The Oldest Code of Laws in the World Part 5

section 263. If he has caused an ox or sheep which was given him to be lost, ox for ox, sheep for sheep, he shall render to their owner.

section 264. If a herdsman who has had cows or sheep given him to shepherd, has received his hire, whatever was agreed, and his heart was contented, has diminished the cows, diminished the sheep, lessened the offspring, he shall give offspring and produce according to the tenour of his bonds.

section 265. If a shepherd to whom cows and sheep have been given him to breed, has falsified and changed their price, or has sold them, one shall put him to account, and he shall render cows and sheep to their owner tenfold what he has stolen.

section 266. If in a sheepfold a stroke of G.o.d has taken place or a lion has killed, the shepherd shall purge himself before G.o.d, and the accident to the fold the owner of the fold shall face it.

section 267. If a shepherd has been careless and in a sheepfold caused a loss to take place, the shepherd shall make good the fault of the loss which he has caused to be in the fold and shall pay cows or sheep and shall give to their owner.

section 268. If a man has hired an ox, for thres.h.i.+ng, twenty _KA_ of corn is its hire.

section 269. If he has hired an a.s.s, for thres.h.i.+ng, ten _KA_ of corn is its hire.

section 270. If he has hired a calf (goat?), for thres.h.i.+ng, one _KA_ of corn is its hire.

section 271. If a man has hired oxen, a wagon, and its driver, he shall give one hundred and eighty _KA_ of corn _per diem_.

section 272. If a man has hired a wagon by itself, he shall give forty _KA_ of corn _per diem_.

section 273. If a man has hired a labourer, from the beginning of the year till the fifth month, he shall give six _SE_ of silver _per diem_; from the sixth month to the end of the year, he shall give five _SE_ of silver _per diem_.

section 274. If a man shall hire an artisan--

(_a_) the hire of a . . . five _SE_ of silver

(_b_) the hire of a brickmaker five _SE_ of silver

(_c_) the hire of a tailor . five _SE_ of silver

(_d_) the hire of a stone-cutter . _SE_ of silver

(_e_) the hire of a . . . _SE_ of silver

(_f_) the hire of a . . . _SE_ of silver

(_g_) the hire of a carpenter four _SE_ of silver

(_h_) the hire of a . . . four _SE_ of silver

(_i_) the hire of a . . . _SE_ of silver

(_j_) the hire of a builder. . . _SE_ of silver _per diem_ he shall give.

section 275. If a man has hired a (boat?) _per diem_, her hire is three _SE_ of silver.

section 276. If a man has hired a fast s.h.i.+p, he shall give two and a half _SE_ of silver _per diem_ as her hire.

section 277. If a man has hired a s.h.i.+p of sixty _GUR_, he shall give one- sixth of a shekel of silver _per diem_ as her hire.

section 278. If a man has bought a manservant or a maidservant, and he has not fulfilled his month and the _bennu_ sickness has fallen upon him, he shall return him to the seller, and the buyer shall take the money he paid.

section 279. If a man has bought a manservant or a maidservant and has a complaint, his seller shall answer the complaint.

section 280. If a man has bought in a foreign land the manservant or the maidservant of a man, when he has come into the land, and the owner of the manservant or the maidservant has recognised his manservant or his maidservant, if the manservant or maidservant are natives without price he shall grant them their freedom.

section 281. If they are natives of another land the buyer shall tell out before G.o.d the money he paid, and the owner of the manservant or the maidservant shall give to the merchant the money he paid, and shall recover his manservant or his maidservant.

section 282. If a slave has said to his master 'Thou art not my master,'

as his slave one shall put him to account and his master shall cut off his ear.

The judgements of righteousness which Hammurabi the mighty king confirmed and caused the land to take a sure guidance and a gracious rule.

The following three sections, which are known to belong to the Code from copies made for an a.s.syrian king in the seventh century B.C., are given here for the sake of completeness. They obviously come within the s.p.a.ce once occupied by the five erased columns.

section X. If a man has taken money from a merchant and has given a plantation of dates to the merchant, has said to him, 'The dates that are in my plantation take for thy money,' that merchant shall not agree, the dates that are in the plantation the owner of the plantation shall take, and he shall answer to the merchant for the money and its interests according to the tenour of his bond. The dates that are over, which are in the plantation, the owner of the plantation shall take forsooth.

section Y. . . . the man dwelling (in the house) has given to the owner (of the house) the money of its rent in full for the year, the owner of the house has ordered the dweller to go out when his days are not full, the owner of the house, because he has ordered the dweller to leave when his days are not full, (shall give) of the money which the dweller gave him. . . .

section Z. If a man has to pay, in money or corn, but has not money or corn to pay with, but has goods, whatever is in his hands, before witnesses, according to what he has brought, he shall give to his merchant. The merchant shall not object, he shall receive it.