GopherProxy

The Code of Hammurabi - Harper translation
Original work, c. 1772 BCE; translation published in 1904.

1. If a man bring an accusation against a man, and charge
him with a (capital) crime, but cannot prove it, he, the
accuser, shall be put to death.

2. If a man charge a man with sorcery, and cannot prove it,
he who is charged with sorcery shall go to the river, into
the river he shall throw himself and if the river overcome
him, his accuser shall take to himself his house (estate).
If the river show that man to be innocent and he come forth
unharmed, he who charged him with sorcery shall be put to
death. He who threw himself into the river shall take to
himself the house of his accuser.

3. If a man, in a case (pending judgment), bear false
(threatening) witness, or do not establish the testimony
that he has given, if that case be a case involving life,
that man shall be put to death.

4. If a man (in a case) bear witness for grain or money (as
a bribe), he shall himself bear the penalty imposed in that
case.

5. If a judge pronounce a judgment, render a decision,
deliver a verdict duly signed and sealed and afterward alter
his judgment, they shall call that judge to account for the
alteration of the judgment which he had pronounced, and
he shall pay twelve-fold the penalty which was in said
judgment; and, in the assembly, they shall expel him from
his seat of judgment, and he shall not return, and with the
judges in a case he shall not take his seat.

6. If a man steal the property of a god (temple) or palace,
that man shall be put to death; and he who receives from his
hand the stolen (property) shall also be put to death.

7. If a man purchase silver or gold, manservant or maid
servant, ox, sheep or ass, or anything else from a man's
son, or a man's servant without witnesses or contracts, or
if he receive (the same) in trust, that man shall be put to
death as a thief.

8. If a man steal ox or sheep, ass or pig, or boat—if it
be from a god (temple) or a palace, he shall restore
thirtyfold; if it be from a freeman, he shall render
tenfold. If the thief have nothing wherewith to pay he shall
be put to death.

9. If a man, who has lost anything, find that which was lost
in the possession of (another) man; and the man in whose
possession the lost property is found say: "It was sold to
me. I purchased it in the presence of witnesses:" and the
owner of the lost property say: "I will bring witnesses to
identify my lost property": if the purchaser produce the
seller who has sold it to him and the witnesses in whose
presence he purchased it, and the owner of the lost property
produce witnesses to identify his lost property, the judges
shall consider their evidence. The witnesses in whose
presence the purchase was made and the witnesses to identify
the lost property shall give their testimony in the presence
of god. The seller shall be put to death as a thief; the
owner of the lost property shall recover his loss; the
purchaser shall recover from the estate of the seller the
money which he paid out.

10. If the purchaser do not produce the seller who sold it
to him, and the witnesses in whose presence he purchased it
(and) if the owner of the lost property produce witnesses to
identify his lost property, the purchaser shall be put to
death as a thief; the owner of the lost property shall
recover his loss.

11. If the owner (claimant) of the lost property do not
produce witnesses to identify his lost property, he has
attempted fraud (has lied), he has stirred up strife
(calumny), he shall be put to death.

12. If the seller have gone to (his) fate (i.e., have died),
the purchaser shall recover damages in said case fivefold
from the estate of the seller.

13. If the witnesses of that man be not at hand, the judges
shall declare a postponement for six months; and if he do
not bring in his witnesses within the six months, that man
has attempted fraud, he shall bear the penalty imposed in
that case.

14. If a man steal a man's son, who is a minor, he shall be
put to death.

15. If a man aid a male or female slave of the palace, or a
male or female slave of a freeman to escape from the city
gate, he shall be put to death.

16. If a man harbor in his house a male or female slave who
has fled from the palace or from a freeman, and do not bring
him (the slave) forth at the call of the commandment, the
owner of that house shall be put to death.

17. If a man seize a male or female slave, a fugitive, in
the field and bring that (slave) back to his owner, the
owner of the slave shall pay him two shekels of silver.

18. If that slave will not name his owner, he shall
bring him to the palace and they shall inquire into his
antecedents and they shall return him to his owner.

19. If he detain that slave in his house and later the slave
be found in his possession, that man shall be put to death.

20. If the slave escape from the hand of his captor, that
man shall so declare, in the name of god, to the owner of
the slave and shall go free.

21. If a man make a breach in a house, they shall put him to
death in front of that breach and they shall thrust him
therein.

22. If a man practice brigandage and be captured, that man
shall be put to death.

23. If the brigand be not captured, the man who has been
robbed, shall, in the presence of god, make an itemized
statement of his loss, and the city and the governor, in
whose province and jurisdiction the robbery was committed,
shall compensate him for whatever was lost.

24. If it be a life (that is lost), the city and governor
shall pay one mana of silver to his heirs.

25. If a fire break out in a man's house and a man who goes
to extinguish it casts his eye on the furniture of the owner
of the house, and take the furniture of the owner of the
house, that man shall be thrown into that fire.

26. If either an officer or a constable, who is ordered to
go on an errand of the king, do not go but hire a substitute
and dispatch him in his stead, that officer or constable
shall be put to death; his hired substitute shall take to
himself his (the officer's) house.

27. If an officer or a constable, who is in a garrison of
the king, be captured, and afterward they give his field and
garden to another and he conduct his business—if the
former return and arrive in his city, they shall restore to
him his field and garden and he himself shall conduct his
business.

28. If an officer or a constable, who is in a fortress of
the king, be captured (and) his son be able to conduct the
business, they shall give to him the field and garden and he
shall conduct the business of his father.

29. If his son be too young and be not able to conduct the
business of his father, they shall give one-third of the
field and of the garden to his mother, and his mother shall
rear him.

30. If an officer or a constable from the beginning of (or,
on account of) (his) business neglect his field, his garden,
and his house and leave them uncared for (and) another after
him take his field, his garden, and his house, and conduct
his business for three years; if the former return and
desire (or, would manage) his field, his garden, and his
house, they shall not give them to him; he, who has taken
(them) and conducted the business shall continue (to do so).

31. If he leave (them) uncared for but one year and return,
they shall give him his field, his garden, and his house,
and he himself shall continue his business.

32. If a merchant ransom either an officer or a constable
who has been captured on an errand of the king, and enable
him to reach his city; if there be sufficient ransom in his
house, he shall ransom himself: if there be not sufficient
ransom in his house, in the temple of his city he shall be
ransomed; if there be not sufficient ransom in the temple of
his city, the palace shall ransom him. In no case shall his
field or his garden or his house be given for his ransom.

33. If a governor or a magistrate take possession of the men
of levy (or, pardon a deserter) or accept and send a hired
substitute on an errand of the king, that governor or
magistrate shall be put to death.

34. If a governor or a magistrate take the property of an
officer, plunder an officer, let an officer for hire,
present an officer in a judgment to a man of influence, take
the gift which the king has given to an officer, that
governor or magistrate shall be put to death.

35. If a man buy from an officer the cattle of sheep which
the king has given to that officer, he shall forfeit his
money.

36. In no case shall one sell the field or garden or house
of an officer, constable or tax-gatherer.

37. If a man purchase the field or garden or house of an
officer, constable or tax-gatherer, his deed-tablet shall be
broken (canceled) and he shall forfeit his money and he
shall return the field, garden or house to its owner.

38. An officer, constable or tax-gatherer shall not deed to
his wife or daughter the field, garden or house, which is
his business (i.e., which is his by virtue of his office),
nor shall he assign them for debt.

39. He may deed to his wife or daughter the field, garden or
house which he has purchased and (hence) possesses, or he
may assign them for debt.

40. A woman, merchant or other property-owner may sell
field, garden or house. The purchaser shall conduct the
business of the field, garden or house which he has
purchased.

41. If a man have bargained for the field, garden or house
of an officer, constable or tax-gatherer and given sureties,
the officer, constable or tax-gatherer shall return to his
field, garden or house and he shall take to himself the
sureties which were given to him.

42. If a man rent a field for cultivation and do not produce
any grain in the field, they shall call him to account,
because he has not performed the work required on the field,
and he shall give to the owner of the field grain on the
basis of the adjacent (fields).

43. If he do not cultivate the field and neglect it, he
shall give to the owner of the field grain on the basis of
the adjacent (fields); and the field which he has neglected,
he shall break up with hoes, he shall harrow and he shall
return to the owner of the field.

44. If a man rent an unreclaimed field for three years to
develop it, and neglect it and do not develop the field, in
the fourth year he shall break up the field with hoes, he
shall hoe and harrow it and he shall return it to the owner
of the field and shall measure out ten GUR of grain per ten
GAN.

45. If a man rent his field to a tenant for crop-rent and
receive the crop-rent of his field and later Adad (i.e., the
Storm God) inundate the field and carry away the produce,
the loss (falls on) the tenant.

46. If he have not received the rent of his field and he
have rented the field for either one-half or one-third (of
the crop), the tenant and the owner of the field shall
divide the grain which is in the field according to
agreement.

47. If the tenant give the cultivation of the field to the
charge of another—because in a former year he has not
gained a maintenance—the owner of the field shall not
interfere. He would cultivate it, and his field has been
cultivated and at the time of harvest he shall take grain
according to his contracts.

48. If a man owe a debt and Adad inundate his field and
carry away the produce, or, through lack of water, grain
have not grown in the field, in that year he shall not make
any return of grain to his creditor, he shall alter his
contract-tablet and he shall not pay the interest for that
year.

49. If a man obtain money from a merchant and give (as
security) to the merchant a field to be planted with grain
and sesame (and) say to him: "Cultivate the field, and take
to thyself the grain and sesame which is produced;" if the
tenant raise grain and sesame in the field, at the time of
harvest, the owner of the field shall receive the grain and
sesame which is in the field and he shall give to the
merchant grain for the loan which he had obtained from him
and for the interest and for the maintenance of the tenant.

50. If he give (as security) a field planted with [grain] or
a field planted with sesame, the owner of the field shall
receive the grain or the sesame which is in the field and he
shall return the loan and its interest to the merchant.

51. If he have not the money to return, he shall give to the
merchant [grain or] sesame, at their market value according
to the scale fixed by the king, for the loan and its
interest which he has obtained from the merchant.

52. If the tenant do not secure a crop of grain or sesame in
his field, he shall not cancel his contract.

53. If a man neglect to strengthen his dyke and do not
strengthen it, and a break be made in his dyke and the water
carry away the farm-land, the man in whose dyke the break
has been made shall restore the grain which he has damaged.

54. If he be not able to restore the grain, they shall sell
him and his goods, and the farmer whose grain the water has
carried away shall share (the results of the sale).

55. If a man open his canal for irrigation and neglect it
and the water carry away an adjacent field, he shall measure
out grain on the basis of the adjacent fields.

56. If a man open up the water and the water carry away the
improvements of an adjacent field, he shall measure out ten
GUR of grain per GAN.

57. If a shepherd have not come to agreement with the owner
of a field to pasture his sheep on the grass; and if he
pasture his sheep on the field without the consent of the
owner, the owner of the field shall harvest his field, and
the shepherd who has pastured his sheep on the field without
the consent of the owner of the field, shall give over and
above twenty GUR of grain per ten GAN to the owner of the
field.

58. If, after the sheep have gone up from the meadow and
have crowded their way out (?) of the gate into the public
common, the shepherd turn the sheep into the field, and
pasture the sheep on the field, the shepherd shall oversee
the field on which he pastures and at the time of harvest he
shall measure out sixty GUR of grain per ten GAN to the
owner of the field.

59. If a man cut down a tree in a man's orchard, without the
consent of the owner of the orchard, he shall pay one-half
mana of silver.

60. If a man give a field to a gardener to plant as an
orchard and the gardener plant the orchard and care for the
orchard four years, in the fifth year the owner of the
orchard and the gardener shall share equally; the owner of
the orchard shall mark off his portion and take it.

61. If the gardener do not plant the whole field, but leave
a space waste, they shall assign the waste space to his
portion.

62. If he do not plant as an orchard the field which was
given to him, if corn be the produce of the field, for the
years during which it has been neglected, the gardener shall
measure out to the owner of the field (such produce) on the
basis of the adjacent fields, and he shall perform the
required work on the field and he shall restore it to the
owner of the field.

63. If the field be unreclaimed, he shall perform the
required work on the field and he shall restore it to the
owner of the field and he shall measure out ten GUR of grain
per ten GAN for each year.

64. If a man give his orchard to a gardener to manage, the
gardener shall give to the owner of the orchard two-thirds
of the produce of the orchard, as long as he is in
possession of the orchard; he himself shall take one-third.

65. If the gardener do not properly manage the orchard and
he diminish the produce, the gardener shall measure out the
produce of the orchard on the basis of the adjacent
orchards.

100. … he shall write down the interest on the money, as
much as he has obtained, and he shall reckon its days and he
shall make returns to his merchant.

101. If he do not meet with success where he goes, the agent
shall double the amount of money obtained and he shall pay
it to the merchant.

102. If a merchant give money to an agent as a favor, and
the latter meet with a reverse where he goes, he shall
return the principal of the money to the merchant.

103. If, when he goes on a journey, an enemy rob him of
whatever he was carrying, the agent shall take an oath in
the name of god and go free.

104. If a merchant give to an agent grain, wool, oil or
goods of any kind with which to trade, the agent shall write
down the value and return (the money) to the merchant. The
agent shall take a sealed receipt for the money which he
gives to the merchant.

105. If the agent be careless and do not take a receipt for
the money which he has given to the merchant, the money not
receipted for shall not be placed to his account.

106. If an agent obtain money from a merchant and have a
dispute with the merchant (i.e., deny the fact), that
merchant shall call the agent to account in the presence of
god and witnesses for the money obtained and the agent shall
give to the merchant threefold the amount of money which he
obtained.

107. If a merchant lend to an agent and the agent return to
the merchant whatever the merchant had given him; and if the
merchant deny (receiving) what the agent has given to him,
that agent shall call the merchant to account in the
presence of god and witnesses and the merchant, because he
has had a dispute with his agent, shall give to him sixfold
the amount which he has obtained.

108. If a wine-seller do not receive grain as the price of
drink, but if she receive money by the great stone, or make
the measure for drink smaller than the measure for corn,
they shall call that wine-seller to account, and they shall
throw her into the water.

109. If outlaws collect in the house of a wine-seller, and
she do not arrest those outlaws and bring them to the
palace, that wine-seller shall be put to death.

110. If a priestess who is not living in a MAL.GE.A., open a
wine-shop or enter a wine-shop for a drink, they shall burn
that woman.

111. If a wine-seller give 60 KA of drink … on credit, at
the time of the harvest she shall receive 50 KA of grain.

112. If a man be on a journey and he give silver, gold,
stones or portable property to a man with a commission for
transportation, and if that man do not deliver that which
was to be transported where it was to be transported, but
take it to himself, the owner of the transported goods shall
call that man to account for the goods to be transported
which he did not deliver, and that man shall deliver to the
owner of the transported goods fivefold the amount which was
given to him.

113. If a man hold a [debt of] grain or money against a man,
and if he take grain without the consent of the owner from
the heap or the granary, they shall call that man to account
for taking grain without the consent of the owner from the
heap or the granary, and he shall return as much grain as he
took, and he shall forfeit all that he has lent, whatever it
be.

114. If a man do not hold a [debt of] grain or money against
a man, and if he seize him for debt, for each seizure he
shall pay one-third mana of silver.

115. If a man hold a [debt of] grain or money against a man,
and he seize him for debt, and the one seized die in the
house of the one who seized him, that case has no penalty.

116. If the one seized die of abuse or neglect in the house
of him who seized him, the owner of the one seized shall
call the merchant to account; and if it be a man's son [that
he seized] they shall put his son to death; if it be a man's
servant [that he seized] he shall pay one-third mana of
silver and he shall forfeit whatever amount he had lent.

117. If a man be in debt and sell his wife, son or daughter,
or bind them over to service, for three years they shall
work in the house of their purchaser of master; in the
fourth year they shall be given their freedom.

118. If he bind over to service a male or female slave, and
if the merchant transfer or sell such slave, there is no
cause for complaint.

119. If a man be in debt and he sell his maid servant who
has borne him children, the owner of the maid servant (i.e.,
the man in debt) shall repay the money which the merchant
paid (him), and he shall ransom his maid servant.

120. If a man store his grain in bins in the house of
another and an accident happen to the granary, or the owner
of the house open a bin and take grain or he raise a dispute
about (or deny) the amount of grain which was stored in his
house, the owner of the grain shall declare his grain in the
presence of god, and the owner of the house shall double the
amount of grain which he took and restore it to the owner of
the grain.

121. If a man store grain in the house of another, he shall
pay storage at the rate of 5 KA of grain per GUR each year.

122. If a man give to another silver, gold or anything else
on deposit, whatever he gives he shall show to witnesses and
he shall arrange the contracts and (then) he shall make the
deposit.

123. If a man give on deposit without witnesses or
contracts, and at the place of the deposit they dispute with
him (i.e., deny the deposit), that case has no penalty.

124. If a man give to another silver, gold or anything else
on deposit in the presence of witnesses and the latter
dispute with him (or deny it), they shall call that man to
account and he shall double whatever he disputed and repay
it.

125. If a man give anything of his on deposit, and at the
place of deposit either by burglary or pillage he suffer
loss in common with the owner of the house, the owner of the
house who has been negligent and has lost what was given to
him on deposit shall make good (the loss) and restore (it)
to the owner of the goods; the owner of the house shall
institute a search for what has been lost and take it from
the thief.

126. If a man have not lost anything, but say that he has
lost something, or if he file a claim for loss when nothing
has been lost, he shall declare his (alleged) loss in the
presence of god, and he shall double and pay for the
(alleged) loss the amount for which he had made claim.

127. If a man point the finger at a priestess or the wife of
another and cannot justify it, they shall drag that man
before the judges and they shall brand his forehead.

128. If a man take a wife and do not arrange with her the
(proper) contracts, that woman is not a (legal) wife.

129. If the wife of a man be taken in lying with another
man, they shall bind them and throw them into the water. If
the husband of the woman would save his wife, or if the king
would save his male servant (he may).

130. If a man force the (betrothed) wife of another who has
not known a male and is living in her father's house, and he
lie in her bosom and they take him, that man shall be put to
death and that woman shall go free.

131. If a man accuse his wife and she has not been taken in
lying with another man, she shall take an oath in the name
of god and she shall return to her house.

132. If the finger have been pointed at the wife of a man
because of another man, and she have not been taken in lying
with another man, for her husband's sake she shall throw
herself into the river.

133. If a man be captured and there be maintenance in his
house and his wife go out of her house, she shall protect
her body and she shall not enter into another house.

133A. [If] that woman do not protect her body and enter into
another house, they shall call that woman into account and
they shall throw her into the water.

134. If a man be captured and there no be maintenance in his
house and his wife enter into another house, that woman has
no blame.

135. If a man be captured and there no be maintenance in his
house and his wife enter openly into another house and bear
children; if later her husband return and arrive in his
city, that woman shall return to her husband (and) the
children shall go to their father.

136. If a man desert his city and flee and afterwards his
wife enter into another house; if that man return and would
take his wife, the wife of the fugitive shall not return to
her husband because he hated his city and fled.

137. If a man set his face to put away a concubine who has
borne him children or a wife who has presented him with
children, he shall return to that woman her dowry and shall
give to he the income of field, garden and goods and she
shall bring up her children; from the time that her children
are grown up, from whatever is given to her children they
shall give to her a portion corresponding to that of a son
and the man of her choice may marry her.

138. If a man would put away his wife who has not borne him
children, he shall give her money to the amount of her
marriage settlement and he shall make good to her the dowry
which she brought from her father's house and then he may
put her away.

139. If there were no marriage settlement, he shall give to
her one mana of silver for a divorce.

140. If he be a freeman, he shall give her one-third mana of
silver.

141. If the wife of a man who is living in his house, set
her face to go out and play the part of a fool, neglect her
house, belittle her husband, they shall call her to account:
if her husband say: "I have put her away," he shall let her
go. On her departure nothing shall be given to her for her
divorce. If her husband say: "I have not put her away," her
husband may take another woman. The first woman shall dwell
in the house of her husband as a maid servant.

142. If a woman hate her husband, and say: "thou shalt not
have me," they shall inquire into her antecedents for her
defects; and if she have been a careful mistress and been
without reproach and her husband has been going about and
greatly belittling her, that woman has no blame. She shall
receive her dowry and go to her father's house.

143. If she have not been a careful mistress, have gadded
about, have neglected her house and have belittled her
husband, they shall throw that woman into the water.

144. If a man take a wife and that wife give a maid servant
to her husband and she bear children; if that man set his
face to take a concubine, they shall not countenance him. He
may not take a concubine.

145. If a man take a wife and she do not present him with
children and he set his face to take a concubine, that man
may take a concubine and bring her into his house. That
concubine shall not rank with his wife.

146. If a man take a wife and she give a maid servant to her
husband, and that maid servant bear children and afterwards
would take rank with her mistress; because she has borne
children, her mistress may not sell her for money, but she
may reduce her to bondage and count her among the maid
servants.

147. If she have not borne children, her mistress may sell
her for money.

148. If a man take a wife and she become afflicted with
disease, and if he set his face to take another, he may. His
wife, who is afflicted with disease, he shall not put away.
She shall remain in the house which he has built and he
shall maintain her as long as she lives.

149. If that woman do not elect to remain in her husband's
house, he shall make good to her the dowry which she brought
from her father's house and she may go.

150. If a man give to his wife field, garden, house or goods
and he deliver to her a sealed deed, after (the death of)
her husband, her children cannot make claim against her. The
mother after her (death) may will to her child whom she
loves, but to a brother she may not.

151. If a woman, who dwells in the house of a man, make a
contract with her husband that a creditor of his may not
hold her (for his debts) and compel him to deliver a written
agreement; if that man were in debt before he took that
woman, his creditor may not hold his wife, and if that woman
were in debt before she entered the house of that man, her
creditor may not hold her husband.

152. If they contract a debt after the woman has entered
into the house of the man, both of them shall be answerable
to the merchant.

153. If a woman bring about the death of her husband for the
sake of another man, they shall impale her.

154. If a man have known his daughter, they shall expel that
man from the city.

155. If a man have betrothed a bride to his son and his son
have known her, and if he (the father) afterward lie in her
bosom and they take him, they shall bind that man and throw
him in the water.

156. If a man have betrothed a bride to his son and his son
have not known her but he himself lie in her bosom, he shall
pay her one-half mana of silver and he shall make good to
her whatever she brought from the house of her father and
the man of her choice may take her.

157. If a man lie in the bosom of his mother after (the
death of) his father, they shall burn both of them.

158. If a man, after the death (of his father), be taken in
the bosom of the chief wife (of his father) who has borne
children, that man shall be cut off from his father's house.

159. If a man, who has brought a present to the house of
his father-in-law and has given the marriage settlement,
look with longing upon another woman and say to his
father-in-law, "I will not take thy daughter;" the father of
the daughter shall take to himself whatever was brought to
him.

160. If a man bring a present to the house of his
father-in-law and give a marriage settlement and the father
of the daughter say, "I will not give thee my daughter;" he
(i.e., the father-in-law) shall double the amount which was
brought to him and return it.

161. If a man bring a present to the house of his
father-in-law and give a marriage settlement, and his friend
slander him; and if his father-in-law say to the claimant
for the wife, "My daughter thou shalt not have," he (the
father-in-law) shall double the amount which was brought to
him and return it, but his friend may not have his wife.

162. If a man take a wife and she bear him children and that
woman die, her father may not lay claim to her dowry. Her
dowry belongs to her children.

163. If a man take a wife and she do not present him with
children and that woman die; if his father-in-law return to
him the marriage settlement which that man brought to the
house of his father-in-law, her husband may not lay claim to
the dowry of that woman. Her dowry belongs to the house of
her father.

164. If his father-in-law do not return to him the marriage
settlement, he may deduct from her dowry the amount of the
marriage settlement and return (the rest) of her dowry to
the house of her father.

165. If a man present field, garden or house to his favorite
son and write for him a sealed deed; after the father dies,
when the brothers divide, he shall take the present which
the father gave him, and over and above they shall divide
the goods of the father's house equally.

166. If a man take wives for his sons and do not take a wife
for his youngest son, after the father dies, when the
brothers divide, he shall take the present which the father
gave him, and over and above they shall divide the goods of
the father's house equally.

167. If a man take a wife and she bear him children and that
woman die, and after her (death) he take another wife and
she bear him children and later the father die, the children
of the mothers shall not divide (the estate).They shall
receive the dowries of the respective mothers and divide
equally the goods of the house of the father.

168. If a man set his face to disinherit his son and say to
the judges: "I will disinherit my son," the judges shall
inquire into his antecedents, and if the son have not
committed a crime sufficiently grave to cut him off from
sonship, the father may not cut off his son from sonship.

169. If he have committed a crime against his father
sufficiently grave to cut him off from sonship, they shall
condone his first (offense). If he commit a crime a second
time, the father may cut off his son from sonship.

170. If a man's wife bear him children and his maid servant
bear him children, and the father during his lifetime say to
the children which the maid servant bore him: "My children,"
and reckon them with the children of his wife, after the
father dies the children of the wife and the children of the
maid servant shall divide the goods of the father's house
equally. The child of the wife shall have the right of
choice at the division.

171. But if a father during his lifetime have not said to
the children which the maid servant bore him: "My children;"
after the father dies, the children of the maid servant
shall not share in the goods of the father's house with the
children of the wife. The maid servant and her children
shall be given their freedom. The children of the wife may
not lay claim to the children of the maid servant for
service. The wife shall receive her dowry and the gift which
her husband gave and deeded to her on a tablet and she may
dwell in the house of her husband and enjoy (the property)
as long as she lives. She cannot sell it, however, for after
her (death) it belongs to her children.

172. If her husband have not given her a gift, they shall
make good her dowry and she shall receive the goods of her
husband's house a portion corresponding to that of a son. If
her children scheme to drive her out of the house, the
judges shall inquire into her antecedents and if the
children be in the wrong, she shall not go out from her
husband's house. If the woman set her face to go out, she
shall leave to her children the gift which her husband gave
her; and she shall receive the dowry of her father's house,
and the husband of her choice may take her.

173. If that woman bear children to her later husband into
whose house she has entered and later on that woman die, the
former and the later children shall divide her dowry.

174. If she do not bear children to her later husband, the
children of her first husband shall receive her dowry.

175. If either a slave of the palace or a slave of the
freeman take the daughter of a man (gentleman) and she bear
children, the owner of the slave may not lay claim to the
children of the daughter of the man for service.

176. And if a slave of the palace or a slave of the freeman
take the daughter of a man (gentleman); and if, when he
takes her, she enter into the house of the slave of the
palace or the slave of the freeman with the dowry of her
father's house; if from the time that they join hands, they
build a house and acquire property; and if later on the
slave of the palace or the slave of the freeman die, the
daughter of the man shall receive her dowry, and they shall
divide into two parts whatever her husband and she had
acquired from the time they joined hands; the owner of the
slave shall receive one-half and the daughter of the man
shall receive one-half for her children.

176A. If the daughter of a man had no dowry they shall
divide into two parts whatever her husband and she had
acquired from the time they joined hands. The owner of the
slave shall receive one-half and the daughter of the man
shall receive one-half for her children.

177. If a widow, whose children are minors set her face to
enter another house, she cannot do so without the consent of
the judges. When she enters another house, the judges shall
inquire into the state of her former husband and they shall
intrust the estate of the former husband to the later
husband and that woman, and they shall deliver to them a
tablet (to sign). They shall administer the estate and rear
the minors. They may not sell the household goods. He who
purchases household goods belonging to the sons of a widow
shall forfeit his money. The goods shall revert to the
owner.

178. If (there be) a priestess or a devotee to whom her
father has given a dowry or written a deed of gift; if in
the deed which he has written for her, he have not written:
"after her (death) she may give to whomsoever she may
please," and if he have not granted her full discretion;
after her father dies her brothers shall take her field and
garden and they shall give her grain, oil and wool according
to the value of her share and they shall make her content.
If her brothers do not give her grain, oil and wool
according to the value of her share and they do not make her
content, she may give her field and garden to any tenant she
may please and her tenant shall maintain her. She shall
enjoy the field, garden or anything else which her father
gave her as long as she lives. She may not sell it, nor
transfer it. Her heritage belongs to her brothers.

179. If (there be) a priestess or a devotee to whom her
father has given a dowry or written a deed of gift; if in
the deed which he has written for her, he have written
"after her (death) she may give to whomsoever she may
please," and he have granted her full discretion; after her
father dies she may give it to whomsoever she may please
after her (death). Her brothers may not lay claim against
her.

180. If a father do not give a dowry to his daughter, a
bride or devotee, after her father dies she shall receive as
her share in the goods of her father's house the portion of
a son and she shall enjoy it as long as she lives. After her
(death), it belongs to her brothers.

181. If a father devote a votary or NU.PAR. to a god and do
not give her a dowry, after her father dies she shall
receive as her share in the goods of her father's house
one-third of the portion of a son and she shall enjoy it as
long as she lives. After her (death), it belongs to her
brothers.

182. If a man do not give a dowry to his daughter, a
priestess of Marduk of Babylon, and do not write for her a
deed of gift; after her father dies she shall receive as her
share with her brothers one-third the portion of a son in
the goods of her father's house, but she shall not conduct
the business thereof. A priestess of Marduk, after her
(death), may give to whomsoever she may please.

183. If a father present a dowry to his daughter, who is a
concubine, and give her to a husband and write a deed of
gift; after the father dies she shall not share in the goods
of her father's house.

184. If a man do not present a dowry to his daughter, who is
a concubine, and do not give her to a husband; after
her father dies her brothers shall present her a dowry
proportionate to the fortune of her father's house and they
shall give her to a husband.

185. If a man take in his name a young child as a son and
rear him, one may not bring claim for that adopted son.

186. If a man take a young child as a son and, when he takes
him, he is rebellious toward his father and his mother (who
have adopted him), that adopted son shall return to the
house of his father.

187. One may not bring claim for the son of a NER.SE.GA. who
is a palace guard, or the son of a devotee.

188. If an artisan take a son for adoption and teach him his
handicraft, one may not bring claim for him.

189. If he do not teach him his handicraft, that adopted son
may return to his father's house.

190. If a man do not reckon among his sons the young child
whom he has taken and reared, that adopted son may return to
his father's house.

191. If a man, who has taken a young child as a son and
reared him, establish his own house and acquire children,
and set his face to cut off the adopted son, that son shall
not go his way. The father who reared him shall give to him
of his goods one-third the portion of a son and he shall go.
He shall not give to him of field, garden or house.

192. If the son of a NER.SE.GA. or the son of a devotee say
to his father who has reared him or his mother who has
reared him: "My father thou art not," "My mother thou art
not," they shall cut out his tongue.

193. If the son of a NER.SE.GA. or the son of a devotee
identify his own father's house and hate the father that has
reared him and the mother who has reared him and go back to
his father's house, they shall pluck out his eye.

194. If man give his son to a nurse and that son die in the
hands of the nurse, and the nurse substitute another son
without the consent of his father or mother, they shall call
her to account, and because she has substituted another son
without the consent of his father or mother, they shall cut
off his breast.

195. If a son strike his father, they shall cut off his
fingers.

196. If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall
destroy his eye.

197. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone.

198. If one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone
of a freeman he shall pay one mana of silver.

199. If one destroy the eye of a man's slave or break a bone
of a man's slave he shall pay one-half his price.

200. If a man knock out a tooth of a man of his own rank,
they shall knock out his tooth.

201. If one knock out a tooth of a freeman, he shall pay
one-third mana of silver.

202. If a man strike the person of a man (.i.e., commit an
assault) who is his superior, he shall receive sixty strokes
with an ox-tail whip in public.

203. If a man strike another man on his own rank, he shall
pay one mana of silver.

204. If a freeman strike a freeman, he shall pay ten shekels
of silver.

205. If a man's slave strike a man's son, they shall cut off
his ear.

206. If a man strike another man in a quarrel and wound him,
he shall swear: "I struck him without intent," and he shall
be responsible for the physician.

207. If (he) die as a result of the stroke, he shall swear
(as above), and if he be a man, he shall pay one-half mana
of silver.

208. If (he) be a freeman, he shall pay one-third mana of
silver.

209. If a man strike a man's daughter and bring about a
miscarriage, he shall pay ten shekels of silver for her
miscarriage.

210. If a man strike a man's daughter and bring about a
miscarriage, he shall pay ten shekels of silver for her
miscarriage.

210. If that woman die, they shall put his daughter to
death.

211. If, through a stroke, he bring about a miscarriage to
the daughter of a freeman, he shall pay five shekels of
silver.

212. If that woman die, he shall pay one-half mana of
silver.

213. If he strike the female slave of a man and bring about
a miscarriage, he shall pay two shekels of silver.

214. If that female slave die, he shall pay one-third mana
of silver.

215. If a physician operate on a man for a severe wound (or
make a severe wound upon a man) with a bronze lancet and
save the man's life; or if he open an abscess (in the eye)
of a man with a bronze lancet and save that man's eye, he
shall receive ten shekels of silver (as his fee).

216. If he be a freeman, he shall receive five shekels.

217. If it be a man's slave, the owner of the slave shall
give two shekels of silver to the physician.

218. If a physician operate on a man for a severe wound with
a bronze lancet and cause that man's death; or open an
abscess (in the eye) of a man with a bronze lancet and
destroy the man's eye, they shall cut off his fingers.

219. If a physician operate on a slave of a freeman for a
severe wound with a bronze lancet and cause his death, he
shall restore a slave of equal value.

220. If he open an abscess (in his eye) with a bronze
lancet, and destroy his eye, he shall pay silver to extent
of one-half of his price.

221. If a physician set a broken bone for a man or cure his
diseased bowels, the patient shall give five shekels of
silver to the physician.

222. If he be a freeman, he shall give three shekels of
silver.

223. If it be a man's slave, the owner of the slave shall
give two shekels of silver to the builder.

224. If a veterinary physician operate on an ox or an ass
for a severe wound and save its life, the owner of the ox or
ass shall give to the physician, as his fee, one-sixth of a
shekel of silver.

225. If he operate on an ox or an ass for a severe wound and
cause its death, he shall give to the owner of the ox or ass
one-fourth its value.

226. If a brander, without the consent of the owner of the
slave, brand a slave with the sign that he cannot be sold,
they shall cut off the fingers of that brander.

227. If a man deceive a brander and he brand a slave with
the sign that he cannot be sold, they shall put that man to
death, and they shall cast him into his house. The brander
shall swear: "I did not brand him knowingly," and he shall
go free.

228. If a builder build a house for a man and complete it,
(that man) shall give him two shekels of silver per SAR of
house as his wage.

229. If a builder build a house for a man and do not make
its construction firm, and the house which he has built
collapse and cause the death of the owner of the house, that
builder shall be put to death.

230. If it cause the death of a son of the owner of the
house, they shall put to death a son of that builder.

231. If it cause the death of a slave of the owner of the
house, he shall give the owner of the house a slave of equal
value.

232. If it destroy property, he shall restore whatever it
destroyed, and because he did not make the house which he
built firm and it collapsed, he shall rebuild the house
which collapsed from his own property (i.e., at his own
expense).

233. If a builder build a house for a man and do not make
its construction meet the requirements and a wall fall in,
that builder shall strengthen that wall at his own expense.

234. If a boatman build a boat of 60 GUR for a man, he shall
give him 2 shekels of silver as his wage.

235. If a boatman build a boat for a man and he do not make
its construction seaworthy and that boat meet with a
disaster in the same year in which it was put into
commission, the boatman shall reconstruct the boat and he
shall strengthen it at his own expense and he shall give the
boat when strengthened to the owner of the boat.

236. If a man hire his boat to a boatman and the boatman be
careless and he sink or wreck the boat, the boatman shall
replace the boat to the owner of the boat.

237. If a man hire a boatman and a boat and freight it with
grain, wool, oil, dates or any other kind of freight, and
that boatman is careless and he sink the boat or wreck its
cargo, the boatman shall replace the boat which he sank and
whatever portion of the cargo he wrecked.

238. If a boatman sink a man's boat and refloat it, he shall
give silver to the extent of one-half its value.

239. If a man hire a boatman, he shall give him 6 GUR of
grain per year.

240. If a boat under way strike a ferryboat (or, boat at
anchor), and sink it, the owner of the boat whose boat was
sunk shall make declaration in the presence of god of
everything that was lost in his boat and (the owner) of (the
vessel) under way which sank the ferryboat shall replace his
boat and whatever was lost.

241. If a man seize an ox for debt, he shall pay one-third
mana of silver.

242. 243. If a man hire (an ox) for a year, he shall give to
its owner four GUR of grain as the hire of a draught ox,
(and) three GUR of grain as the hire of an ox (?).

244. If a man hire an ox or an ass and a lion kill it in the
field, it is the owner's affair.

245. If a man hire an ox and cause its death through neglect
or abuse, he shall restore an ox of equal value to the owner
of the ox.

246. If a man hire an ox and he break its foot or cut its
ham-string (?), he shall restore an ox of equal value to the
owner of the ox.

247. If a man hire an ox and destroy its eye, he shall pay
silver to the owner of the ox to the extent of one-half its
value.

248. If a man hire an ox and break its horn or cut off its
tail or injure the flesh (through which) the ring (passes),
he shall pay silver to the owner of the ox to the extent of
one-quarter its value.

249. If a man hire an ox and a god strike it and it die, the
man who hired the ox shall take an oath before god and go
free.

250. If a bull, when passing through the street, gore a man
and bring about his death, this case has no penalty.

251. If a man's bull have been wont to gore and they have
made known to him his habit of goring, and he have not
protected his horns or have not tied him up, and that bull
gore the son of a man and bring about his death, he shall
pay one-half mana of silver.

252. If it be the servant of a man, he shall pay one-third
mana of silver.

253. If a man hire a man to oversee his farm and to furnish
him the seed-grain and intrust him with oxen and contract
with him to cultivate the field, and that man steal either
the seed or the crop and it be found in his possession, they
shall cut off his fingers.

254. If he take the seed-grain and overwork the oxen, he
shall restore the quantity of grain which he has hoed.

255. If he let the oxen of the man on hire, or steal the
seed-grain and there be no crop in the field, they shall
call that man to account and he shall measure out 60 GUR of
grain per 10 GAN.

256. If he be not able to meet his obligation, they shall
leave him in that field with the cattle.

257. If a man hire a field-laborer, he shall pay him 8 GUR
of grain per year.

258. If a man hire a herdsman, he shall pay him 6 GUR of
grain per year.

259. If a man steal a watering-machine in a field, he
shall pay 5 shekels of silver to the owner of the
watering-machine.

260. If a man steal a watering-bucket or a harrow, he shall
pay 3 shekels of silver.

261. If a man hire a herdsman to pasture oxen or sheep, he
shall pay him 8 GUR of grain per year.

262. If a man, an ox or a sheep to …

263. If he lose an ox or sheep which is given to him, he
shall restore to their owner ox for ox, sheep for sheep.

264. If a shepherd, to whom oxen or sheep have been given to
pasture, receive as his hire whatever was agreed upon (?)
and be satisfied, and he let the cattle or sheep decrease in
number, or lessen the birth rate, according to his contracts
he shall make good the birth rate and the produce.

265. If a shepherd, to whom oxen or sheep have been given to
pasture, have been dishonest or have altered their price, or
sold them, they shall call him to account, and he shall
restore to their owner oxen or sheep tenfold what he has
stolen.

266. If a visitation of god happen to a fold, or a lion
kill, the shepherd shall declare himself innocent before
god, and the owner of the fold shall suffer the damage.

267. If a shepherd be careless and he bring about an
accident in the fold, the shepherd shall make good in cattle
and sheep the loss through the accident which he brought
about in the fold, and give them to the owner.

268. If a man hire an ox to thresh, 20 KA of grain is its
hire.

269. If he hire an ass to thresh, 10 KA of grain is its
hire.

270. If he hire a young animal (goat) to thresh, 1 KA of
grain is its hire.

271. If a man hire oxen, a wagon and a driver, he shall pay
180 KA of grain per day.

272. If a man hire a wagon only, he shall pay 40 KA of grain
per day.

273. If a man hire a laborer, from the beginning of the year
until the fifth month, he shall pay 6 SE of silver per day;
from the sixth month until the end of the year he shall pay
5 SE of silver per day.

274. If a man hire an artisan, the wage of a … is 5 SE of
silver; the wage of a brickmaker (?) is 5 SE of silver; the
wage of a tailor is 5 SE of silver; the wage of a … is …
SE of silver; the wage of a … is … SE of silver; the
wage of a … is … SE of silver; the wage of a carpenter
is 4 SE of silver; the wage of a (?) is 4 SE of silver; the
wage of a (?) is … SE of silver; the wage of a mason is
… SE of silver; so much per day shall he pay.

275. If a man hire a … its hire is 3 SE of silver per day.

276. If he hire a sail-boat (?), he shall pay 2½ SE of
silver per day as its hire.

277. If a man hire a boat of sixty GUR (tonnage), he shall
pay 1/6 of a shekel of silver as its hire per day.

278. If a man sell a male or female slave, and the slave
have not completed his month, and the bennu fever fall upon
him, he (the purchaser) shall return him to the seller and
he shall receive the money which he paid.

279. If a man sell a male or female slave and there be a
claim upon him, the seller shall be responsible for the
claim.

280. If a man purchase a male or female slave of a man in a
foreign country, and if, when he comes back to his own land,
the (former) owner of the male or female slave recognize his
male or female slave—if the male or female slave be a
native of the land, he shall grant them their freedom
without money.

281. If they be natives of another land, the purchaser shall
declare before god the money which he paid (for them), and
the owner of the male or female slave shall give to the
merchant the money which he paid out, and he (the owner)
shall receive into his care his male or female slave.

282. If a male slave say to his master: "Thou art not my
master," his master shall prove him to be his slave and
shall cut off his ear.