father that brought him up, and the mother that brought him up, has said
'thou art not my father, thou art not my mother,' one shall cut out his
tongue.
section 193. If a son of a palace warder, or of a vowed woman, has known
his father's house, and has hated the father that brought him up or the
mother that brought him up, and has gone off to the house of his father,
one shall tear out his eye.
section 194. If a man has given his son to a wet nurse, that son has
died in the hand of the wet nurse, the wet nurse without consent of his
father and his mother has procured another child, one shall put her to
account, and because, without consent of his father and his mother, she
has procured another child, one shall cut off her breasts.
section 195. If a man has struck his father, his hands one shall cut
off.
section 196. If a man has caused the loss of a gentleman's eye, his eye
one shall cause to be lost.
section 197. If he has shattered a gentleman's limb, one shall shatter
his limb.
section 198. If he has caused a poor man to lose his eye or shattered a
poor man's limb, he shall pay one mina of silver.
section 199. If he has caused the loss of the eye of a gentleman's
servant or has shattered the limb of a gentleman's servant, he shall pay
half his price.
section 200. If a man has made the tooth of a man that is his equal to
fall out, one shall make his tooth fall out.
section 201. If he has made the tooth of a poor man to fall out, he
shall pay one-third of a mina of silver.
section 202. If a man has struck the strength of a man who is great
above him, he shall be struck in the assembly with sixty strokes of a cow-
hide whip.
section 203. If a man of gentle birth has struck the strength of a man
of gentle birth who is like himself, he shall pay one mina of silver.
section 204. If a poor man has struck the strength of a poor man, he
shall pay ten shekels of silver.
section 205. If a gentleman's servant has struck the strength of a free-
man, one shall cut off his ear.
section 206. If a man has struck a man in a quarrel, and has caused him
a wound, that man shall swear 'I do not strike him knowing' and shall
answer for the doctor.
section 207. If he has died of his blows, he shall swear, and if he be
of gentle birth he shall pay half a mina of silver.
section 208. If he be the son of a poor man, he shall pay one-third of a
mina of silver.
section 209. If a man has struck a gentleman's daughter and caused her
to drop what is in her womb, he shall pay ten shekels of silver for what
was in her womb.
section 210. If that woman has died, one shall put to death his
daughter.
section 211. If the daughter of a poor man through his blows he has
caused to drop that which is in her womb, he shall pay five shekels of
silver.
section 212. If that woman has died, he shall pay half a mina of silver.
section 213. If he has struck a gentleman's maidservant and caused her
to drop that which is in her womb, he shall pay two shekels of silver.
section 214. If that maidservant has died, he shall pay one-third of a
mina of silver.
section 215. If a doctor has treated a gentleman for a severe wound with
a bronze lancet and has cured the man, or has opened an abscess of the
eye for a gentleman with the bronze lancet and has cured the eye of the
gentleman, he shall take ten shekels of silver.
section 216. If he (the patient) be the son of a poor man, he shall take
five shekels of silver.
section 217. If he be a gentleman's servant, the master of the servant
shall give two shekels of silver to the doctor.
section 218. If the doctor has treated a gentleman for a severe wound
with a lancet of bronze and has caused the gentleman to die, or has
opened an abscess of the eye for a gentleman with the bronze lancet and
has caused the loss of the gentleman's eye, one shall cut off his hands.
section 219. If a doctor has treated the severe wound of a slave of a
poor man with a bronze lancet and has caused his death, he shall render
slave for slave.
section 220. If he has opened his abscess with a bronze lancet and has
made him lose his eye, he shall pay money, half his price.
section 221. If a doctor has cured the shattered limb of a gentleman, or
has cured the diseased bowel, the patient shall give five shekels of
silver to the doctor.
section 222. If it is the son of a poor man, he shall give three shekels
of silver.
section 223. If a gentleman's servant, the master of the slave shall
give two shekels of silver to the doctor.
section 224. If a cow doctor or a sheep doctor has treated a cow or a
sheep for a severe wound and cured it, the owner of the cow or sheep
shall give one-sixth of a shekel of silver to the doctor as his fee.
section 225. If he has treated a cow or a sheep for a severe wound and
has caused it to die, he shall give a quarter of its price to the owner
of the ox or sheep.
section 226. If a brander without consent of the owner of the slave has
branded a slave with an indelible mark, one shall cut off the hands of
that brander.
section 227. If a man has deceived the brander, and has caused him to
brand an indelible mark on the slave, that man one shall kill him and
bury him in his house, the brander shall swear, 'Not knowing I branded
him,' and shall go free.
section 228. If a builder has built a house for a man and has completed
it, he shall give him as his fee two shekels of silver _per SAR_ of
house.
section 229. If a builder has built a house for a man and has not made
strong his work, and the house he built has fallen, and he has caused the
death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.
section 230. If he has caused the son of the owner of the house to die,
one shall put to death the son of that builder.
section 231. If he has caused the slave of the owner of the house to
die, he shall give slave for slave to the owner of the house.
section 232. If he has caused the loss of goods, he shall render back
whatever he has caused the loss of, and because he did not make strong
the house he built, and it fell, from his own goods he shall rebuild the
house that fell.
section 233. If a builder has built a house for a man, and has not
jointed his work, and the wall has fallen, that builder at his own cost
shall make good that wall.
section 234. If a boatman has navigated a ship of sixty _GUR_ for a man,
he shall give him two shekels of silver for his fee.
section 235. If a boatman has navigated a ship for a man and has not
made his work trustworthy, and in that same year that he worked that ship
it has suffered an injury, the boatman shall exchange that ship or shall
make it strong at his own expense and shall give a strong ship to the
owner of the ship.
section 236. If a man has given his ship to a boatman, on hire, and the
boatman has been careless, has grounded the ship, or has caused it to be
lost, the boatman shall render ship for ship to the owner.
section 237. If a man has hired a boatman and ship, and with corn, wool,
oil, dates, or whatever it be as freight, has freighted her, that boatman
has been careless and grounded the ship, or has caused what is in her to
be lost, the boatman shall render back the ship which he has grounded and
whatever in her he has caused to be lost.
section 238. If a boatman has grounded the ship of a man and has
refloated her, he shall give money to half her price.
section 239. If a man has hired a boatman, he shall give him six _GUR_
of corn per year.
section 240. If a ship that is going forward has struck a ship at anchor
and has sunk her, the owner of the ship that has been sunk whatever he
has lost in his ship shall recount before God, and that of the ship going
forward which sunk the ship at anchor shall render to him his ship and
whatever of his was lost.
section 241. If a man has taken an ox on distraint, he shall pay one-
third of a mina of silver.
section 242. If a man has hired a working ox for one year, he shall pay
four _GUR_ of corn as its hire.
section 243. If a milch cow, he shall give three _GUR_ of corn to its
owner.
section 244. If a man has hired an ox or sheep and a lion has killed it
in the open field, that loss is for its owner forsooth.
section 245. If a man has hired an ox and through neglect or by blows
has caused it to die, ox for ox to the owner of the ox he shall render.
section 246. If a man has hired an ox and has crushed its foot or has
cut its nape, ox for ox to the owner of the ox he shall render.
section 247. If a man has hired an ox and has caused it to lose its eye,
he shall pay half its price to the owner of the ox.
section 248. If a man has hired an ox, and has crushed its horn, cut off
its tail, or pierced its nostrils, he shall pay a quarter of its price.
section 249. If a man has hired an ox, and God has struck it and it has
died, the man who has hired the ox shall swear before God and shall go
free.
section 250. If a wild bull in his charge has gored a man and caused him
to die, that case has no remedy.
section 251. If the ox has pushed a man, by pushing has made known his
vice, and he has not blunted his horn, has not shut up his ox, and that
ox has gored a man of gentle birth and caused him to die, he shall pay
half a mina of silver.
section 252. If a gentleman's servant, he shall pay one-third of a mina
of silver.
section 253. If a man has hired a man to reside in his field and has
furnished him seed, has entrusted him the oxen and harnessed them for
cultivating the field--if that man has stolen the corn or plants, and
they have been seized in his hands, one shall cut off his hands.
section 254. If he has taken the seed, worn out the oxen, from the seed
which he has hoed he shall restore.
section 255. If he has hired out the oxen of the man or has stolen the
corn and has not caused it to grow in the field, that man one shall put
him to account and he shall measure out sixty _GUR_ of corn _per GAN_ of
land.
section 256. If his compensation he is not able to pay, one shall remove
the oxen from that field.
section 257. If a man has hired a harvester, he shall give him eight
_GUR_ of corn per year.
section 258. If a man has hired an ox-driver, he shall give him six
_GUR_ of corn per year.
section 259. If a man has stolen a watering machine from the meadow, he
shall give five shekels of silver to the owner of the watering machine.
section 260. If he has stolen a watering bucket or a harrow, he shall
pay three shekels of silver.
section 261. If a man has hired a herdsman for the cows or a shepherd
for the sheep, he shall give him eight _GUR_ of corn _per annum_.
section 262. If a man, ox, or sheep to [this section is defaced].
section 263. If he has caused an ox or sheep which was given him to be
lost, ox for ox, sheep for sheep, he shall render to their owner.
section 264. If a herdsman who has had cows or sheep given him to
shepherd, has received his hire, whatever was agreed, and his heart was
contented, has diminished the cows, diminished the sheep, lessened the
offspring, he shall give offspring and produce according to the tenour of
his bonds.
section 265. If a shepherd to whom cows and sheep have been given him to
breed, has falsified and changed their price, or has sold them, one shall
put him to account, and he shall render cows and sheep to their owner
tenfold what he has stolen.
section 266. If in a sheepfold a stroke of God has taken place or a lion
has killed, the shepherd shall purge himself before God, and the accident
to the fold the owner of the fold shall face it.
section 267. If a shepherd has been careless and in a sheepfold caused a
loss to take place, the shepherd shall make good the fault of the loss
which he has caused to be in the fold and shall pay cows or sheep and
shall give to their owner.
section 268. If a man has hired an ox, for threshing, twenty _KA_ of
corn is its hire.
section 269. If he has hired an ass, for threshing, ten _KA_ of corn is
its hire.
section 270. If he has hired a calf (goat?), for threshing, one _KA_ of
corn is its hire.
section 271. If a man has hired oxen, a wagon, and its driver, he shall
give one hundred and eighty _KA_ of corn _per diem_.
section 272. If a man has hired a wagon by itself, he shall give forty
_KA_ of corn _per diem_.
section 273. If a man has hired a labourer, from the beginning of the
year till the fifth month, he shall give six _SE_ of silver _per diem_;
from the sixth month to the end of the year, he shall give five _SE_ of
silver _per diem_.
section 274. If a man shall hire an artisan--
(_a_) the hire of a . . . five _SE_ of silver
(_b_) the hire of a brickmaker five _SE_ of silver
(_c_) the hire of a tailor . five _SE_ of silver
(_d_) the hire of a stone-cutter . _SE_ of silver
(_e_) the hire of a . . . _SE_ of silver
(_f_) the hire of a . . . _SE_ of silver
(_g_) the hire of a carpenter four _SE_ of silver
(_h_) the hire of a . . . four _SE_ of silver
(_i_) the hire of a . . . _SE_ of silver
(_j_) the hire of a builder. . . _SE_ of silver _per diem_ he shall give.
section 275. If a man has hired a (boat?) _per diem_, her hire is three
_SE_ of silver.
section 276. If a man has hired a fast ship, he shall give two and a
half _SE_ of silver _per diem_ as her hire.
section 277. If a man has hired a ship of sixty _GUR_, he shall give one-
sixth of a shekel of silver _per diem_ as her hire.
section 278. If a man has bought a manservant or a maidservant, and he
has not fulfilled his month and the _bennu_ sickness has fallen upon him,
he shall return him to the seller, and the buyer shall take the money he
paid.
section 279. If a man has bought a manservant or a maidservant and has a
complaint, his seller shall answer the complaint.
section 280. If a man has bought in a foreign land the manservant or the
maidservant of a man, when he has come into the land, and the owner of
the manservant or the maidservant has recognised his manservant or his
maidservant, if the manservant or maidservant are natives without price
he shall grant them their freedom.
section 281. If they are natives of another land the buyer shall tell
out before God the money he paid, and the owner of the manservant or the
maidservant shall give to the merchant the money he paid, and shall
recover his manservant or his maidservant.
section 282. If a slave has said to his master 'Thou art not my master,'
as his slave one shall put him to account and his master shall cut off
his ear.
* * * * *
The judgements of righteousness which Hammurabi the mighty king confirmed
and caused the land to take a sure guidance and a gracious rule.
The following three sections, which are known to belong to the Code from
copies made for an Assyrian king in the seventh century B.C., are given
here for the sake of completeness. They obviously come within the space
once occupied by the five erased columns.
section X. If a man has taken money from a merchant and has given a
plantation of dates to the merchant, has said to him, 'The dates that are
in my plantation take for thy money,' that merchant shall not agree, the
dates that are in the plantation the owner of the plantation shall take,
and he shall answer to the merchant for the money and its interests
according to the tenour of his bond. The dates that are over, which are
in the plantation, the owner of the plantation shall take forsooth.
section Y. . . . the man dwelling (in the house) has given to the owner
(of the house) the money of its rent in full for the year, the owner of
the house has ordered the dweller to go out when his days are not full,
the owner of the house, because he has ordered the dweller to leave when
his days are not full, (shall give) of the money which the dweller gave
him. . . .
section Z. If a man has to pay, in money or corn, but has not money or
corn to pay with, but has goods, whatever is in his hands, before
witnesses, according to what he has brought, he shall give to his
merchant. The merchant shall not object, he shall receive it.
INDEX
_The numbers refer to the sections of the Code_.
Abatement, of rent, for loss of crop, 45, 46.
of interest, 48.
Accidental loss, by storm or deluge, falls on tenant, 45.
shared by landlord, if before rent is paid, 46.
by drought, storm, or deluge, postpones payment of debt, 48.
Adjournment, for production of witnesses, 13.
not to exceed six months, 13.
Adoption, of natural son, 185.
of child of living parents, 186.
parents may object, 186.
votary or palace official cannot object, 187.
by artisan, 188.
no one can reclaim child, if he has been taught handicraft, 188.
otherwise can be reclaimed, 189.
adopted son must be formally acknowledged, 190.
if not, returns to real parents on death of adoptive father, 190.
adopted son cannot be cut off without legal process, 191.
has one-third child's share, 191.
but no part of estate, 191.
repudiation by adopted son severely punished, 192 ff.
Adultery, 129.
penalty, drowning, 129.
Agent, relation to principal or merchant--
must keep accounts, 100.
of money received, 100.
of interest due, 100.
if unsuccessful, repays capital only, 101.
if a loser, repays capital in full, 102.
if robbed, can be excused payment, 103.
must keep account of goods, 104.
stating money value, 104.
take inventory, 104.
give receipt, 104.
pays threefold for his defaults, 106.
Allotment, to ganger, constable, or tributary, 30. _See_ Benefice.
Allowances, to divorced wife, 137.
usufruct of field, garden, and goods.
Alteration of date for repayment, 48.
called 'wetting tablet,' 48.
Approving lease, 44. _See_ Lease.
Assault, of gentleman by gentleman, 202, 203.
in a quarrel, 206.
of poor man by poor man, 204.
of gentleman by slave, 205.
of pregnant woman, causing miscarriage--
gentle woman, 209.
poor woman, 211.
slave, 213.
causing her death--
gentle woman, 210.
poor woman, 212.
slave, 214.
_See_ under Fines.
Assessment of damages--
by sheep to growing crops, 57.
,, to ripe crops, 58.
for cutting down tree in orchard, 59.
for not carrying out terms of lease, 42, 44.
for assault. _See_ Fines.
for carelessness. _See_ Neglect.
for culpable lack of skill. _See_ Doctor.
Assignment for debt--
of bare field, 49.
of corn field, 50.
of date plantation, X.
of crop, Y.
of wife, child, or slave, to work off debt, 115.
Average yield, assessed damages, 42, 43, 44, 55, 62, 65.
Backbiting, 161.
Bailiff. _See_ Reeve, Ganger, Constable, Benefice.
Bailment, without witness or deed--
from domestic inferior=theft, 7.
Banishment. _See_ Exile.
Bearing sentence sought to be obtained. _See_ Retaliation.
Benefice, the land, house, garden, and stock--
assigned by king to ganger, constable, or tributary, 30.
inalienable, 32, 36, 37.
sale, or purchase, forbidden, 35.
price paid forfeited, 35.
not to be exchanged, 41.
not to be devised to females, 38.
may be deputed, 27.
hereditary, 28.
forfeited, by disuse, 30.
may not be pledged, 38.
saleable to other official (?), 40.
Betrothed, maiden lived in father's house, 130.
Bigamy, in ignorance, 135.
Blood money. _See_ Wit.
Boatmen, their duties and privileges, 234-241.
same word denotes boat-builder (Winckler's tr.).
Boats, passenger, 276.
freight boat, 277.
building, 234.
of 60 _GUR_, built, 234 (Winckler's tr.)
collision of, 241.
wreck of, 235, 236.
Bond, a written deed or contract--
needed for legal purchase, 7.
for debt, 52.
for storage, 122.
for legal marriage, 128.
shepherd's, 264.
Branding, brander, 226, 227.
on forehead, for slander, 127.
slave without consent of owner, 226, 227.
Brawling, in wine shop, 109.
Breach of contract--
by lessee, 42, 44, 256. _See_ Lease, Metayer, Neglect.
of promise, 159.
Breasts, cut off, 194.
Bride-price, a present to prospective father-in-law--
usually returned with wife to bridegroom, 163.
given back by husband to divorced wife, if not a mother, 138.
returned to suitor, if not accepted, 160, 161.
forfeited if suitor changes his mind, 159.
if not given back to bridegroom with wife, deducted from marriage
portion repaid to father-in-law, on death of wife, without children, 164.
assessed at one mina of silver, for gentleman, 139.
,, one-third mina, for poor man, 139.
to be set aside for unmarried son, by his brothers, on division of
father's property, 166.
Brothel (?). _See_ Wine shop.
Builder's duties and privileges, 228.
of boats, 234 (Winckler's tr.).
Burning, as penalty--
for votary, opening or entering wine shop, 110.
man and mother in incest, 157.
thief at fire, 25.
Business. _See_ Agent, Merchant, Office.
Buyer of benefice must discharge duties, 40.
Calling to account, 42, 108, 112, 113, 116, 124, 133, 141, 194, 255, 265.
Capital suit, 3.
Captives, 133, 280.
Carrier's privileges and responsibilities, 112.
Cattle, damage _feasant pauperies_, 57.
Changeling, foisted on parents, 194.
Charges, for warehousing, 121.
one-sixtieth value, 121.
Children. _See_ Custody, Mother, Remarriage, Widow.
born of wife remarried, uuder impression her husband was dead, stay
with second husband, 135.
not to dispute mother's settlement, 150.
share equally at father's death, 165.
reserving settlements by deed, 165.
of second marriage to be furnished with bride-price, or portion, 166.
of different mothers, share separately own mother's portions, 167.
but father's property equally, 167.
of bride and maid share equally, if latter acknowledged as sons in
father's lifetime, former having preference, 170.
otherwise, children of maid do not share, 171.
of slave woman and free father are free, 171.
of slave man and free mother are free, 175.
these take half father's goods at death, 175.
Collision, 241.
Commission, trade on, 100-105. _See_ Agent, Merchant.
Compensation, for eviction of tenant, Y.
for highway robbery, 23.
Composition, for loss of life, 224.
for bride-price, 139.
Concubine, divorced, 137.
not allowed, if wife provides maid, 144.
allowed, if votary wife has no children, 145.
not to rival wife, 145.
father may give daughter as, 183.
and give marriage portion, 183.
if so, she has no share of his goods at his death, 183.
otherwise, brothers must give her a portion, 184.
Conjugal rights, denial of, 142.
Conscript. _See_ Militia.
Constable, or bailiff, runner, 36-41.
not to depute duty, 26.
in enforced absence on royal business, 27.
may depute, and resume on return, 27.
son may be deputy, 28.
provision for child, in absence, 29.
neglect of benefice, 30.
three years' limit, 30.
one year does not forfeit, 31.
captured abroad on king's business, 32.
to be ransomed, 32.
benefice inalienable, 33.
benefice protected, 34.
not to be hired out, 35.
plundered, 35.
oppressed, 35.
sale of benefice illegal, 35.
benefice not to be exchanged, 41.
Contract. _See_ Bond.
Corn land, 62.
Corporate liability, 23, 32.
Corvee. _See_ Militia.
Courtship, 159, 161.
Cow, in milk, hire of, 243.
Creditor. _See also_ Merchant.
must not ill treat pledge for debt, 116.
must release at end of three years, 117.
may sell pledged slave, on removal, 118.
may not repay himself from debtor's goods, 113.
Crop, assigned for debt, 51.
sold at king's price, 51.
Crown, man's. _See_ Strength.
Cultivation of fields--
operations needful, 43.
Custody of child, in mother, 29.
Cutting down trees--
assessment of damage, half mina of silver per tree, 59.
Damage to crops, by sheep--
assessed at twenty _GUR per GAN_, 57.
to ripe crops, at sixty _GUR per GAN_, 58.
by flooding field, 56.
by cutting down trees, assessed at half mina of silver per tree, 59.
Damages, for breach of contract, 42, 44.
for eviction from purchase, 12.
for eviction from house, Y.
_Damnum sine injuria_, 115, 118, 123, 250.
Date palm, plantation of, X.
Daughter cannot inherit benefice, 38.
Death penalty, inflicted for--
witchcraft, 1.
threatening witnesses, 3.
perjury, 3.
theft, 4.
receiving stolen goods, 4.
buying from domestic inferior, 7.
taking on deposit from domestic inferior, 7.
in default of multiple restitution, for theft of second order, 8.
appropriation of lost properly, 9.
selling lost property, 10.
vexatious claim of property as lost, 11.
kidnapping, 14.
procuring desertion of slave, 15.
harbouring fugitive slave, 18.
,, of defaulting militia, 16.
detaining fugitive slave, 18.
keeping recaptured slave, 19.
housebreaking, 21.
highway robbery, 22.
theft at fire, 25.
allowing seditious brawling in wine shop, 109.
rape of betrothed maiden, 130.
for ganger, constable, neglecting duty, 26.
,, ,, sending substitutes, 26.
causing death of pregnant woman by assault, 210.
for getting a slave branded unknown to owner, 227.
for building so badly as to cause death of owner, 229.
_See also_ Burning, Drowning, Impalement.
Death of defendant, 12.