ANCIENT AND PRIMITIVE LAWS AND CODES CHAPTER XIII ANCIENT ACCADIAN LAWS TRANSLATED BY REV. A. H. SAYCE CHAPTER XIV THE CODE OF HAMMURABI TRANSLATED BY W. W. DAVIES CHAPTER XV THE PENTATEUCH CHAPTER XVI EDICT OF HARMHAB CHAPTER XVII LAWS OF GORTYN TRANSLATED BY H. J. ROBY CHAPTER XVIII THE TWELVE TABLES TRANSLATED BY JOHN H. WIGMORE CHAPTER XIX LAWS OF MANU TRANSLATED BY GEORG BÜHLER CHAPTER XX THE LEX SALICA TRANSLATED BY ERNEST F. HENDERSON CHAPTER XXI KING ÆTHELBIRHT'S DOOMS TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN THORPE CHAPTER XXII LAWS OF HOWEL TRANSLATED BY ANEURIN OWEN CHAPTER XIII ANCIENT ACCADIAN LAWS1 1 A certain man's 2 brother-in-law hired (workmen) and on his foundation built an enclosure. From the house (the judge) expelled him. 2 In every case let a married man put his child in possession of property, provided that he does make him inhabit it. 3 For the future (the Judge may) cause a sanctuary to be erected in a private demesne. [Translated by Rev. A. H. SAYCE. Reprinted, by permission, from "Records of the Past," Vol. III, p. 21, seq., Samuel Bagster and Sons, London.] Translator's Note The Accadians were the inventors of the cuneiform system of writing and the earliest population of Babylonia of whom we know. They spoke an agglutinative language allied to Finnic or Tatar, and had originally come from the mountainous country to the south-west of the Caspian. The name Accada signifies "highlander," and the name of Accad is met with in the 10th chapter of Genesis. The laws, of which a translation is given, go back to a very remote period; and the patriarchal character of society implied by them will be noticed, as well as the superior importance possessed by the mother, denial of whom by the son involved banishment in contrast with the milder penalty enjoined for renunciation of the father. This importance of the mother in family-life is still a distinguishing feature of the Finnic-Tatar race. The slave, it will be seen, was already placed to some extent under the protection of the state, and the first step on the road towards the amelioration of his condition had been made. A considerable portion of the tablet which contains these laws is given in Vol. II, pl. 10, “Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia." Öther fragments, since discovered, have been lithographed by M. François Lenormant in his "Choix de Textes Cunéiformes," Part I, No. 15. The original Accadian text runs down the left-hand column, an Assyrian translation being annexed on the right. The several laws are divided by lines, and come at the end of a bilingual collection of ancient documents of different kinds but chiefly relating to law. They are introduced by a list of Accadian legal terms with their Assyrian equivalents. The whole was compiled for Assur-bani-pal's Library. Mr. Fox Talbot was the first to point out the nature of the inscription; and I gave a translation of the published portions of it in the "Athenæum" for May, 1869, which was supplemented by Mr. G. Smith in a later number of the same periodical. Translations of the most important part of it have been recently given by M. Oppert in the "Journal Asiatique," 7 ieme série, I, and M. F. Lenormant in "La Magie chez le Chaldéens,” pp. 310, 311. The first and second columns, on the obverse of the tablet, are unfortunately too mutilated for translation. It is therefore only the last two columns, on the reverse, of which a rendering is appended. 2 Literally "his brother-in-law." 4 (A man) has full possession of his sanctuary in his own high place. 5 The sanctuary (a man) has raised is confirmed to the son who inherits. 6 Effaced. 7 His father and his mother (a man) shall not (deny). 8 A town (a man) has named; its foundation-stone he has not laid; (yet) he (can) change it. 9 This imperial rescript must be learnt. 10 Everything which a married woman encloses, she (shall) possess. 11 In all cases for the future (these rules shall hold good). 12 A decision. A son says to his father: Thou art not my father, (and) confirms it by (his) nail-mark (on the deed); he gives him a pledge, and silver he gives him. 13 A decision. A son says to his mother: Thou art not my mother; his hair is cut off, (in) the city they exclude him from earth (and) water 2 and in the house imprison him.3 14 A decision. A father says to his son: Thou art not my son; in house and brick building they imprison him. 15 A decision. A mother says to her son: Thou art not my son; in house and property they imprison her. 16 A decision. A woman is unfaithful to her husband and says to him: Thou art not my husband; into the river they throw her. 17 A decision. A husband says to his wife: Thou art not my wife; half a maneh of silver he weighs out (in payment). 6 5 18 A decision. A master kills (his) slaves, cuts them to pieces, injures their offspring, drives them from the land and makes them small; 7 his hand every day a half-measure of corn measures out (in requital). The writing (of this tablet is) as above, (beginning;) "every dawn, an oath." Seventh tablet (of the series which begins :) "to be with him." (Copy) belonging to Assyria, like its old (text is) it written and engraved. The country of AsSUR-BANI-PAL (SARDANAPALUS), the mighty King, King of Assyria. 1 In the Assyrian version "he recognises his pledge to him." 2 In the Assyrian version "they humble him." 3 In the Assyrian version "they expel him." 4 In the Assyrian version "s saws asunder and kills." In the Assyrian version "a slave." In the Assyrian version "beats." In the Assyrian version "makes ill." CHAPTER XIV THE CODE OF HAMMURABI1 1 If a man make a false accusation against a man, putting a ban upon him, and can not prove it, then the accuser shall be put to death. 1 [Reprinted with the permission of the Methodist Book Concern from "The Codes of Hammurabi and Moses (with copious comments, index, and Bible references)" by W. W. DAVIES, Ph. D., Professor of Hebrew in the Ohio Wesleyan University. The following account of this code (by Professor WIGMORE) is reprinted from "Northwestern University Bulletin,” Vol. XIV, No: 25 (March 6th, 1914)]: The Law School has recently acquired, for the Elbert H. Gary Library of Law, a cast, in facsimile, of the Code of Hammurabi, the oldest law-code in the world. The original is a pillar of dark stone, some eight feet high and two feet across, and now stands in the Museum of the Louvre, in Paris. It was discovered in 1902 at Susa, near the Persian gulf, by a French archaeological expedition under M. de Morgan. The Code is inscribed on the obverse and reverse of the pillar, in columns of cuneiform characters. It forms some 282 sections in all. Its somber appearance, its massive dimensions, and the sentiment of its tremendous antiquity make it a profoundly impressive object. Immediately on its discovery the scientific world was agitated by its possibilities of renewed revelation for the sciences of archaeology, sacred history, and legal evolution. Translations were soon published in German, English, French, and Italian, and the discussion of its various aspects continues unabated. Its first special interest lies, of course, in the fact that it is the oldest known code of laws. The simple Twelve Tables of Roman law date only about 300 B.C.; the lost codes of Solon, Draco, and Lycurgus go no further back than 800 or 900 B.c.; the Hindu code of Manu and the early Chinese code no further than 1000 B.C.; and the Hebrew legislation is not earlier than 700 B.C. This code of Hammurabi is known to date from 2270 B.c. or thereabouts. [Semitic scholars differ, by a century or two, upon the date.] Another feature of interest is that it represents the law of probably the most advanced of ancient civilizations Babylonia. At the time when we first meet these nations in history, their laws are in a primitive stage (relatively speaking). This is true of the Jews, the Arabs, the Hindus, the Chinese, and the Germanic and Celtic stocks. Even the Romans, at the time of the Twelve Tables (about 300 B.C.) were still primitive. Only Egypt can be compared with Babylon. But Babylon had already outstripped Egypt, at the time of Hammurabi, in the development of commerce and commercial law. The most valuable service of this Code is its explicit revelation of the legal principles which mark its type of legal system. A people's code or |