for the money
which he took from the merchant, and for its interests and for the
dwelling of the cultivator, to the merchant.
section 50. If the field was cultivated or the field of sesame was
cultivated when he gave it, the owner of the field shall take the corn or
sesame which is in the field and shall return the money and its interests
to the merchant.
section 51. If he has not money to return, the sesame, according to its
market price for the money and its interest which he took from the
merchant, according to the standard fixed by the king, he shall give to
the merchant.
section 52. If the cultivator has not caused corn or sesame to grow in
the field, he shall not alter his bonds.
section 53. If a man has neglected to strengthen his bank of the canal,
has not strengthened his bank, a breach has opened out itself in his
bank, and the waters have carried away the meadow, the man in whose bank
the breach has been opened shall render back the corn which he has caused
to be lost.
section 54. If he is not able to render back the corn, one shall give
him and his goods for money, and the people of the meadow whose corn the
water has carried away shall share it.
section 55. If a man has opened his runnel to water and has neglected
it, and the field of his neighbour the waters have carried away, he shall
pay corn like his neighbour.
section 56. If a man has opened the waters, and the plants of the field
of his neighbour the waters have carried away, he shall pay ten _GUR_ of
corn _per GAN_.
section 57. If a shepherd has caused the sheep to feed on the green
corn, has not come to an agreement with the owner of the field, without
the consent of the owner of the field has made the sheep feed off the
field, the owner shall reap his fields, the shepherd who without consent
of the owner of the field has fed off the field with sheep shall give
over and above twenty _GUR_ of corn _per GAN_ to the owner of the field.
section 58. If from the time that the sheep have gone up from the
meadow, and the whole flock has passed through the gate, the shepherd has
laid his sheep on the field and has caused the sheep to feed off the
field, the shepherd who has made them feed off the field one shall watch,
and at harvest time he shall measure out sixty _GUR_ of corn _per GAN_ to
the owner of the field.
section 59. If a man without the consent of the owner of the orchard has
cut down a tree in a man's orchard, he shall pay half a mina of silver.
section 60. If a man has given a field to a gardener to plant a garden
and the gardener has planted the garden, four years he shall rear the
garden, in the fifth year the owner of the garden and the gardener shall
share equally, the owner of the garden shall cut off his share and take
it.
section 61. If the gardener has not included all the field in the
planting, has left a waste place, he shall set the waste place in the
share which he takes.
section 62. If the field which has been given him to plant he has not
planted as a garden, if it was corn land, the gardener shall measure out
corn to the owner of the field, like its neighbour, as produce of the
field for the years that are neglected, and he shall do the ordered work
on the field and return to the owner of the field.
section 63. If the field was unreclaimed land, he shall do the ordered
work on the field and return it to the owner of the field and measure out
ten _GUR_ of corn _per GAN_ for each year.
section 64. If a man has given his garden to a gardener to farm, the
gardener as long as he holds the garden shall give to the owner of the
garden two-thirds from the produce of the garden, and he himself shall
take one-third.
section 65. If the gardener does not farm the garden and has diminished
the yield, he shall measure out the yield of the garden like its
neighbour.
NOTE.--Here five columns of the monument have been erased, only the
commencing characters of column xvii. being visible. The subjects of
this last part included the further enactments concerning the rights and
duties of gardeners, the whole of the regulations concerning houses let
to tenants, and the relationships of the merchant to his agents, which
continue on the obverse of the monument. [See page 58.] Scheil estimates
the lost portion at 35 sections, and following him we recommence with
section 100. . . . the interests of the money, as much as he took, he
shall write down, and when he has numbered his days he shall answer his
merchant.
section 101. If where he has gone he has not seen prosperity, he shall
make up and return the money he took, and the agent shall give to the
merchant.
section 102. If a merchant has given to the agent money as a favour, and
where he has gone he has seen loss, the full amount of money he shall
return to the merchant.
section 103. If while he goes on his journey the enemy has made him quit
whatever he was carrying, the agent shall swear by the name of God and
shall go free.
section 104. If the merchant has given to the agent corn, wool, oil, or
any sort of goods, to traffic with, the agent shall write down the price
and hand over to the merchant; the agent shall take a sealed memorandum
of the price which he shall give to the merchant.
section 105. If an agent has forgotten and has not taken a sealed
memorandum of the money he has given to the merchant, money that is not
sealed for, he shall not put in his accounts.
section 106. If an agent has taken money from a merchant and his
merchant has disputed with him, that merchant shall put the agent to
account before God and witnesses concerning the money taken, and the
agent shall give to the merchant the money as much as he has taken
threefold.
section 107. If a merchant has wronged an agent and the agent has
returned to his merchant whatever the merchant gave him, the merchant has
disputed with the agent as to what the agent gave him, that agent shall
put the merchant to account before God and witnesses, and the merchant
because he disputed the agent shall give to the agent whatever he has
taken sixfold.
section 108. If a wine merchant has not received corn as the price of
drink, has received silver by the great stone, and has made the price of
drink less than the price of corn, that wine merchant one shall put her
to account and throw her into the water.
section 109. If a wine merchant has collected a riotous assembly in her
house and has not seized those rioters and driven them to the palace,
that wine merchant shall be put to death.
section 110. If a votary, a lady, who is not living in the convent, has
opened a wine shop or has entered a wine shop for drink, that woman one
shall burn her.
section 111. If a wine merchant has given sixty _KA_ of best beer at
harvest time for thirst, she shall take fifty _KA_ of corn.
section 112. If a man stays away on a journey and has given silver,
gold, precious stones, or treasures of his hand to a man, has caused him
to take them for transport, and that man whatever was for transport,
where he has transported has not given and has taken to himself, the
owner of the transported object, that man, concerning whatever he had to
transport and gave not, shall put him to account, and that man shall give
to the owner of the transported object fivefold whatever was given him.
section 113. If a man has corn or money upon a man, and without consent
of the owner of the corn has taken corn from the heap or from the store,
that man for taking of the corn without consent of the owner of the corn
from the heap or from the store, one shall put him to account, and he
shall return the corn as much as he has taken, and shall lose all that he
gave whatever it be.
section 114. If a man has not corn or money upon a man and levies a
distraint, for every single distraint he shall pay one-third of a mina.
section 115. If a man has corn or money upon a man and has levied a
distraint, and the distress in the house of his distrainer dies a natural
death, that case has no penalty.
section 116. If the distress has died in the house of his distrainer, of
blows or of want, the owner of the distress shall put his merchant to
account, and if he be the son of a freeman (that has died), his son one
shall kill; if the slave of a free-man, he shall pay one-third of a mina
of silver, and he shall lose all that he gave whatever it be.
section 117. If a man a debt has seized him, and he has given his wife,
his son, his daughter for the money, or has handed over to work off the
debt, for three years they shall work in the house of their buyer or
exploiter, in the fourth year he shall fix their liberty.
section 118. If he has handed over a manservant or a maidservant to work
off a debt, and the merchant shall remove and sell them for money, no one
can object.
section 119. If a debt has seized a man, and he has handed over for the
money a maidservant who has borne him children, the money the merchant
paid him the owner of the maid shall pay, and he shall ransom his maid.
section 120. If a man has heaped up his corn in a heap in the house of a
man, and in the granary a disaster has taken place, or the owner of the
house has opened the granary and taken the corn, or has disputed as to
the total amount of the corn that was heaped up in his house, the owner
of the corn shall recount his corn before God, the owner of the house
shall make up and return the corn which he took and shall give to the
owner of the corn.
section 121. If a man has heaped up corn in the house of a man, he shall
give as the price of storage five _KA_ of corn _per GUR_ of corn _per
annum_.
section 122. If a man shall give silver, gold, or anything whatever, to
a man on deposit, all whatever he shall give he shall shew to witnesses
and fix bonds and shall give on deposit.
section 123. If without witness and bonds he has given on deposit, and
where he has deposited they keep disputing him, this case has no remedy.
section 124. If a man has given silver, gold, or anything whatever to a
man on deposit before witnesses and he has disputed with him, one shall
put that man to account, and whatever he has disputed he shall make up
and shall give.
section 125. If a man has given anything of his on deposit, and where he
gave it, either by housebreaking or by rebellion, something of his has
been lost, along with something of the owner of the house, the owner of
the house who has defaulted all that was given him on deposit and has
been lost, he shall make good and render to the owner of the goods, the
owner of the house shall seek out whatever of his is lost and take it
from the thief.
section 126. If a man has lost nothing of his, but has said that
something of his is lost, has exaggerated his loss, since nothing of his
is lost, his loss he shall recount before God, and whatever he has
claimed he shall make up and shall give to his loss.
section 127. If a man has caused the finger to be pointed against a
votary, or a man's wife, and has not justified himself, that man they
shall throw down before the judge and brand his forehead.
section 128. If a man has married a wife and has not laid down her
bonds, that woman is no wife.
section 129. If the wife of a man has been caught in lying with another
male, one shall bind them and throw them into the waters. If the owner
of the wife would save his wife or the king would save his servant (he
may).
section 130. If a man has forced the wife of a man who has not known the
male and is dwelling in the house of her father, and has lain in her
bosom and one has caught him, that man shall be killed, the woman herself
shall go free.
section 131. If the wife of a man her husband has accused her, and she
has not been caught in lying with another male, she shall swear by God
and shall return to her house.
section 132. If a wife of a man on account of another male has had the
finger pointed at her, and has not been caught in lying with another
male, for her husband she shall plunge into the holy river.
section 133. If a man has been taken captive and in his house there is
maintenance, his wife has gone out from her house and entered into the
house of another, because that woman has not guarded her body, and has
entered into the house of another, one shall put that woman to account
and throw her into the waters.
section 134. If a man has been taken captive and in his house there is
no maintenance, and his wife has entered into the house of another, that
woman has no blame.
section 135. If a man has been taken captive and in his house there is
no maintenance before her, his wife has entered into the house of another
and has borne children, afterwards her husband has returned and regained
his city, that woman shall return to her bridegroom, the children shall
go after their father.
section 136. If a man has left his city and fled, after him his wife has
entered the house of another, if that man shall return and has seized his
wife, because he hated his city and fled, the wife of the truant shall
not return to her husband.
section 137. If a man has set his face to put away his concubine who has
borne him children or his wife who has granted him children, to that
woman he shall return her her marriage portion and shall give her the
usufruct of field, garden, and goods, and she shall bring up her
children. From the time that her children are grown up, from whatever is
given to her children they shall give her a share like that of one son,
and she shall marry the husband of her choice.
section 138. If a man has put away his bride who has not borne him
children, he shall give her money as much as her dowry, and shall pay her
the marriage portion which she brought from her father's house, and shall
put her away.
section 139. If there was no dowry, he shall give her one mina of silver
for a divorce.
section 140. If he is a poor man, he shall give her one-third of a mina
of silver.
section 141. If the wife of a man who is living in the house of her
husband has set her face to go out and has acted the fool, has wasted her
house, has belittled her husband, one shall put her to account, and if
her husband has said, 'I put her away,' he shall put her away and she
shall go her way, he shall not give her anything for her divorce. If her
husband has not said 'I put her away,' her husband shall marry another
woman, that woman as a maidservant shall dwell in the house of her
husband.
section 142. If a woman hates her husband and has said 'Thou shalt not
possess me,' one shall enquire into her past what is her lack, and if she
has been economical and has no vice, and her husband has gone out and
greatly belittled her, that woman has no blame, she shall take her
marriage portion and go off to her father's house.
section 143. If she has not been economical, a goer about, has wasted
her house, has belittled her husband, that woman one shall throw her into
the waters.
section 144. If a man has espoused a votary, and that votary has given a
maid to her husband and has brought up children, that man has set his
face to take a concubine, one shall not countenance that man, he shall
not take a concubine.
section 145. If a man has espoused a votary, and she has not granted him
children and he has set his face to take a concubine, that man shall take
a concubine, he shall cause her to enter into his house. That concubine
he shall not put on an equality with the wife.
section 146. If a man has espoused a votary, and she has given a maid to
her husband and she has borne children, afterwards that maid has made
herself equal with her mistress, because she has borne children her
mistress shall not sell her for money, she shall put a mark upon her and
count her among the maidservants.
section 147. If she has not borne children her mistress may sell her for
money.
section 148. If a man has married a wife and a sickness has seized her,
he has set his face to marry a second wife, he may marry her, his wife
whom the sickness has seized he shall not put her away, in the home she
shall dwell, and as long as she lives he shall sustain her.
section 149. If that woman is not content to dwell in the house of her
husband, he shall pay her her marriage portion which she brought from her
father's house, and she shall go off.
section 150. If a man to his wife has set aside field, garden, house, or
goods, has left her a sealed deed, after her husband her children shall
not dispute her, the mother after her to her children whom she loves
shall give, to brothers she shall not give.
section 151. If a woman, who is dwelling in the house of a man, her
husband has bound himself that she shall not be seized on account of a
creditor of her husband's, has granted a deed, if that man before he
married that woman had a debt upon him, the creditor shall not seize his
wife, and if that woman before she entered the man's house had a debt
upon her, her creditor shall not seize her husband.
section 152. If from the time that that woman entered into the house of
the man a debt has come upon them, both together they shall answer the
merchant.
section 153. If a man's wife on account of another male has caused her
husband to be killed, that woman upon a stake one shall set her.
section 154. If a man has known his daughter, that man one shall expel
from the city.
section 155. If a man has betrothed a bride to his son and his son has
known her, and he afterwards has lain in her bosom and one has caught
him, that man one shall bind and cast her into the waters.
section 156. If a man has betrothed a bride to his son and his son has
not known her, and he has lain in her bosom, he shall pay her half a mina
of silver and shall pay to her whatever she brought from her father's
house, and she shall marry the husband of her choice.
section 157. If a man, after his father, has lain in the bosom of his
mother, one shall burn them both of them together.
section 158. If a man, after his father, has been caught in the bosom of
her that brought him up, who has borne children, that man shall be cut
off from his father's house.
section 159. If a man who has brought in a present to the house of his
father-in-law, has given a dowry, has looked upon another woman, and has
said to his father-in-law, 'Thy daughter I will not marry,' the father of
the daughter shall take to himself all that he brought him.
section 160. If a man has brought in a present to the house of his
father-in-law, has given a dowry, and the father of the daughter has
said, 'My daughter I will not give thee,' he shall make up and return
everything that he brought him.
section 161. If a man has brought in a present to the house of his
father-in-law, has given a dowry, and a comrade of his has slandered him,
his father-in-law has said to the claimant of the wife, 'My daughter thou
shalt not espouse,' he shall make up and return all that he brought him,
and his comrade shall not marry his wife.
section 162. If a man has married a wife and she has borne him children,
and that woman has gone to her fate, her father shall have no claim on
her marriage portion, her marriage portion is her children's forsooth.
section 163. If a man has married a wife, and she has not granted him
children, that woman has gone to her fate, if his father-in-law has
returned him the dowry that that man brought to the house of his father-
in-law, her husband shall have no claim on the marriage portion of that
woman, her marriage portion belongs to the house of her father forsooth.
section 164. If his father-in-law has not returned him the dowry, he
shall deduct all her dowry from his marriage portion and shall return her
marriage portion to the house of her father.
section 165. If a man has apportioned to his son, the first in his eyes,
field, garden, and house, has written him a sealed deed, after the father
has gone to his fate, when the brothers divide, the present his father
gave him he shall take, and over and above he shall share equally in the
goods of the father's house.
section 166. If a man, in addition to the children which he has
possessed, has taken a wife, for his young son has not taken a wife,
after the father has gone to his fate, when the brothers divide, from the
goods of the father's house to their young brother who has not taken a
wife, beside his share, they shall assign him money as a dowry and shall
cause him to take a wife.
section 167. If a man has taken a wife, and she has borne him sons, that
woman has gone to her fate, after her, he has taken to himself another
woman and she has borne children, afterwards the father has gone to his
fate, the children shall not share according to their mothers, they shall
take the marriage portions of their mothers and shall share the goods of
their father's house equally.
section 168. If a man has set his face to cut off his son, has said to
the judge 'I will cut off my son,' the judge shall enquire into his
reasons, and if the son has not committed a heavy crime which cuts off
from sonship, the father shall not cut off his son from sonship.
section 169. If he has committed against his father a heavy crime which
cuts off from sonship, for the first time the judge shall bring back his
face; if he has committed a heavy crime for the second time, the father
shall cut off his son from sonship.
section 170. If a man his wife has borne him sons, and his maidservant
has borne him sons, the father in his lifetime has said to the sons which
the maidservant has borne him 'my sons,' has numbered them with the sons
of his wife, after the father has gone to his fate, the sons of the wife
and the sons of the maidservant shall share equally in the goods of the
father's house; the sons that are sons of the wife at the sharing shall
choose and take.
section 171. And if the father in his lifetime, to the sons which the
maidservant bore him, has not said 'my sons,' after the father has gone
to his fate the sons of the maid shall not share with the sons of the
wife in the goods of the father's house, one shall assign the maidservant
and her sons freedom; the sons of the wife shall have no claim on the
sons of the maidservant for servitude, the wife shall take her marriage
portion and the settlement which her husband gave her and wrote in a deed
for her and shall dwell in the dwelling of her husband, as long as lives
she shall enjoy, for money she shall not give, after her they are her
sons' forsooth.
section 172. If her husband did not give her a settlement, one shall pay
her her marriage portion, and from the goods of her husband's house she
shall take a share like one son. If her sons worry her to leave the
house, the judge shall enquire into her reasons and shall lay the blame
on the sons, that woman shall not go out of her husband's house. If that
woman has set her face to leave, the settlement which her husband gave
her she shall leave to her sons, the marriage portion from her father's
house she shall take and she shall marry the husband of her choice.
section 173. If that woman where she has entered shall have borne
children to her later husband after that woman has died, the former and
later sons shall share her marriage portion.
section 174. If she has not borne children to her later husband, the
sons of her bridegroom shall take her marriage portion.
section 175. If either the slave of the palace or the slave of the poor
man has taken to wife the daughter of a gentleman, and she has borne
sons, the owner of the slave shall have no claim on the sons of the
daughter of a gentleman for servitude.
section 176. And if a slave of the palace or the slave of a poor man has
taken to wife the daughter of a gentleman and, when he married her, with
a marriage portion from her father's house she entered into the house of
the slave of the palace, or of the slave of the poor man, and from the
time that they started to keep house and acquired property, after either
the servant of the palace or the servant of the poor man has gone to his
fate, the daughter of the gentleman shall take her marriage portion, and
whatever her husband and she from the time they started have acquired one
shall divide in two parts and the owner of the slave shall take one-half,
the daughter of a gentleman shall take one-half for her children. If the
gentleman's daughter had no marriage portion, whatever her husband and
she from the time they started have acquired one shall divide into two
parts, and the owner of the slave shall take half, the gentleman's
daughter shall take half for her sons.
section 177. If a widow whose children are young has set her face to
enter into the house of another, without consent of a judge she shall not
enter. When she enters into the house of another the judge shall enquire
into what is left of her former husband's house, and the house of her
former husband to her later husband, and that woman he shall entrust and
cause them to receive a deed. They shall keep the house and rear the
little ones. Not a utensil shall they give for money. The buyer that
has bought a utensil of a widow's sons shall lose his money and shall
return the property to its owners.
section 178. If a lady, votary, or a vowed woman whose father has
granted her a marriage portion, has written her a deed, in the deed he
has written her has not, however, written her 'after her wherever is good
to her to give,' has not permitted her all her choice, after the father
has gone to his fate, her brothers shall take her field and her garden,
and according to the value of her share shall give her corn, oil, and
wool, and shall content her heart. If her brothers have not given her
corn, oil, and wool according to the value of her share, and have not
contented her heart, she shall give her field or her garden to a
cultivator, whoever pleases her, and her cultivator shall sustain her.
The field, garden, or whatever her father has given her she shall enjoy
as long as she lives, she shall not give it for money, she shall not
answer to another, her sonship is her brothers' forsooth.
section 179. If a lady, a votary, or a woman vowed, whose father has
granted her a marriage portion, has written her a deed, in the deed he
wrote her has written her 'after her wherever is good to her to give,'
has allowed to her all her choice, after the father has gone to his fate,
after her wherever is good to her she shall give, her brothers have no
claim on her.
section 180. If a father to his daughter a votary, bride, or vowed woman
has not granted a marriage portion, after the father has gone to his
fate, she shall share in the goods of the father's house a share like one
son, as long as she lives she shall enjoy, after her it is her brothers'
forsooth.
section 181. If a father has vowed to God a votary, hierodule, or _NU-
BAR_, and has not granted her a marriage portion, after the father has
gone to his fate she shall share in the goods of the father's house one-
third of her sonship share and shall enjoy it as long as she lives, after
her it is her brothers' forsooth.
section 182. If a father, to his daughter, a votary of Marduk, of
Babylon, has not granted her a marriage portion, has not written her a
deed, after the father has gone to his fate, she shall share with her
brothers in the goods of the father's house, one-third of her sonship
share, and shall pay no tax; a votary of Marduk, after her, shall give
wherever it is good to her.
section 183. If a father to his daughter, a concubine, has granted her a
marriage portion, has given her to a husband, has written her a deed,
after the father has gone to his fate, she shall not share in the goods
of the father's house.
section 184. If a man to his daughter, a concubine, has not granted a
marriage portion, has not given her to a husband, after the father has
gone to his fate, her brothers according to the capacity of the father's
house, shall grant her a marriage portion and shall give her to a
husband.
section 185. If a man has taken a young child 'from his waters' to
sonship, and has reared him up, no one has any claim against that
nursling.
section 186. If a man has taken a young child to sonship, and when he
took him his father and mother rebelled, that nursling shall return to
his father's house.
section 187. The son of a _NER-SE-GA_, a palace warder, or the son of a
vowed woman no one has any claim upon.
section 188. If an artisan has taken a son to bring up, and has caused
him to learn his handicraft, no one has any claim.
section 189. If he has not caused him to learn his handicraft, that
nursling shall return to his father's house.
section 190. If a man the child whom he took to his sonship and has
brought him up, has not numbered him with his sons, that nursling shall
return to his father's house.
section 191. If a man, after a young child whom he has taken to his
sonship and brought him up, has made a house for himself and acquired
children, and has set his face to cut off the nursling, that child shall
not go his way, the father that brought him up shall give to him from his
goods one-third of his sonship, and he shall go off; from field, garden,
and house he shall not give him.