Most of the discussions and editions above referred to deal with points
in the lexicography. The edition by UNGNAD in his Band II, named on p.
68, gives the latest results of the investigations in this domain. A few
other works deserving of note will be added here.
The meaning of _amêlu_ was elucidated by H. WINCKLER in his
_Altorientalische Forschungen_, ii, pp. 312-15, 1901 (Leipzig,
Pfeiffer).
The difficult word _mushkênu_, rendered _noble_ by SCHEIL and after him
by DARESTE and others, was given this meaning because the fines and
penalties inflicted on him in the Code seemed to be less than those
inflicted on the ordinary man. The ideogram used in the Code was not
rendered into Semitic Babylonian by SCHEIL, but first in print by H.
ZIMMERN. A crowd of extraordinary guesses as to the meaning of the term
were hazarded, founded on the cognate languages. Thus it was discussed
by E. LITTMANN in _Zur Bedeutung von miskên, Zeitschrift für
Assyriologie_, vol. xvii, pp. 262-5 (Strassburg, K. J. Trübner, 1903),
who made it out to be _leper_ and by ET. COMBE in _Babyloniaca_, vol.
iii, pp. 73-4, who settled the meaning from its use in modern Arabic.
The present writer had already anticipated much of this in his _Oldest
Code_ and the _Notes on the Hammurabi Code_, above, p. 70.
The meaning and status of the _rîdtsâbê_ was discussed by S. DAICHES,
_Zur Erklärung des Hammurabi-Codex_, in _Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_,
1904-1905, pp. 202-22. Many useful hints will be found in _Semitica:
Sprach-und rechtsvergleichende Studien_, in the _Sitzungsberichte der
philosophisch-historischen Klasse der kaiserlichen Akademie in Wien_,
1906, cols. 1-88 (Wien, A. Hölder).
The exact way in which the Semitic people of the Hammurabi period
exploited the stores of legal knowledge acquired by the Sumerians is
still much discussed. So by M. SCHORR in his _Die altbabylonische
Rechtspraxis_, published in _Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des
Morgenlandes_, vol. xxiv, pp. 431-61, and again in the _Revue
Sémitique_, 1912, pp. 378-97, _Zur Frage der semitischen und sumerischen
Elemente im altbabylonischen Rechte_. See also _Das Sumerische in den
Rechtsurkunden der Hammurabi-Periode_, by M. SCHORR, in the _Hilprecht
Anniversary Volume_, pp. 20-32.
The question whether the Sumerian phrases in the contemporary contracts
were read as Semitic or Sumerian has been discussed by A. POEBEL in the
_Orientalistische Litteraturzeitung_, 1911, cols. 241-7, under the title
_Zur Aussprache der sumerischen Phrasen in den altbabylonischen
Rechtsurkunden_, and in cols. 373-4 A. UNGNAD wrote, under the same
title, _Eine Berichtigung_. M. SCHORR replied, cols. 559-61.
The question how far the Hammurabi Code was operative was soon raised.
The existence of a very large number of legal documents relating to all
manner of transactions seemed likely to afford a ready answer. In 1905
BR. MEISSNER wrote his _Theorie und Praxis im altbabylonischen Recht_
for the _Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft_, pp. 257-303.
The need of a more extended examination made the promise of KOHLER and
PEISER’S _Hammurabi-Gesetz_ so welcome, see p. 67. KOHLER and UNGNAD
have now fulfilled this by publishing in Heft III-V the whole available
material as _Übersetzte Urkunden_ with most valuable _Erläuterungen_
(Leipzig, Hinrichs, 1909-1911). A similar enterprise was undertaken by
M. SCHORR in _Kodeks Hammurabiego a owezesna praktyka prawna, Das
Gesetzbuch Hammurabis und die zeitgenössische Rechtspraxis_, in the
_Bulletin de l’Académie des Sciences de Cracovie_, followed by
_Altbabylonische Rechtsurkunden aus der Zeit der I. babylonischen
Dynastie_ in the _Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften in Wien, philosophisch-historische Klasse_, 155. Band, 2.
Abhandlung, 1907, 160. Band, 5. Abhandlung, 1909, and 165. Band, 2.
Abhandlung, 1910 (Vienna, A. Hölder), with transcription, translation,
and commentary. Together with UNGNAD’S work this should enable any
scholar to form a well-founded and independent judgement.
It is natural to inquire what were the laws of that earlier people in
Babylonia who preceded the Semites and are now called Sumerians. The
Semites took over their legal phrases, see above, and probably with them
some of their laws. The Semitic scribes drew up long lists of these
Sumerian phrases, many of which they still used in drawing up their
legal documents, just as Latin phrases or Norman-French lingered on in
our law-books. These phrases they translated, in parallel columns with
the Sumerian. Such books of phrases were issued in long series. One such
series, usually called _Ana Ittishu_, was discussed by BR. MEISSNER in
the _Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes_, iv, pp. 301 ff.
A great deal of it is published by P. HAUPT in vol. i of the
_Assyriologische Bibliothek_; by F. HOMMEL in his _Sumerische
Lesestücke_; by FR. DELITZSCH in his _Assyrische Lesestücke_, 3rd
edition, 1900, pp. 130-2; and by MEISSNER in the _Zeitschrift für
Assyriologie_, 1892, vii, pp. 16-32. PINCHES gives an account of it in
the _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, iv, p. 256, 1910, where he
calls it the _Ulutinabishu Series_. Not much law can be made out of this
scrappy source; but one tablet records a set of regulations which seem
to be extracted from a code. They are usually referred to as _The
Sumerian Family Laws_, and are dealt with by T. G. PINCHES in the
_Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, iv, p. 257, 1910, and by
JEREMIAS in the same work, v, p. 447. A full treatment by P. HAUPT is
_Die sumerischen Familiengesetze in Keilschrift, Transcription und
Übersetzung_ (Leipzig, 1879). WINCKLER, COOK, PEISER, UNGNAD, and most
of the writers on the comparative side have quoted them in their
above-named works.
It may be doubted whether the so-called _Warnings to Kings against
Injustice_, see T. G. PINCHES in his _Encyclopaedia_ article, iv, p.
261, note 1, are so early, or really preserve part of a code. References
to legal reforms may be seen in the inscriptions of Urukagina, see L. W.
KING’S _History of Sumer and Akkad_, pp. 178-84 and the references, but
here again we cannot reconstruct much of the Sumerian law in question.
We have noted the discussion, p. 75, of the way in which Semitic scribes
regarded the Sumerian phrases they used.
The conclusion that Hammurabi codified the earlier legislation was
natural, and similarities in form suggested that he adopted much of the
Sumerian law which was previously in force.
A. T. CLAY in the _Orientalistische Litteraturzeitung_, xvii, January,
1914 (Leipzig, Hinrichs), writing on _A Sumerian Prototype of the
Hammurabi Code_, has made it clear that some of the laws existed in a
Sumerian dress. Hammurabi, as we have already contended, modified the
previously existing Sumerian laws, and taking some over bodily, changed
others to suit the peculiar prejudices of his subjects and the
circumstances of his time. We may soon be able to judge whether CLAY’S
_Sumerian Code_, as we may call it, was really early, or only the dress
in which Hammurabi’s law appeared in his Sumerian provinces.
We may pass on to notice briefly the chief sources from which it is
possible to deduce much of the local customary law throughout the
history of Babylonia. It may formally be divided into Temple accounts
and contracts, but a detailed classification would demand much more
space than we can here afford.