CODE OF
LAWS
1. If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but
he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put
to death.
2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the
accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink
in the river his accuser shall take possession of his
house. But if the river prove that the accused is not
guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the
accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into
the river shall take possession of the house that had
belonged to his accuser.
3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the
elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall,
if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.
4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a fine of grain or
money, he shall receive the fine that the action produces.
5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his
judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his
decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall
pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he
shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and never
again shall he sit there to render judgement.
6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the
court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who
receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
7. If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man,
without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or
female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if
he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be
put to death.
8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or
a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief
shall pay thirtyfold therefor; if they belonged to a freed
man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has
nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death.
9. If any one lose an article, and find it in the
possession of another: if the person in whose possession
the thing is found say "A merchant sold it to me, I paid
for it before witnesses," and if the owner of the thing
say, "I will bring witnesses who know my property," then
shall the purchaser bring the merchant who sold it to him,
and the witnesses before whom he bought it, and the owner
shall bring witnesses who can identify his property. The
judge shall examine their testimony--both of the witnesses
before whom the price was paid, and of the witnesses who
identify the lost article on oath. The merchant is then
proved to be a thief and shall be put to death. The owner
of the lost article receives his property, and he who
bought it receives the money he paid from the estate of the
merchant.
10. If the purchaser does not bring the merchant and the
witnesses before whom he bought the article, but its owner
bring witnesses who identify it, then the buyer is the
thief and shall be put to death, and the owner receives the
lost article.
11. If the owner do not bring witnesses to identify the
lost article, he is an evil-doer, he has traduced, and
shall be put to death.
12. If the witnesses be not at hand, then shall the judge
set a limit, at the expiration of six months. If his
witnesses have not appeared within the six months, he is an
evil-doer, and shall bear the fine of the pending case.
[editor's note: there is no 13th law in the code, 13 being
considered and unlucky and evil number]
14. If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be
put to death.
15. If any one take a male or female slave of the court, or
a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city
gates, he shall be put to death.
16. If any one receive into his house a runaway male or
female slave of the court, or of a freedman, and does not
bring it out at the public proclamation of the major domus,
the master of the house shall be put to death.
17. If any one find runaway male or female slaves in the
open country and bring them to their masters, the master of
the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver.
18. If the slave will not give the name of the master, the
finder shall bring him to the palace; a further
investigation must follow, and the slave shall be returned
to his master.
19. If he hold the slaves in his house, and they are caught
there, he shall be put to death.
20. If the slave that he caught run away from him, then
shall he swear to the owners of the slave, and he is free
of all blame.
21. If any one break a hole into a house (break in to
steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be
buried.
22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then
he shall be put to death.
23. If the robber is not caught, then shall he who was
robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall
the community, and . . . on whose ground and territory and
in whose domain it was compensate him for the goods stolen.
24. If persons are stolen, then shall the community and . .
. pay one mina of silver to their relatives.
25. If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to
put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of
the house, and take the property of the master of the
house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.
26. If a chieftain or a man (common soldier), who has been
ordered to go upon the king's highway for war does not go,
but hires a mercenary, if he withholds the compensation,
then shall this officer or man be put to death, and he who
represented him shall take possession of his house.
27. If a chieftain or man be caught in the misfortune of
the king (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 can not 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 . . . 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 . . . 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.
36. The field, garden, and house of a chieftain, of a man,
or of one subject to quit-rent, can not 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 can not
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 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 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-four 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 entrust 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 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 form 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 can not
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" 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 any one be on a journey and entrust 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 entrusted to him.
113. If any one have 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 can not 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 (in flagrante delicto)
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, 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.
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 not
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 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 can not
hold the woman for it. But if the woman, before she entered
the man's house, had contracted a debt, her creditor can
not 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," the 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 son, 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.
171. If, however, the father while still living did not say
to the sons of the maid-servant: "My sons," and then the
father dies, then the sons of the maid-servant shall not
share with the sons of the wife, but the freedom of the
maid and her sons shall be granted. The sons of the wife
shall have no right to enslave the sons of the maid; the
wife shall take her dowry (from her father), and the gift
that her husband gave her and deeded to her (separate from
dowry, or the purchase-money paid her father), and live in
the home of her husband: so long as she lives she shall use
it, it shall not be sold for money. Whatever she leaves
shall belong to her children.
172. If her husband made her no gift, she shall be
compensated for her gift, and she shall receive a portion
from the estate of her husband, equal to that of one child.
If her sons oppress her, to force her out of the house, the
judge shall examine into the matter, and if the sons are at
fault the woman shall not leave her husband's house. If the
woman desire to leave the house, she must leave to her sons
the gift which her husband gave her, but she may take the
dowry of her father's house. Then she may marry the man of
her heart.
173. If this woman bear sons to her second husband, in the
place to which she went, and then die, her earlier and
later sons shall divide the dowry between them.
174. If she bear no sons to her second husband, the sons of
her first husband shall have the dowry.
175. If a State slave or the slave of a freed man marry the
daughter of a free man, and children are born, the master
of the slave shall have no right to enslave the children of
the free.
176. If, however, a State slave or the slave of a freed man
marry a man's daughter, and after he marries her she bring
a dowry from a father's house, if then they both enjoy it
and found a household, and accumulate means, if then the
slave die, then she who was free born may take her dowry,
and all that her husband and she had earned; she shall
divide them into two parts, one-half the master for the
slave shall take, and the other half shall the free-born
woman take for her children. If the free-born woman had no
gift she shall take all that her husband and she had earned
and divide it into two parts; and the master of the slave
shall take one-half and she shall take the other for her
children.
177. If a widow, whose children are not grown, wishes to
enter another house (remarry), she shall not enter it
without the knowledge of the judge. If she enter another
house the judge shall examine the state of the house of her
first husband. Then the house of her first husband shall be
entrusted to the second husband and the woman herself as
managers. And a record must be made thereof. She shall keep
the house in order, bring up the children, and not sell the
house-hold utensils. He who buys the utensils of the
children of a widow shall lose his money, and the goods
shall return to their owners.
178. If a "devoted woman" or a prostitute to whom her
father has given a dowry and a deed therefor, but if in
this deed it is not stated that she may bequeath it as she
pleases, and has not explicitly stated that she has the
right of disposal; if then her father die, then her
brothers shall hold her field and garden, and give her
corn, oil, and milk according to her portion, and satisfy
her. If her brothers do not give her corn, oil, and milk
according to her share, then her field and garden shall
support her. She shall have the usufruct of field and
garden and all that her father gave her so long as she
lives, but she can not sell or assign it to others. Her
position of inheritance belongs to her brothers.
179. If a "sister of a god," or a prostitute, receive a
gift from her father, and a deed in which it has been
explicitly stated that she may dispose of it as she
pleases, and give her complete disposition thereof: if then
her father die, then she may leave her property to
whomsoever she pleases. Her brothers can raise no claim
thereto.
180. If a father give a present to his daughter--either
marriageable or a prostitute (unmarriageable)--and then
die, then she is to receive a portion as a child from the
paternal estate, and enjoy its usufruct so long as she
lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.
181. If a father devote a temple-maid or temple-virgin to
God and give her no present: if then the father die, she
shall receive the third of a child's portion from the
inheritance of her father's house, and enjoy its usufruct
so long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.
182. If a father devote his daughter as a wife of Mardi of
Babylon (as in 181), and give her no present, nor a deed;
if then her father die, then shall she receive one-third of
her portion as a child of her father's house from her
brothers, but Marduk may leave her estate to whomsoever she
wishes.
183. If a man give his daughter by a concubine a dowry, and
a husband, and a deed; if then her father die, she shall
receive no portion from the paternal estate.
184. If a man do not give a dowry to his daughter by a
concubine, and no husband; if then her father die, her
brother shall give her a dowry according to her father's
wealth and secure a husband for her.
185. If a man adopt a child and to his name as son, and
rear him, this grown son can not be demanded back again.
186. If a man adopt a son, and if after he has taken him he
injure his foster father and mother, then this adopted son
shall return to his father's house.
187. The son of a paramour in the palace service, or of a
prostitute, can not be demanded back.
188. If an artizan has undertaken to rear a child and
teaches him his craft, he can not be demanded back.
189. If he has not taught him his craft, this adopted son
may return to his father's house.
190. If a man does not maintain a child that he has adopted
as a son and reared with his other children, then his
adopted son may return to his father's house.
191. If a man, who had adopted a son and reared him,
founded a household, and had children, wish to put this
adopted son out, then this son shall not simply go his way.
His adoptive father shall give him of his wealth one-third
of a child's portion, and then he may go. He shall not give
him of the field, garden, and house.
192. If a son of a paramour or a prostitute say to his
adoptive father or mother: "You are not my father, or my
mother," his tongue shall be cut off.
193. If the son of a paramour or a prostitute desire his
father's house, and desert his adoptive father and adoptive
mother, and goes to his father's house, then shall his eye
be put out.
194. If a man give his child to a nurse and the child die
in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and
mother nurse another child, then they shall convict her of
having nursed another child without the knowledge of the
father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off.
195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn
off.
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall
be put out. [ An eye for an eye ]
197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be
broken.
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the
bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the
bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth
shall be knocked out. [ A tooth for a tooth ]
201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay
one-third of a gold mina.
202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank
than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in
public.
203. If a free-born man strike the body of another
free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.
204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man,
he shall pay ten shekels in money.
205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed
man, his ear shall be cut off.
206. If during a quarrel one man strike another and wound
him, then he shall swear, "I did not injure him wittingly,"
and pay the physicians.
207. If the man die of his wound, he shall swear similarly,
and if he (the deceased) was a free-born man, he shall pay
half a mina in money.
208. If he was a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a
mina.
209. If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her
unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.
210. If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death.
211. If a woman of the free class lose her child by a blow,
he shall pay five shekels in money.
212. If this woman die, he shall pay half a mina.
213. If he strike the maid-servant of a man, and she lose
her child, he shall pay two shekels in money.
214. If this maid-servant die, he shall pay one-third of a
mina.
215. If a physician make a large incision with an operating
knife and cure it, or if he open a tumor (over the eye)
with an operating knife, and saves the eye, he shall
receive ten shekels in money.
216. If the patient be a freed man, he receives five
shekels.
217. If he be the slave of some one, his owner shall give
the physician two shekels.
218. If a physician make a large incision with the
operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the
operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be
cut off.
219. If a physician make a large incision in the slave of a
freed man, and kill him, he shall replace the slave with
another slave.
220. If he had opened a tumor with the operating knife, and
put out his eye, he shall pay half his value.
221. If a physician heal the broken bone or diseased soft
part of a man, the patient shall pay the physician five
shekels in money.
222. If he were a freed man he shall pay three shekels.
223. If he were a slave his owner shall pay the physician
two shekels.
224. If a veterinary surgeon perform a serious operation on
an ass or an ox, and cure it, the owner shall pay the
surgeon one-sixth of a shekel as a fee.
225. If he perform a serious operation on an ass or ox, and
kill it, he shall pay the owner one-fourth of its value.
226. If a barber, without the knowledge of his master, cut
the sign of a slave on a slave not to be sold, the hands of
this barber shall be cut off.
227. If any one deceive a barber, and have him mark a slave
not for sale with the sign of a slave, he shall be put to
death, and buried in his house. The barber shall swear: "I
did not mark him wittingly," and shall be guiltless.
228. If a builder build a house for some one and complete
it, he shall give him a fee of two shekels in money for
each sar of surface.
229 If a builder build a house for some one, and does not
construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in
and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to
death.
230. If it kill the son of the owner the son of that
builder shall be put to death.
231. If it kill a slave of the owner, then he shall pay
slave for slave to the owner of the house.
232. If it ruin goods, he shall make compensation for all
that has been ruined, and inasmuch as he did not construct
properly this house which he built and it fell, he shall
re-erect the house from his own means.
233. If a builder build a house for some one, even though
he has not yet completed it; if then the walls seem
toppling, the builder must make the walls solid from his
own means.
234. If a shipbuilder build a boat of sixty gur for a man,
he shall pay him a fee of two shekels in money.
235. If a shipbuilder build a boat for some one, and do not
make it tight, if during that same year that boat is sent
away and suffers injury, the shipbuilder shall take the
boat apart and put it together tight at his own expense.
The tight boat he shall give to the boat owner.
236. If a man rent his boat to a sailor, and the sailor is
careless, and the boat is wrecked or goes aground, the
sailor shall give the owner of the boat another boat as
compensation.
237. If a man hire a sailor and his boat, and provide it
with corn, clothing, oil and dates, and other things of the
kind needed for fitting it: if the sailor is careless, the
boat is wrecked, and its contents ruined, then the sailor
shall compensate for the boat which was wrecked and all in
it that he ruined.
238. If a sailor wreck any one's ship, but saves it, he
shall pay the half of its value in money.
239. If a man hire a sailor, he shall pay him six gur of
corn per year.
240. If a merchantman run against a ferryboat, and wreck
it, the master of the ship that was wrecked shall seek
justice before God; the master of the merchantman, which
wrecked the ferryboat, must compensate the owner for the
boat and all that he ruined.
241. If any one impresses an ox for forced labor, he shall
pay one-third of a mina in money.
242. If any one hire oxen for a year, he shall pay four gur
of corn for plow-oxen.
243. As rent of herd cattle he shall pay three gur of corn
to the owner.
244. If any one hire an ox or an ass, and a lion kill it in
the field, the loss is upon its owner.
245. If any one hire oxen, and kill them by bad treatment
or blows, he shall compensate the owner, oxen for oxen.
246. If a man hire an ox, and he break its leg or cut the
ligament of its neck, he shall compensate the owner with ox
for ox.
247. If any one hire an ox, and put out its eye, he shall
pay the owner one-half of its value.
248. If any one hire an ox, and break off a horn, or cut
off its tail, or hurt its muzzle, he shall pay one-fourth
of its value in money.
249. If any one hire an ox, and God strike it that it die,
the man who hired it shall swear by God and be considered
guiltless.
250. If while an ox is passing on the street (market) some
one push it, and kill it, the owner can set up no claim in
the suit (against the hirer).
251. If an ox be a goring ox, and it shown that he is a
gorer, and he do not bind his horns, or fasten the ox up,
and the ox gore a free-born man and kill him, the owner
shall pay one-half a mina in money.
252. If he kill a man's slave, he shall pay one-third of a
mina.
253. If any one agree with another to tend his field, give
him seed, entrust a yoke of oxen to him, and bind him to
cultivate the field, if he steal the corn or plants, and
take them for himself, his hands shall be hewn off.
254. If he take the seed-corn for himself, and do not use
the yoke of oxen, he shall compensate him for the amount of
the seed-corn.
255. If he sublet the man's yoke of oxen or steal the
seed-corn, planting nothing in the field, he shall be
convicted, and for each one hundred gan he shall pay sixty
gur of corn.
256. If his community will not pay for him, then he shall
be placed in that field with the cattle (at work).
257. If any one hire a field laborer, he shall pay him
eight gur of corn per year.
258. If any one hire an ox-driver, he shall pay him six gur
of corn per year.
259. If any one steal a water-wheel from the field, he
shall pay five shekels in money to its owner.
260. If any one steal a shadduf (used to draw water from
the river or canal) or a plow, he shall pay three shekels
in money.
261. If any one hire a herdsman for cattle or sheep, he
shall pay him eight gur of corn per annum.
262. If any one, a cow or a sheep . . .
263. If he kill the cattle or sheep that were given to him,
he shall compensate the owner with cattle for cattle and
sheep for sheep.
264. If a herdsman, to whom cattle or sheep have been
entrusted for watching over, and who has received his wages
as agreed upon, and is satisfied, diminish the number of
the cattle or sheep, or make the increase by birth less, he
shall make good the increase or profit which was lost in
the terms of settlement.
265. If a herdsman, to whose care cattle or sheep have been
entrusted, be guilty of fraud and make false returns of the
natural increase, or sell them for money, then shall he be
convicted and pay the owner ten times the loss.
266. If the animal be killed in the stable by God ( an
accident), or if a lion kill it, the herdsman shall declare
his innocence before God, and the owner bears the accident
in the stable.
267. If the herdsman overlook something, and an accident
happen in the stable, then the herdsman is at fault for the
accident which he has caused in the stable, and he must
compensate the owner for the cattle or sheep.
268. If any one hire an ox for threshing, the amount of the
hire is twenty ka of corn.
269. If he hire an ass for threshing, the hire is twenty ka
of corn.
270. If he hire a young animal for threshing, the hire is
ten ka of corn.
271. If any one hire oxen, cart and driver, he shall pay
one hundred and eighty ka of corn per day.
272. If any one hire a cart alone, he shall pay forty ka of
corn per day.
273. If any one hire a day laborer, he shall pay him from
the New Year until the fifth month (April to August, when
days are long and the work hard) six gerahs in money per
day; from the sixth month to the end of the year he shall
give him five gerahs per day.
274. If any one hire a skilled artizan, he shall pay as
wages of the . . . five gerahs, as wages of the potter five
gerahs, of a tailor five gerahs, of . . . gerahs, . . . of
a ropemaker four gerahs, of . . .. gerahs, of a mason . . .
gerahs per day.
275. If any one hire a ferryboat, he shall pay three gerahs
in money per day.
276. If he hire a freight-boat, he shall pay two and
one-half gerahs per day.
277. If any one hire a ship of sixty gur, he shall pay
one-sixth of a shekel in money as its hire per day.
278. If any one buy a male or female slave, and before a
month has elapsed the benu-disease be developed, he shall
return the slave to the seller, and receive the money which
he had paid.
279. If any one by a male or female slave, and a third
party claim it, the seller is liable for the claim.
280. If while in a foreign country a man buy a male or
female slave belonging to another of his own country; if
when he return home the owner of the male or female slave
recognize it: if the male or female slave be a native of
the country, he shall give them back without any money.
281. If they are from another country, the buyer shall
declare the amount of money paid therefor to the merchant,
and keep the male or female slave.
282. If a slave say to his master: "You are not my master,"
if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.
THE EPILOGUE LAWS of justice which Hammurabi, the wise
king, established. A righteous law, and pious statute did
he teach the land. Hammurabi, the protecting king am I. I
have not withdrawn myself from the men, whom Bel gave to
me, the rule over whom Marduk gave to me, I was not
negligent, but I made them a peaceful abiding-place. I
expounded all great difficulties, I made the light shine
upon them. With the mighty weapons which Zamama and Ishtar
entrusted to me, with the keen vision with which Ea endowed
me, with the wisdom that Marduk gave me, I have uprooted
the enemy above and below (in north and south), subdued the
earth, brought prosperity to the land, guaranteed security
to the inhabitants in their homes; a disturber was not
permitted. The great gods have called me, I am the
salvation-bearing shepherd, whose staff is straight, the
good shadow that is spread over my city; on my breast I
cherish the inhabitants of the land of Sumer and Akkad; in
my shelter I have let them repose in peace; in my deep
wisdom have I enclosed them. That the strong might not
injure the weak, in order to protect the widows and
orphans, I have in Babylon the city where Anu and Bel raise
high their head, in E-Sagil, the Temple, whose foundations
stand firm as heaven and earth, in order to bespeak justice
in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all injuries,
set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial
stone, before the image of me, as king of righteousness.
The king who ruleth among the kings of the cities am I. My
words are well considered; there is no wisdom like unto
mine. By the command of Shamash, the great judge of heaven
and earth, let righteousness go forth in the land: by the
order of Marduk, my lord, let no destruction befall my
monument. In E-Sagil, which I love, let my name be ever
repeated; let the oppressed, who has a case at law, come
and stand before this my image as king of righteousness;
let him read the inscription, and understand my precious
words: the inscription will explain his case to him; he
will find out what is just, and his heart will be glad, so
that he will say:
"Hammurabi is a ruler, who is as a father to his subjects,
who holds the words of Marduk in reverence, who has
achieved conquest for Marduk over the north and south, who
rejoices the heart of Marduk, his lord, who has bestowed
benefits for ever and ever on his subjects, and has
established order in the land."
When he reads the record, let him pray with full heart to
Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady; and then shall the
protecting deities and the gods, who frequent E-Sagil,
graciously grant the desires daily presented before Marduk,
my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady. In future time, through all
coming generations, let the king, who may be in the land,
observe the words of righteousness which I have written on
my monument; let him not alter the law of the land which I
have given, the edicts which I have enacted; my monument
let him not mar. If such a ruler have wisdom, and be able
to keep his land in order, he shall observe the words which
I have written in this inscription; the rule, statute, and
law of the land which I have given; the decisions which I
have made will this inscription show him; let him rule his
subjects accordingly, speak justice to them, give right
decisions, root out the miscreants and criminals from this
land, and grant prosperity to his subjects.
Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash has
conferred right (or law) am I. My words are well
considered; my deeds are not equaled; to bring low those
that were high; to humble the proud, to expel insolence. If
a succeeding ruler considers my words, which I have written
in this my inscription, if he do not annul my law, nor
corrupt my words, nor change my monument, then may Shamash
lengthen that king's reign, as he has that of me, the king
of righteousness, that he may reign in righteousness over
his subjects. If this ruler do not esteem my words, which I
have written in my inscription, if he despise my curses,
and fear not the curse of God, if he destroy the law which
I have given, corrupt my words, change my monument, efface
my name, write his name there, or on account of the curses
commission another so to do, that man, whether king or
ruler, patesi, or commoner, no matter what he be, may the
great God (Anu), the Father of the gods, who has ordered my
rule, withdraw from him the glory of royalty, break his
scepter, curse his destiny. May Bel, the lord, who fixeth
destiny, whose command can not be altered, who has made my
kingdom great, order a rebellion which his hand can not
control; may he let the wind of the overthrow of his
habitation blow, may he ordain the years of his rule in
groaning, years of scarcity, years of famine, darkness
without light, death with seeing eyes be fated to him; may
he (Bel) order with his potent mouth the destruction of his
city, the dispersion of his subjects, the cutting off of
his rule, the removal of his name and memory from the land.
May Belit, the great Mother, whose command is potent in
E-Kur (the Babylonian Olympus), the Mistress, who harkens
graciously to my petitions, in the seat of judgment and
decision (where Bel fixes destiny), turn his affairs evil
before Bel, and put the devastation of his land, the
destruction of his subjects, the pouring out of his life
like water into the mouth of King Bel. May Ea, the great
ruler, whose fated decrees come to pass, the thinker of the
gods, the omniscient, who maketh long the days of my life,
withdraw understanding and wisdom from him, lead him to
forgetfulness, shut up his rivers at their sources, and not
allow corn or sustenance for man to grow in his land. May
Shamash, the great Judge of heaven and earth, who
supporteth all means of livelihood, Lord of life-courage,
shatter his dominion, annul his law, destroy his way, make
vain the march of his troops, send him in his visions
forecasts of the uprooting of the foundations of his throne
and of the destruction of his land. May the condemnation of
Shamash overtake him forthwith; may he be deprived of water
above among the living, and his spirit below in the earth.
May Sin (the Moon-god), the Lord of Heaven, the divine
father, whose crescent gives light among the gods, take
away the crown and regal throne from him; may he put upon
him heavy guilt, great decay, that nothing may be lower
than he. May he destine him as fated, days, months and
years of dominion filled with sighing and tears, increase
of the burden of dominion, a life that is like unto death.
May Adad, the lord of fruitfulness, ruler of heaven and
earth, my helper, withhold from him rain from heaven, and
the flood of water from the springs, destroying his land by
famine and want; may he rage mightily over his city, and
make his land into flood-hills (heaps of ruined cities).
May Zamama, the great warrior, the first-born son of E-Kur,
who goeth at my right hand, shatter his weapons on the
field of battle, turn day into night for him, and let his
foe triumph over him. May Ishtar, the goddess of fighting
and war, who unfetters my weapons, my gracious protecting
spirit, who loveth my dominion, curse his kingdom in her
angry heart; in her great wrath, change his grace into
evil, and shatter his weapons on the place of fighting and
war. May she create disorder and sedition for him, strike
down his warriors, that the earth may drink their blood,
and throw down the piles of corpses of his warriors on the
field; may she not grant him a life of mercy, deliver him
into the hands of his enemies, and imprison him in the land
of his enemies. May Nergal, the might among the gods, whose
contest is irresistible, who grants me victory, in his
great might burn up his subjects like a slender reedstalk,
cut off his limbs with his mighty weapons, and shatter him
like an earthen image. May Nin-tu, the sublime mistress of
the lands, the fruitful mother, deny him a son, vouchsafe
him no name, give him no successor among men. May
Nin-karak, the daughter of Anu, who adjudges grace to me,
cause to come upon his members in E-kur high fever, severe
wounds, that can not be healed, whose nature the physician
does not understand, which he can not treat with dressing,
which, like the bite of death, can not be removed, until
they have sapped away his life.
May he lament the loss of his life-power, and may the great
gods of heaven and earth, the Anunaki, altogether inflict a
curse and evil upon the confines of the temple, the walls
of this E-barra (the Sun temple of Sippara), upon his
dominion, his land, his warriors, his subjects, and his
troops. May Bel curse him with the potent curses of his
mouth that can not be altered, and may they come upon him
forthwith.
THE END OF THE CODE OF HAMMURABI