1. If a man ban a man, and cast a spell upon him, and has not justified it, he who has banned him shall be killed.
2. If a man has thrown a spell upon a man, and has not justified it, he upon whom the spell has been thrown shall go to the river,174 (and) shall plunge into the river, and if the river take him, he who banned him may take his house. If the river show that man to be innocent, and save (him), he who threw the spell upon him shall be killed; he who plunged into the river may take possession of the house of him who banned him.
3. If a man in a lawsuit has come forward (to bear) false witness, and has not justified the word he has spoken, if that lawsuit be a lawsuit of life,175 that man shall be killed.
4. If he has come forward (to bear) witness concerning wheat or silver, he shall bear the guilt of that lawsuit.
5. If a judge has given judgment, and decided a decision, and delivered a tablet (thereupon), and afterwards his judgment is found faulty, that judge, for the fault in the judgment he had judged, they shall summon, and the claim which is in question176 he shall (re)pay twelvefold, and in the assembly they shall make him rise up from his judgment-seat, and he shall not return, and he shall not sit again with the judges in judgment.
6. If a man has stolen the property of a god, or of the palace, that man shall be killed; and he who has received the stolen thing from his hand shall be killed.
[pg 492]7. If a man has bought either silver, or gold, or a man-slave, or a woman-slave, or an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or anything whatever, from the hands of the son of a man or the slave of a man, without witness or contract, or has received it on deposit, that man is a thief—he shall be killed.
8. If a man has stolen either an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or a pig, or a ship—if it be from a god or from the palace, he shall (re)pay thirtyfold; if it be from a poor man, he shall restore tenfold. If the thief have not wherewith to (re)pay, he shall be killed.
9. If a man who has lost his property meet with his lost property in the hands of a man, (and) the man in whose hands the lost thing has been found say “a certain seller sold it—I bought it before certain witnesses,” and the owner of the lost object say “Let me bring witnesses who will recognize my lost object,” the buyer shall bring forward the seller who sold it, and the witnesses before whom he bought (it), and the owner of the lost object shall bring forward the witnesses who will recognize his lost object. The judge shall see what they have to say, and the witnesses before whom the purchase was made, and the witnesses knowing the object lost shall speak before God,177 and (if) the seller is the thief, he shall be killed. The owner of the lost object shall take (back) his lost object; the buyer shall receive (back) from the house of the seller the silver which he has paid.
10. If the buyer has not brought forward the seller who sold it to him and the witnesses before whom he bought (it), (and) the owner of the lost object has brought forward witnesses recognizing his lost object, the buyer is a thief—he shall be killed; the owner of the object lost shall take (back) the lost object.
11. If the owner of the lost object has not brought forward witnesses recognizing his lost object, he is a rogue, (and) has made a false accusation—he shall be killed.
12. If the seller has gone to his fate, the buyer shall receive from the house of the seller the claims of that judgment fivefold.
13. If that man have not his witnesses at hand, the judge shall grant him a delay of six months,178 and if he have not procured his witnesses in six months,179 that man is a rogue—he shall bear the guilt of that judgment.
14. If a man has stolen the young son of a man, he shall be killed.
[pg 493]15. If a man has caused to go forth from the gate either a slave of the palace, or a handmaid of the palace, or the slave of a poor man, or the handmaid of a poor man, he shall be killed.
16. If a man has sheltered the escaped male or female slave of the palace or of a poor man in his house, and at the request of the steward has not sent him forth, the master of that house shall be killed.
17. If a man has met the escaped male or female slave in the fields, and has taken him back to his master, the master of the slave shall give him two shekels of silver.
18. If that slave will not name his master, he shall take him to the palace, his intention shall be inquired into, and they shall return him to his master.
19. If he has shut up that slave in his house, and afterwards the slave has been found in his hands, that man shall be killed.
20. If a slave escape from the hands of the man who has found him, that man shall call God to witness180 unto the master of the slave, and shall be held blameless.
21. If a man has made a breach in a house, in front of that breach they shall kill him and bury him.
22. If a man has exercised brigandage, and has been taken, that man shall be killed.
23. If the brigand has not been captured, the man who has been robbed shall take the thing which he has lost before God, and the city and the authorities within whose territory and boundaries the brigandage has been exercised shall make up to him what he has lost.
24. If (it be a question of) a life, the city and authorities shall pay one mana of silver to his people.
25. If the house of a man has been set on fire,181 and a man who went to extinguish it has raised his eyes to the property of the owner of the house, and taken the property of the owner of the house, that man shall be thrown into that same fire.
26. If an army-leader or a soldier, who has been commanded to go his way on a royal expedition, does not go, and has hired a mercenary, and his substitute is taken, that army-leader or soldier shall be killed, he who changed with him shall take his house.
27. If an army-leader or a soldier, who by the king's misfortune is kept prisoner, afterwards they have given his field and plantation to another, and he has carried on its administration; if (the original owner) then return and reach his city, they shall return to him his field and plantation, and he himself shall carry on its administration.
[pg 494]28. If the son of an army-leader or a soldier, who is kept prisoner by the king's misfortune, is able to carry on the administration, they shall give to him the field and plantation, and he shall carry on the administration for his father.
29. If his son is young, and is unable to carry on the administration for his father, the third part of the field and plantation shall be given to his mother, and his mother shall bring him up.
30. If an army-leader or a soldier neglect his field, his plantation, and his house on account of the burden, and leave it waste, (and) another after him has taken his field, his plantation, and his house, and has carried on its administration for three years, if he return and wish to cultivate his field, his plantation, and his house, it shall not be given to him—he who took and has carried on its administration shall continue to administer.
31. If for one year (only) he has let (them) lie waste, and has returned, his field, his plantation, and his house they shall give to him, and he shall carry on his administration himself.
32. If a merchant has redeemed an army-leader or a soldier who has been kept prisoner upon a royal expedition, and has caused him to regain his city—if in his house there be (the wherewithal) for his redemption, he shall then redeem himself. If in his house there be not (the wherewithal) for his redemption, in the house of his city's god he shall be redeemed. If in the house of his city's god there be not (the wherewithal) for his redemption, the palace shall redeem him. His field, his plantation, and his house shall not be given for his redemption.
33. If a governor or a prefect have a substitute,182 or for a royal expedition accept a mercenary as substitute and incorporate (him), that governor or prefect shall be killed.
34. If a governor or a prefect take the property of an army-officer, ruin an army-officer, lend an army-officer for hire, grant an army-officer in a lawsuit to a magnate, take the gift which the king has given to an army-officer, that governor or prefect shall be killed.
35. If a man purchase from the hands of an army-officer the cattle and sheep which the king has given to the army-officer, he shall forfeit his money.
36. Field, plantation, and house of an army-officer, soldier, and tax-payer he183 shall not sell for silver.
37. If a man buy the field, plantation, or house of an army-officer, soldier, or tax-payer, his contract shall be broken, and he shall forfeit his money. The field, plantation, or house shall return to its owner.
[pg 495]38. Army-officer, soldier, or tax-payer shall not leave to his wife or his daughter (anything) from the field, plantation, and house of his administration, and shall not give them for his indebtedness.
39. He may leave to his wife and his daughter (any part) of the field, plantation, or house which he has bought and owns, and may give it for his indebtedness.
40. But to an agent or other official, he may give his field, his plantation, or his house for silver, (and) the purchaser shall carry on the administration of the field, plantation, and house which he has bought.
41. If a man has enclosed the field, plantation, or house of an army-officer, soldier, or tax-payer, and given substitutes, the army-officer, soldier, or tax-payer may return to his field, plantation, or house, and take the substitutes which have been given to him.
42. If a man has hired a field for cultivation, and has not caused wheat to be in that field, they shall summon him for not having done work in the field, and he shall give to the owner of the field wheat like his neighbour.
43. If he has not planted the field, and has let it lie, he shall give to the owner of the field wheat like his neighbour, and the field which he has let lie he shall break up for cultivation, shall enclose (it) and return (it) to the owner of the field.
44. If a man has hired an uncultivated field for cultivation184 for three years, and he has been idle and has not cultivated the field, in the fourth year he shall break up the field for cultivation, shall hoe (it), and shall enclose (it) and return (it) to the owner of the field, and for every 10 gan he shall measure (to him) 10 gur of wheat.
45. If a man has given his field for rent to a planter, and has received the rent of his field, and afterwards a storm185 has inundated the field, or has (otherwise) destroyed the produce, the loss belongs to the planter.
46. If he have not received the rent of his field, and has let the field for a half or a third (of the produce), the planter and the owner of the field shall share the wheat which has been produced in the field proportionately.
47. If the planter, because his husbandry did not yield profit186 in the first year, direct the field to be cultivated (by another), the owner of the field shall not object. The planter then shall cultivate his field, and shall take the wheat at harvest-time, according to his contract.
48. If there be interest (upon a loan) against a man, and a [pg 496] storm187 inundate his field, or has (otherwise) destroyed the produce, or by want of water there is no wheat in the field, that year he shall not return any wheat to the creditor.188 He shall damp his tablet (? to alter it), and shall not pay interest189 for that year.
49. If a man has borrowed money from an agent, and has given to the agent a field laboured for wheat or sesame, (and) has said to him: “Plant the field, and gather and take the wheat or the sesame which will be produced;” if the planter has caused wheat or sesame to be in the field, at harvest-time the owner of the field may take the wheat or sesame which has been produced in the field, and shall give to the agent wheat for his silver and his interest190 which he received from the agent, and (for) the cost of the cultivation.
50. If he has given (as security) a planted field, or a field planted with sesame, the owner of the field shall take the wheat or sesame which is produced in the field, and shall return the silver and its interest to the agent.
51. If there be no silver (wherewith) to repay, he shall give to the agent sesame at their market-price for his silver and his interest, which he received from the agent, according to the tariff of the king.
52. If the planter has not caused wheat or sesame to be in the field, it does not annul his contract.
53. If a man has neglected to stren[gth]en his [dyke], and has not streng[thened his] dyke, [and] a breach has o[pened] in [his] dyke, and water has inundated the enclosure, the man in whose dyke the breach has been opened shall make good the wheat which it has destroyed.
54. If the wheat does not suffice to make good (the damage), they shall sell that (man) and his goods for silver, and the people191 of the enclosure, whose wheat the water carried away, shall share together.
55. If a man has opened his irrigation-channel to water, (and) has been negligent, and the water has flooded the field of his neighbour, he shall measure (to him) wheat like192 (that of) his neighbour.
56. If a man has opened the water, and the water flood the work of the field of his neighbour, he shall measure (to him) 10 gur of wheat for each 10 gan.
57. If a shepherd has not agreed with the owner of a field for grass to pasture his sheep, and without the owner of the field has pastured sheep (in) the field, the owner shall reap his fields; the [pg 497] shepherd who, without the owner of the field, pastured sheep (in) the field, shall pay to the owner of the field 20 gur of wheat for every 10 gan besides.
58. If, after the sheep have left the enclosure, (and) the whole flock has passed through the gate, the shepherd place the sheep (again) in the field, and cause the sheep to pasture (in) the field, the shepherd shall keep the field (where) he has pastured them, and shall measure to the owner of the field, at harvest-time, 60 gur of wheat for every 10 gan.
59. If a man, without (the permission of) the owner of a plantation, has cut down a tree in the plantation of a man, he shall pay half a mana of silver.
60. If a man has given a field to a gardener to plant as a plantation, (and) the gardener has planted the plantation, he shall tend the plantation for four years. In the fifth year the owner of the plantation and the gardener shall share equally; (thereafter) the owner of the plantation shall apportion and take his share.
61. If a gardener has not completed the plantation of a field, and has left an uncultivated place, they shall set for him the uncultivated place in his share.
62. If he has not planted the field which has been given him for a plantation, if (it be) grain, the gardener shall measure to the owner of the field the produce of the field, for the years during which it has been neglected, like his neighbour; and he shall do the work of the field, and return (it) to the owner of the field.
63. If the field (was) waste land, he shall do the work of the field, and return (it) to the owner of the field, and he shall measure for every year 10 gur of wheat for each 10 gan.
64. If a man has given his plantation to a gardener to cultivate, the gardener, as long as he holds the plantation, shall give two-thirds of the produce of the plantation to the owner of the plantation, (and) shall take a third himself.
65. If the gardener has not cultivated the plantation, and has diminished the produce, the gardener [shall measure to the owner of the field] produce (like) his neighbour.
(Five columns have here been erased, apparently by the Elamite king who intended to inscribe his name upon the monument. Prof. Scheil estimates that this contained about 35 sections of the laws, containing the remaining sections referring to the cultivation of plantations or orchards, the letting of houses, and the laws relating to commercial transactions, of which a portion is preserved after the gap. As pointed out by Prof. Scheil, the following sections, from fragments of tablets [pg 498] found at Nineveh by Hormuzd Rassam and the late Geo. Smith, probably came in here.)
[If a man has borrowed silver from an agent, and has given] to the agent [a date-orchard, and] has said to him: “Take for thy money the dates, [as much as] will be produced in [my] orchard, for thy money;” (if) that agent be not in agreement, the owner of the orchard shall take the dates which are produced in the orchard, and return to the agent the silver and its interest, according to his tablet; and the owner of the orchard may ta[ke] the surplus dates which have been produced in the orchard.
[If a man has hired a house, and] the man has paid to the owner of [the house] the complete money for his rent for a year, [and] the owner of the house, before the days are full, command the ten[ant] to go [forth],—the owner of the house, [as] he sends the tenant [forth] from his house before the time,193 [shall return to the tenant a proportionate sum, for having gone forth from his house], from the money which the tenant has pai[d to him].
[If a man] owe (?) wheat (or) silver, and has not wheat or silver [wherewith] to [pay], but possess (other) goods, whatever is in his hands he shall gi[ve] to the agent, before witnesses, as profit, [and] the agent shall not f[ind fault], and shall ac[cept it].
(Portions of other laws are also preserved, but they are too fragmentary to enable the sense to be gathered.)
100. [If an agent has advanced silver to a commissioner, and he has had good fortune in the place to which he went], he shall write down the profits of his silver, as much as he has received, and the day when they make up their accounts he shall pay (it) to his agent.
101. If he found no profit where he went, he shall make up the silver which he took, and the commissioner shall repay it to the agent.194
102. If an agent has advanced silver to a commissioner for profit, and he found loss where he went, he shall return the capital of the silver to the agent.
103. If, whilst going on his way, an enemy caused him to lose what he was carrying, the commissioner shall call God to witness195 and shall go free.
104. If an agent has given to a commissioner grain, wool, oil, or any other goods for trading, the commissioner shall write down the silver (received), and shall return it to the agent. The [pg 499] commissioner shall take a sealed document of the silver which he gives to the agent.196
105. If the commissioner has been negligent, and has not taken a sealed document of the silver which he has given to the agent, the silver not certified shall not be placed in the business.197
106. If a commissioner has taken silver from an agent, and dispute (withhold it from) his agent, that agent shall summon the commissioner before God and the witnesses concerning the money taken; the commissioner shall repay to the agent the silver, as much as he has taken, threefold.
107. If an agent act unjustly to a commissioner, and the commissioner has returned to the agent everything which the agent had given to him, (and) the agent dispute with the commissioner (concerning) anything which the commissioner has repaid to him, that commissioner shall summon the agent before God and the witnesses, and the agent, for having disputed (with) his commissioner, anything which he has received he shall repay to the commissioner sixfold.
108. If a wine-woman has not accepted wheat as the price of drink, (but) has accepted silver by the large stone, or has set the tariff of the drink below the tariff of the wheat, they shall summon that wine-woman, and shall throw her into the water.
109. If a wine-woman, (when) riotous fellows are assembled at her house, does not seize those riotous fellows and take them to the palace, that wine-woman shall be killed.
110. If a devotee who dwells not in a cloister open a wine-house, or enter a wine-house for drink, that female they shall burn.
111. If a wine-woman has given 60 qa of second (?) quality drink, for thirst, she shall take 50 qa of corn at harvest-time.
112. If a man is travelling,198 and has given to (another) man silver, gold, (precious) stones, and his other property199 and has caused him to take them for delivery, (and) that man has not delivered what he was to transmit at the place to which he was to transmit (it), and has taken it away, the owner of the consignment shall summon that man for anything which he took and did not deliver, and that man shall give (back) to the owner of the consignment fivefold anything which had been given to him.
113. If a man have (an account of) wheat or silver against a man, and without the owner of the wheat has taken wheat from the barn or the depository, they shall summon that man, for having taking wheat, without the owner of the wheat, from the barn or depository, and he shall return the wheat, as much as he [pg 500] took, and he shall forfeit whatever it may be, as much as he lent.200
114. If a man have no (account of) wheat or silver against a man, and make his distraint, for every distraint he shall pay one-third of a mana of silver.
115. If a man have (an account of) wheat or silver against a man, and make his distraint, and the person distrained201 die, by his fate, in the house of the distrainer, that lawsuit has no claim.
116. If the person distrained die in the house of the distrainer by blows or by ill-treatment, the owner of the person distrained shall summon his agent;202 and if (the person distrained) was the son of the man, they shall kill his (the distrainer's) son; if he was the servant (slave) of the man, he shall pay one-third of a mana of silver; and he shall forfeit whatever it may be, as much as he lent.
117. If a man has contracted a debt, and has given his wife, his son, (or) his daughter for the money, or has let (them) out for service, three years they shall serve the house of their purchaser or master, in the fourth year he shall grant their freedom.
118. If he let out a male or female slave for service, (and) the agent pass (them) on (and) give them for silver, there is no claim.
119. If a man has contracted a debt, and has sold his female-slave who has borne him children, the owner of the slave may (re)pay the silver which the agent has paid, and redeem his slave.
120. If a man has delivered his grain for storage in the house of a man, and a deficiency appears in the granary, or the master of the house has opened the storehouse and taken the grain, or he has disputed as to the total of the grain which was delivered at his house, the owner of the grain shall claim his grain before God, and the master of the house shall cause the grain which he has taken to be made up, and shall give (it) to the owner of the grain.
121. If a man has delivered grain (for storage) at the house of a man, he shall pay yearly 5 qa of grain for every gur (as) the price of the storage.
122. If a man give silver, gold, or anything else, to a man on deposit, he shall show the witnesses everything, whatever he gives; he shall make contracts, and (then) give (it) on deposit.
[pg 501]123. If he has given it on deposit without witnesses and contracts, and they dispute (this) to him where he gave it, that lawsuit has no claim.
124. If a man has given silver, gold, or anything else, to a man, before witnesses, on deposit, and (the man) dispute with him, he shall summon that man, and whatever he has disputed, he shall make up and give (back).
125. If a man has given his property on deposit, and where he gave (it), his property disappeared, with the property of the owner of the house, either through a breaking in or through a trespass, the master of the house which was in fault shall compensate for his property which he gave him on deposit and (which) was lost, and he shall make (it) up to the owner of the property. The master of the house shall seek his lost property, and take it from the thief.
126. If a man, his property not being lost, say that his property is lost, he shall bring forward his deficiency. As his property has not been lost, he shall state his deficiency before God, and whatever he has claimed they shall cause him to make up, and he shall give (it) to (make up) his deficiency.
127. If a man has caused the finger to be raised against a devotee or the wife of a man, and has not justified it, they shall set that man before the judges, and mark his forehead.
128. If a man has taken a wife, and has not made her contract,203 that woman is not a wife.
129. If the wife of a man is taken in adultery with another male, they shall tie them together, and throw them into the water. If the owner of the wife spare his wife, and the king spare his servant....
130. If a man force the wife of a man who has not yet known a male, and (who) dwells in the house of her father, and has lain in her bosom, and they have found him, that man shall be killed, the woman shall be allowed to go.
131. If the wife of a man has been accused by her husband,204 and he has not found her on the couch with another male, she shall swear by God,205 and return to her house.
132. If, on account of another male, the finger has been pointed at the wife of a man, and she has not been found with another male on the couch, she shall plunge into the river for her husband('s sake).
133. If a man has been made captive, and there is in his house the wherewithal to eat, (and) his [wife] has [gone] forth [from] her [house], [and afterwards?] has [en]tered into another [pg 502] house, [as] that woman has not guarded her homestead, and has entered another house, they shall summon that woman, and throw her into the water.
134. If a man has been made captive, and there is not in the house the wherewithal to eat, his wife may enter another house; that woman is not in fault.
135. If a man has been made captive, and there is not in his house the wherewithal to eat,206 (and) his wife has entered another house, and has borne children, (and) afterwards her husband return, and reach his city, that woman shall207 return to her husband; the children shall go to their father.
136. If a man has abandoned his city and fled, (and) afterwards208 his wife has entered another house, if that man return, and (wish to) take his wife, as he hated his city and fled, the wife of the deserter shall209 not return to her husband.
137. If a man set his face to repudiate a concubine who has borne him children, or a wife who has caused him to have children, he shall return to that woman her (marriage) gift, and shall give to her the usufruct of field, plantation, and goods, and she shall bring up her children. After she has brought up her children, they shall give to her, from the property which has been given to her children, (a share of) the produce like (that of) one son, and she may marry the husband of her choice.210
138. If a man (wish to) repudiate his spouse, who has not borne him children, he shall give to her silver, as much as was her dower, and he shall restore to her the wedding-gift which she brought from the house of her father, and shall repudiate her.
139. If there be no dower, he shall give her one mana of silver for the repudiation.
140. If (he be) a poor man, he shall give her one-third of a mana of silver.
141. If the wife of a man, who dwells in the house of the man, set her face to go forth, commit foolishness (?), ruin her house, despise her husband, they shall summon her, and if her husband say: “I have divorced her,” he shall let her go her way. (As for) her repudiation(-gift), nothing shall be given to her. If her husband say: “I have not repudiated her,” her husband may marry211 another woman; that woman shall dwell in her husband's house like a servant.
142. If a woman hate her husband, and say: “Thou shalt not possess me,” her reason for that which she lacks shall be [pg 503] examined, and if she has been continent, and have no fault, and her husband go out, and neglect her greatly, that woman has no defect; she shall take her wedding-gift, and shall go to the house of her father.
143. If she has not been continent, and has gone about, she has ruined her house, (and) despised her husband; they shall throw that woman into the water.
144. If a man has married a wife, and that wife has given a maid-servant to her husband, and she has had children, (if) that man set his face to take a concubine, they shall not allow that man—he shall not take a concubine.
145. If a man has married a wife, and she has not caused him to have children, and he set his face to take a concubine, that man may take a concubine, (and) may introduce her into his house, (but) he shall not make that concubine equal with (his) wife.
146. If a man has married a wife, and she has given a maid-servant to her husband, and (the maid-servant) has borne children, (if) afterwards that maid-servant make herself equal with her mistress, as she has borne children, her mistress shall not sell her for silver; she shall place a mark212 upon her, and count her with the maid-servants.
147. If she has not borne children, her mistress may sell her for silver.
148. If a man has married a wife, and a malady has seized her, (and) he has set his face to marry a second, he may marry. He shall not divorce the wife whom the malady has seized; she may stay in the house he has made, and he shall support her as long as she lives.
149. If that woman is not content to dwell in the house of her husband, he shall deliver to her her marriage-gift, which she brought from the house of her father, and she shall go her way.
150. If a man has presented to his wife a field, a plantation, a house, and property, (and) has left her a sealed tablet, after her husband('s death) her sons shall make no claim against her. The mother may give her property213 to the son whom she loves,—to the brother she need not give.
151. If a woman who dwells in the house of a man contract with her husband, and cause (him) to deliver a tablet, so that a creditor214 of her husband may not seize her, if that man have interest of money against him before he marries that woman, his creditor shall not seize his wife, and if that woman have interest of money against her before she enter the house of the man, her creditor shall not seize her husband.
[pg 504]152. If interest accrue against them after that woman has entered the house of the man, they shall both be responsible to the agent.
153. If the wife of a man cause her husband to be killed on account of another male, they shall impale that woman.215
154. If a man has known his daughter, they shall expel that man from the city.
155. If a man has chosen a bride for his son, and his son has known her, (and if) he (himself) then afterwards has lain in her bosom, and they have found him, they shall bind that man, and cast her into the water.216
156. If a man has chosen a bride for his son, and his son has not known her, and he (himself) has lain in her bosom, he shall pay her half a mana of silver, and shall restore to her whatever she brought from the house of her father, and she shall marry the husband of her choice.
157. If a man, after his father, has lain in the bosom of his mother, they shall burn them both.
158. If a man, after his father, be found in the bosom of her who brought him up, (and) who has brought forth children, that man shall be turned out of (his) father's house.
159. If a man, who has brought to his father-in-law's house furniture217 (and) has given a dower, pay attention to another woman, and say to his father-in-law: “I will not marry thy daughter,” the father of the girl shall take the property which has been brought to him.
160. If a man has brought furniture to the house of his father-in-law, (and) given a dower, and the father of the girl say: “I will not give thee my daughter,” the property, as much as has been brought to him, he shall cause to be equal,218 and shall return.
161. If a man has brought furniture to the house of his father-in-law, (and) given a dower, and his friend slander him, (and) his father-in-law say to the husband of the wife:219 “Thou shalt not marry my daughter,” he shall cause to be equal the property, as much as has been brought to him, and return (it), and his friend shall not marry his wife.
162. If a man has married a wife, (and) she has borne him children, and that woman has gone to (her) fate, her father shall [pg 505] have no claim upon her marriage-gift—her marriage-gift belongs to her sons.
163. If a man has married a wife, and she has not caused him to have children, (and) that woman has gone to (her) fate, if his father-in-law has returned to him the dower which that man took to the house of his father-in-law, her husband shall have no claim upon the marriage-gift of that woman—her marriage-gift belongs to the house of her father.
164. If his father-in-law has not returned to him the dower, he shall deduct from her marriage-gift all her dower, and return (the balance of) her marriage-gift to her father's house.
165. If a man has presented to his son, who is foremost in his eyes, a field, a plantation, and a house, (and) has written for him a tablet, (and) afterwards the father has gone to (his) fate, when the brothers share together, he shall take the gift which the father gave him, and they shall share equally in the property of the house of the father besides.
166. If a man has taken wives for the sons which he has had, (and) has not taken a wife for his youngest son, (and) afterwards the father has gone to (his) fate, when the brothers share together, they shall set aside the money of a dower for their youngest brother, who has not taken a wife, from the property of the father's house, besides his (lawful) share, and shall cause him to take a wife.
167. If a man has married a wife, and she has borne him sons, (and) that woman has gone to (her) fate, (and) after her he has married another woman, and she has brought forth sons, (and) afterwards the father has gone to (his) fate, the sons shall not share according to the mothers. They shall take the marriage-gifts of their mothers, and the property of the father's house they shall share equally.
168. If a man set his face to discard his son, he shall say to the judge: “I discard my son;” the judge shall inquire into his reasons. If the son has not committed a grave fault which cuts him off from sonhood, the father shall not cut off his son from sonhood.220
169. If he has committed against his father a grave fault which cuts him off from sonhood, the first time (the father) shall refrain. If he has committed a grave fault a second time, the father shall cut his son off from the sonhood.
170. If a man's wife has borne him children, and his maid-servant has borne him children, (and) the father in his lifetime say to the children whom the maid-servant has borne to him: “My children,” he has reckoned them with the children of the [pg 506] wife. After the father has gone to (his) fate, the children of the wife and the children of the maid-servant shall share in the property of the father's house equally; the son (who is) the child of the wife shall choose and take at the sharing.
171. And if the father, during his lifetime, has not said to the children whom the maid-servant has borne to him: “My children,” after the father has gone to (his) fate, the children of the maid-servant shall not share in the property of the father's house with the children of the wife. (If) he has set free the maid-servant and her children, the children of the wife shall not claim the children of the maid-servant for service. The wife shall take her marriage-gift and the dowry which her husband gave her (and) recorded upon a tablet, and she shall sit in the seat of her husband; as long as she lives, she shall enjoy (them)—she shall not sell them for money—they belong to her children after her.
172. If her husband has not given her a dowry, they shall make up to her her marriage-gift, and she shall take, from the property of her husband's house, a share like (that of) one son. If her sons afflict her, to send her forth from the house, the judge shall inquire into her reasons, and (if) he set the fault upon the children, that woman shall not go forth from her husband's house. If that woman set her face to go forth, she shall leave to her children the dowry which her husband gave her. She shall take the marriage-gift of her father's house, and the husband of her choice shall marry her.
173. If that woman, in the place where she has entered, has borne to her second husband children, after that woman has died, the former and latter children shall share her marriage-gift.
174. If she has not borne children to her second husband, then the children of her (first) spouse shall take her marriage-gift.
175. If a slave of the palace or the slave of a poor man has married the daughter of a (free) man, and has borne children, the owner of the slave shall not make a claim upon the children of a (free) man's daughter for servitude.
176a. And if a slave of the palace or a slave of a poor man has married a (free) man's daughter, and when he has married her, she has entered the house of the slave of the palace or the slave of the poor man with a wedding-gift from the house of her father, and after they have been established, they have built a house and have property, (if) afterwards the slave of the palace or the slave of the poor man has gone to (his) fate, the daughter of the (free) man shall take her marriage-gift, and they shall divide the property, which her husband and she had after they were established, into two parts, and the owner of the slave shall [pg 507] take half, (and) the daughter of the (free) man shall take half for her children.
176b. If the daughter of the (free) man had no marriage-gift, the property which her husband and she possessed after they were established they shall divide into two parts, and the master of the slave shall take half, the daughter of the (free) man shall take half for her children.
177. If a widow whose children are young set her face to enter another house,221 she shall not enter without the judge. When she enters another house, the judge shall inquire concerning what remains of her first husband's house, and they shall entrust the first husband's house to the second husband and to that woman, and shall cause them to deliver a tablet. They shall keep that house and bring up the young (children). They shall not sell (any) utensil for silver. The buyer who buys a utensil of the children of a widow shall forfeit his money; the property shall return to its owner.
178. If a devotee, or a public woman, to whom her father has presented a gift, (and) has written for her a tablet, (and) on the tablet which he has written for her has not written for her (concerning) the giving of what she should leave to whomsoever she pleased, and has not let her follow the desire of her heart, after the father has gone to (his) fate, her brothers shall take her field and her plantation, and according to the amount of her share shall give to her food, oil, and clothing, and shall satisfy her heart. If her brothers have not given her food, oil, and clothing according to the amount of her share, and have not satisfied her heart, she may give her field and plantation to the farmer who may seem good to her, and her farmer shall support her. Field, plantation, and property, which her father gave her, she shall enjoy as long as she lives—she shall not give (them) for silver, nor shall she be answerable (to) another (therewith)—her share as daughter belongs to her brothers.222
179. If a devotee or a public woman, to whom her father has presented a gift, (and) has written for her a sealed tablet, (and) on the tablet which he has written for her has written for her (concerning) the giving of what she should leave to whomsoever she pleased, and has let her follow the desire of her heart, after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall give what she leaves to whomsoever she pleases—her brothers have no claim upon her.
180. If a father has not presented a gift223 to his daughter, who is a recluse or a public woman, after the father has gone to (his) [pg 508] fate, she shall take a share in the property of the father's house like a son, and enjoy (it) as long as she lives. What she leaves belongs to her brothers.
181. If a father has brought to a god a hierodule or a virgin, and has not presented to her a gift,224 after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall share in the property of the father's house a third (as) her inheritance, and she shall enjoy (it) as long as she lives. What she leaves belongs to her brothers.
182. If a father has not presented a gift to his daughter, priestess of Merodach of Babylon, (and) has not written for her a sealed tablet, after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall share, with her brothers, in the property of the father's house a third part (as) her inheritance, and she shall not carry on its administration. The priestess of Merodach may give what she leaves to whomsoever she pleases.
183. If a father has presented a marriage-gift to his concubine-daughter, given her to a husband, (and) written for her a sealed tablet, after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall not share in the property of the father's house.225
184. If a man has not presented to his concubine-daughter a marriage-gift, (and) has not given her to a husband, after the father has gone to (his) fate, her brothers shall give her a wedding-gift according to the amount (of the property) of the father's house, and shall give her to a husband.
185. If a man has adopted226 a child by its name,227 and has brought it up, that foster-child cannot be claimed back.
186. If a man has adopted a child, and when he had adopted him, he rebelled against his (foster-)father and his (foster-)mother, that foster-child shall return to his father's house.
187. The son of a favourite attending the palace, and the son of a public woman, cannot be claimed back.228
188. If an artizan229 has taken a child to bring up,230 and has taught him his handicraft, he cannot be claimed back.