Hammurabi - Code of Hammurabi

HAMMURABI

The Code of Hammurabi
The Laws

22: If a seignior committed robbery and has been caught, that seignior shall be put to death.^1a

45: If a seignior let his field to a tenant and has already received the rent of his field, (and) later Adad has inundated the field or a flood has ravaged (it), the loss shall be the tenant’s.^1b

48: If a debt is outstanding against a seignior and Adad has inundated his field or a flood has ravaged (it) or through lack of water grain has not been produced in the field, he shall not make any return of grain to his creditor in that year; he shall cancel his contract-tablet and he shall pay no interest for that year.^1c

88: If a merchant . . . lent money at interest, he shall receive one-sixth (shekel) six le (i.e., one-fifth shekel) per shekel of silver as interest.^1d

90: If the merchant increased the interest beyond . . . one-sixth (shekel) six le [per shekel of money] and has collected (it), he shall forfeit whatever he lent.^1e

196: If a seignior has destroyed the eye of a member of the aristocracy, they shall destroy his eye.^1f

200: If a seignior has knocked out a tooth of a seignior of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth.^1g

209: If a seignior struck a(nother) seignior’s daughter and has caused her to have a miscarriage, he shall pay ten shekels of silver for her fetus.^1h

	The Ancient Near East. Vol. I: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Edited by James B. Pritchard. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. SEARCH BUY IT
	The Ancient Near East. Vol. II: A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Edited by James B. Pritchard. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. SEARCH BUY IT

¹ The Ancient Near East. Vol. I: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Edited by James B. Pritchard. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1958. The anthology includes abridged material originally published in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton University Press, 1950, 1955) and The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton University Press, 1954).
^a The Code of Hammurabi, Translated by Theophile J. Meek, at 141.
^b Ibid., at 144.
^c Ibid., at 144-145.
^d Ibid., at 147-148.
^e Ibid., at 148.
^f Ibid., at 161.
^g Ibid., at 161.
^h Ibid., at 162.

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