[captured in battle], and if his fields and garden be given to another
and he take possession, if he return and reaches his place, his field
and garden shall be returned to him, he shall take it over again.
28. If a chieftain or a man be caught in the misfortune of a king, if
his son is able to enter into possession, then the field and garden
shall be given to him, he shall take over the fee of his father.
29. If his son is still young, and cannot take possession, a third of
the field and garden shall be given to his mother, and she shall bring
him up.
30. If a chieftain or a man leave his house, garden and field and hires
it out, and some one else takes possession of his house, garden and
field and uses it for three years: if the first owner return and claims
his house, garden and field, it shall not be given to him, but he who
has taken possession of it and used it shall continue to use it.
31. If he hire it out for one year and then return, the house, garden
and field shall be given back to him, and he shall take it over again.
32. If a chieftain or a man is captured on the "Way of the King" [in
war], and a merchant buy him free, and bring him back to his place; if
he have the means in his house to buy his freedom, he shall buy himself
free: if he have nothing in his house with which to buy himself free, he
shall be bought free by the temple of his community; if there be nothing
in the temple with which to buy him free, the court shall buy his
freedom. His field, garden and house shall not be given for the purchase
of his freedom.
33. If a ... or a ... [from the connection, some man higher in rank than
a chieftain] enter himself as withdrawn from the "Way of the King," and
send a mercenary as substitute, but withdraw him, then the ... or ...
shall be put to death.
34. If a ... [same as in 33] or a ... harm the property of a captain,
injure the captain, or take away from the captain a gift presented to
him by the king then the ... or ... shall be put to death.
35. If any one buy the cattle or sheep which the king has given to
chieftains from him he loses his money.
35. The field, garden and house of a chieftain, of a man, or of one
subject to quit-rent, cannot be sold.
37. If any one buy the field, garden and house of a chieftain, man or
one subject to quit-rent, his contract tablet of sale shall be broken
[declared invalid] and he loses his money. The field, garden and house
return to their owners.
38. A chieftain, man or one subject to quit-rent cannot assign his
tenure of field, house and garden to his wife or daughter, nor can he
assign it for a debt.
39. He may, however, assign a field, garden or house which he has
bought, and holds as property, to his wife or daughter or give it for
debt.
40. He may sell field, garden and house to a merchant [royal agents] or
to any other public official, the buyer holding field, house and garden
for its usufruct.
41. If any one fence in the field, garden and house of a chieftain, man
or one subject to quit-rent, furnishing the palings therefor; if the
chieftain, man or one subject to quit-rent return to field, garden and
house, the palings which were given to him become his property.
42. If any one take over a field to till it, and obtain no harvest
therefrom, it must be proved that he did no work on the field, and he
must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to the owner of the
field.
43. If he do not till the field, but let it lie fallow, he shall give
grain like his neighbor's to the owner of the field, and the field which
he let lie fallow he must plow and sow and return to its owner.
44. If any one take over a waste-lying field to make it arable, but is
lazy, and does not make it arable, he shall plow the fallow field in the
fourth year, harrow it and till it, and give it back to its owner and
for each ten _gan_ [a measure of area] ten _gur_ [dry measure] of grain
shall be paid.
45. If a man rent his field for tillage for a fixed rental, and receive
the rent of his field, but bad weather come and destroy the harvest, the
injury falls upon the tiller of the soil.
46. If he do not receive a fixed rental for his field, but lets it on
half or third shares of the harvest, the grain on the field shall be
divided proportionately between the tiller and the owner.
47. If the tiller, because he did not succeed in the first year, has had
the soil tilled by others, the owner may raise no objection; the field
has been cultivated and he receives the harvest according to agreement.
48. If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain,
or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in
that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his
debt-tablet in water [a symbolic action indicating the inability to pay]
and pays no rent for this year.
49. If any one take money from a merchant, and give the merchant a field
tillable for corn or sesame and order him to plant corn or sesame in the
field, and to harvest the crop; if the cultivator plant corn or sesame
in the field, at the harvest the corn or sesame that is in the field
shall belong to the owner of the field and he shall pay corn as rent,
for the money he received from the merchant, and the livelihood of the
cultivator shall he give to the merchant.
50. If he give a cultivated corn-field or a cultivated sesame-field, the
corn or sesame in the field shall belong to the owner of the field, and
he shall return the money to the merchant as rent.
51. If he have no money to repay, then he shall pay in corn or sesame in
place of the money as rent for what he received from the merchant,
according to the royal tariff.
52. If the cultivator do not plant corn or sesame in the field, the
debtor's contract is not weakened.
53. If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does
not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the fields be flooded,
then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the
money shall replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined.
54. If he be not able to replace the corn, then he and his possessions
shall be divided among the farmers whose corn he has flooded.
55. If any one open his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and
the water flood the field of his neighbor, then he shall pay his
neighbor corn for his loss.
56. If a man let in the water, and the water overflow the plantation of
his neighbor, he shall pay ten _gur_ of corn for every ten _gan_ of
land.
57. If a shepherd, without the permission of the owner of the field, and
without the knowledge of the owner of the sheep, lets the sheep into a
field to graze, then the owner of the field shall harvest his crop, and
the shepherd, who had pastured his flock there without permission of
the owner of the field, shall pay to the owner twenty _gur_ of corn for
every ten _gan_.
58. If after the flocks have left the pasture and been shut up in the
common fold at the city gate, any shepherd let them into a field and
they graze there, this shepherd shall take possession of the field which
he has allowed to be grazed on, and at the harvest he must pay sixty
_gur_ of corn for every ten _gan_.
59. If any man, without the knowledge of the owner of a garden, fell a
tree in a garden he shall pay half a mina in money.
60. If any one give over a field to a gardener, for him to plant it as a
garden, if he work at it, and care for it for four years, in the fifth
year the owner and the gardener shall divide it, the owner taking his
part in charge.
61. If the gardener has not completed the planting of the field, leaving
one part unused, this shall be assigned to him as his.
62. If he do not plant the field that was given over to him as a garden,
if it be arable land [for corn or sesame] the gardener shall pay the
owner the produce of the field for the years that he let it lie fallow,
according to the product of neighboring fields, put the field in arable
condition and return it to its owner.
63. If he transform waste land into arable fields and return it to its
owner, the latter shall pay him for one year ten _gur_ for ten _gan_.
64. If any one hand over his garden to a gardener to work, the gardener
shall pay to its owner two-thirds of the produce of the garden, for so
long as he has it in possession, and the other third shall he keep.
65. If the gardener do not work in the garden and the product fall off,
the gardener shall pay in proportion to other neighboring gardens.
[Here a portion of the text is missing, apparently comprising
thirty-five paragraphs.]
100. ... interest for the money, as much as he has received, he shall
give a note therefor, and on the day, when they settle, pay to the
merchant.
101. If there are no mercantile arrangements in the place whither he
went, he shall leave the entire amount of money which he received with
the broker to give to the merchant.
102. If a merchant intrust money to an agent [broker] for some
investment, and the broker suffer a loss in the place to which he goes,
he shall make good the capital to the merchant.
103. If, while on the journey, an enemy take away from him anything that
he had, the broker shall swear by God [take an oath] and be free of
obligation.
104. If a merchant give an agent corn, wool, oil or any other goods to
transport, the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and compensate
the merchant therefor. Then he shall obtain a receipt from the merchant
for the money that he gives the merchant.
105. If the agent is careless, and does not take a receipt for the money
which he gave the merchant, he cannot consider the unreceipted money as
his own.
106. If the agent accept money from the merchant, but have a quarrel
with the merchant [denying the receipt], then shall the merchant swear
before God and witnesses that he has given this money to the agent, and
the agent shall pay him three times the sum.
107. If the merchant cheat the agent, in that as the latter has returned
to him all that had been given him, but the merchant denies the receipt
of what had been returned to him, then shall this agent convict the
merchant before God and the judges, and if he still deny receiving what
the agent had given him shall pay six times the sum to the agent.
108. If a tavern-keeper [feminine] does not accept corn according to
gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the
drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown
into the water.
109. If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these
conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the
tavern-keeper shall be put to death.
110. If a "sister of a god" [one devoted to the temple] open a tavern,
or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.
111. If an inn-keeper furnish sixty _ka_ of _usakani_-drink to ... she
shall receive fifty _ka_ of corn at the harvest.
112. If anyone be on a journey and intrust silver, gold, precious
stones, or any movable property to another, and wish to recover it from
him; if the latter do not bring all of the property to the appointed
place, but appropriate it to his own use, then shall this man, who did
not bring the property to hand it over be convicted, and he shall pay
fivefold for all that had been intrusted to him.
113. If any one have a consignment of corn or money, and he take from
the granary or box, without the knowledge of the owner, then shall he
who took corn without the knowledge of the owner out of the granary or
money out of the box be legally convicted, and repay the corn he has
taken. And he shall lose whatever commission was paid to him, or due
him.
114. If a man have no claim on another for corn and money, and try to
demand it by force, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver in every
case.
115. If any one have a claim for corn or money upon another and imprison
him; if the prisoner die in prison a natural death, the case shall go no
further.
116. If the prisoner die in prison from blows or maltreatment, the
master of the prisoner shall convict the merchant before the judge. If
he was a free-born man, the son of the merchant shall be put to death;
if it was a slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina of gold, and all
that the master of the prisoner gave he shall forfeit.
117. If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and sell himself, his
wife, his son and daughter for money or give them away to forced labor:
they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them
or the proprietor and in the fourth year they shall be set free.
118. If he give a male or female slave away for forced labor, and the
merchant sublease them, or sell them for money, no objection can be
raised.
119. If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and he sell the maid
servant who has borne him children, for money, the money which the
merchant has paid shall be repaid to him by the owner of the slave and
she shall be freed.
120. If any one store corn for safe keeping in another person's house,
and any harm happen to the corn in storage, or if the owner of the house
open the granary and take some of the corn, or if especially he deny
that the corn was stored in his house: then the owner of the corn shall
claim his corn before God [on oath], and the owner of the house shall
pay its owner for all of the corn that he took.
121. If any one store corn in another man's house he shall pay him
storage at the rate of one _gur_ for every five _ka_ of corn per year.
122. If any one give another silver, gold or anything else to keep, he
shall show everything to some witness, draw up a contract, and then hand
it over for safe keeping.
123. If he turn it over for safe keeping without witness or contract,
and if he to whom it was given deny it, then he has no legitimate claim.
124. If any one deliver silver, gold or anything else to another for
safe keeping, before a witness, but he deny it, he shall be brought
before a judge, and all that he has denied he shall pay in full.
125. If any one place his property with another for safe keeping, and
there, either through thieves or robbers, his property and the property
of the other man be lost, the owner of the house, through whose neglect
the loss took place, shall compensate the owner for all that was given
to him in charge. But the owner of the house shall try to follow up and
recover his property, and take it away from the thief.
126. If any one who has not lost his goods, state that they have been
lost, and make false claims: if he claim his goods and amount of injury
before God, even though he has not lost them, he shall be fully
compensated for all his loss claimed [_i.e._, the oath is all that is
needed].
127. If any one point the finger [slander] at a sister of a god or the
wife of any one, and cannot prove it, this man shall be taken, before
the judges and his brow shall be marked [by cutting the skin, or perhaps
hair].
128. If a man take a woman to wife, but have no intercourse with her,
this woman is no wife to him.
129. If a man's wife be surprised with another man, both shall be tied
and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife and the
king his slaves.
130. If a man violate the wife [betrothed or child-wife] of another man,
who has never known a man, and still lives in her father's house, and
sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the
wife is blameless.
131. If a man bring a charge against one's wife, but she is not
surprised with another man [_delit flagrant_ is necessary for divorce],
she must take an oath and then may return to her house.
132. If the "finger is pointed" at a man's wife about another man, but
she is not caught sleeping with the other man, she shall jump into the
river for her husband [prove her innocence by this test].
133. If a man is taken prisoner in war, and there is a sustenance in his
house, but his wife leave house and court, and go to another house:
because this wife did not keep her court, and went to another house, she
shall be judicially condemned and thrown into the water.
134. If any one be captured in war and there is no sustenance in his
house, if then his wife go to another house, this woman shall be held
blameless.
135. If a man be taken prisoner in war and there be no sustenance in his
house and his wife go to another house and bear children; and if later
her husband return and come to his home: then this wife shall return to
her husband, but the children follow their father.
136. If any one leave his house, run away, and then his wife go to
another house, if then he return, and wishes to take his wife back:
because he fled from his home and ran away, the wife of this runaway
shall not return to her husband.
137. If a man wish to separate from a woman who has borne him children,
or from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that
wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden and
property, so that she can rear her children. When she has brought up her
children, a portion of all that is given to the children, equal as that
of one son, shall be given to her. She may then marry the man of her
heart.
138. If a man wishes to separate from his wife who has borne him no
children, he shall give her the amount of her purchase money [amount
formerly paid to the bride's father] and the dowry which she brought
from her father's house, and let her go.
139. If there was no purchase price he shall give her one mina of gold
as a gift of release.
140. If he be a freed man he shall give her one-third of a mina of gold.
141. If a man's wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it,
plunges into debt, tries to ruin her house, neglects her husband, and is
judicially convicted: if her husband offer her release, she may go on
her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift of release. If her husband
does not wish to release her, and if he take another wife, she shall
remain as servant in her husband's house.
142. If a woman quarrel with her husband, and say: "You are not
congenial to me," the reasons for her prejudice must be presented. If
she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but he leaves and
neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall take her
dowry and go back to her father's house.
143. If she is not innocent, but leaves her husband, and ruins her
house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be cast into the water.
144. If a man take a wife and this woman give her husband a
maid-servant, and she bear him children, but this man wishes to take
another wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a
second wife.
145. If a man take a wife, and she bear him no children, and he intend
to take another wife: if he take this second wife, and bring her into
the house, this second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife.
146. If a man take a wife and she give this man a maid servant as wife
and she bear him children, and then this maid assume equality with the
wife: because she has borne him children her master shall not sell her
for money, but he may keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the
maid-servants.
147. If she have not borne him children, then her mistress may sell her
for money.
148. If a man take a wife, and she be seized by disease, if he then
desire to take a second wife he shall not put away his wife, who has
been attacked by disease, but he shall keep her in the house which he
has built and support her so long as she lives.
149. If this woman does not wish to remain in her husband's house, then
he shall compensate her for the dowry that she brought with her from her
father's house, and she may go.
150. If a man give his wife a field, garden and house and a deed
therefor, if then after the death of her husband the sons raise no
claim, then the mother may bequeath all to one of her sons whom she
prefers, and need leave nothing to his brothers.
151. If a woman who lived in a man's house, made an agreement with her
husband, that no creditor can arrest her, and has given a document
therefor: if that man, before he married that woman, had a debt, the
creditor cannot hold the woman for it. But if the woman, before she
entered the man's house, had contracted a debt, her creditor cannot
arrest her husband therefor.
152. If after the woman had entered the man's house, both contracted a
debt, both must pay the merchant.
153. If the wife of one man on account of another man has their mates
[her husband and the other man's wife] murdered, both of them shall be
impaled.
154. If a man be guilty of incest with his daughter, he shall be driven
from the place [exiled].
155. If a man betroth a girl to his son, and his son have intercourse
with her, but he [the father] afterward defile her, and be surprised,
then he shall be bound and cast into the water [drowned].
156. If a man betroth a girl to his son, but his son has not known her,
and if then he defile her, he shall pay her half a gold mina, and
compensate her for all that she brought out of her father's house. She
may marry the man of her heart.
157. If any one be guilty of incest with his mother after his father,
both shall be burned.
158. If any one be surprised after his father with his chief wife, who
has borne children, he shall be driven out of his father's house.
159. If any one, who has brought chattels into his father-in-law's
house, and has paid the purchase-money, looks for another wife, and says
to his father-in-law: "I do not want your daughter," the girl's father
may keep all that he had brought.
160. If a man bring chattels into the house of his father-in-law, and
pay the "purchase price" [for his wife]: if then the father of the girl
say: "I will not give you my daughter," he shall give him back all that
he brought with him.
161. If a man bring chattels into his father-in-law's house and pay the
"purchase price," if then his friend slander him, and his father-in-law
say to the young husband: "You shall not marry my daughter," then he
shall give back to him undiminished all that he had brought with him;
but his wife shall not be married to the friend.
162. If a man marry a woman, and she bear sons to him; if then this
woman die, then shall her father have no claim on her dowry; this
belongs to her sons.
163. If a man marry a woman and she bear him no sons; if then this woman
die, if the "purchase price" which he had paid into the house of his
father-in-law is repaid to him, her husband shall have no claim upon the
dowry of this woman; it belongs to her father's house.
164. If his father-in-law do not pay back to him the amount of the
"purchase price" he may subtract the amount of the "purchase price" from
the dowry, and then pay the remainder to her father's house.
165. If a man give to one of his sons whom he prefers, a field, garden
and house and a deed therefor: if later the father die, and the brothers
divide [the estate], then they shall first give him the present of his
father, and he shall accept it; and the rest of the paternal property
shall they divide.
166. If a man take wives for his sons, but take no wife for his minor
son, and if then he die: if the sons divide the estate, they shall set
aside besides his portion the money for the "purchase price" for the
minor brother who had taken no wife as yet, and secure a wife for him.
167. If a man marry a wife and she bear him children: if this wife die
and he then take another wife and she bear him children: if then the
father die, the sons must not partition the estate according to the
mothers, they shall divide the dowries of their mothers only in this
way; the paternal estate they shall divide equally with one another.
168. If a man wish to put his son out of his house, and declare before
the judge: "I want to put my son out," then the judge shall examine into
his reasons. If the son be guilty of no great fault, for which he can be
rightfully put out, the father shall not put him out.
169. If he be guilty of a grave fault, which should rightfully deprive
him of the filial relationship, the father shall forgive him the first
time; but if he be guilty of a grave fault a second time the father may
deprive his son of all filial relation.
170. If his wife bear sons to a man, or his maid-servant have borne
sons, and the father while still living says to the children whom his
maid-servant has borne: "My sons," and he count them with the sons of
his wife; if then the father die, then the sons of the wife and of the
maid-servant shall divide the paternal property in common. The son of
the wife is to partition and choose.