Code of Hammurabi

This set of laws deals mainly with property offenses and issues related to the irregular transfer of people from one household to another. Many of these laws also retain a continued view toward judicial processes at trial, as in the previous set of rules. These laws include considerations of theft, contested sales, looting, kidnapping, and enslaved persons seeking freedom. In the case of theft, most offenses merit capital punishment, but in the case of livestock a fine of 10 to 30 times the value of the theft can be assessed. 

If an owner finds a missing item of theirs in the possession of another person, a detailed judicial process must be followed, in which each side brings witnesses before the judge to attest to the article’s ownership and how they came in possession of it. These rules include considerations for situations in which witnesses cannot appear in a timely fashion, in which case the judge may allow a delay of up to six months. 

Offenses of kidnapping or of harboring enslaved persons who are seeking freedom also merit capital punishment in Babylonian society; a person who discovers a self-emancipating enslaved person must immediately force that person’s return to their enslaver’s household.

This set of laws refers primarily to the use of land and houses. It is an incomplete set, because some of the laws are irretrievable from the original stone stele (see the Analysis section below). The first laws in this section have to do with the landed property of men who go off to war in the service of their king (or who attempt to hire a mercenary to go in their place). In the case of men who are captured and taken as prisoners of war by another power, but who later find freedom, provisions are made for them to regain possession of their land upon their return. Should such men be lost or captured in battle without a clear indication of their ability to return, provisions are made for their family to retain possession of the land. If a prisoner of war has his freedom bought by a third party who expects compensation, then the Code forbids the sale of that man’s land to cover the cost; either the man’s own liquid assets, or the assets of his community temple, or the court itself will cover the cost of his redemption from captivity.

These laws also make provisions for basic land tenancy, establishing a strong principle of ownership for lands, fields, and houses. The land on which one lives and grows one’s food is considered as core property that cannot be sold or transferred, thus establishing a baseline level of economic security for landowners. There are exceptions, however, such as in the case of someone who owns extra fields or houses which they have bought; such property can be sold again. In regard to tenancy, there is a provision for a tenant of an absent landlord to take possession of the land on which they live and grow their food if a sufficient period of time has gone by. 

Other laws cover the matter of renting out one’s fields to others, in which case a portion of the grain grown on the lot would go to the owner. The renter who farms such fields falls under several sets of requirements for ensuring that the land is well-used and produces a harvest appropriate with its condition. Since much of Babylonian agriculture was conducted on the Tigris-Euphrates floodplain, several laws devote attention to the maintenance and use of dams and ditches. 

Various laws also oversee contingencies regarding the use of land by shepherds grazing their flocks and by gardeners hired to care for a garden. Most of the laws, holding to the pattern already established in the Code, establish the duties of these various types of workers toward the landowners, with somewhat less emphasis on the duties of the landowners toward the workers.

These laws (including some of the foregoing laws, which were lost from the original stele—see Analysis section below) relate mostly to commerce and financial transactions. The first few laws in this set relate to the transfer and deposit of monies between merchants, agents, and brokers, establishing rules whereby each party must make good on their deposit agreements, and listing some contingencies which might void such an agreement. The following set of rules addresses innkeepers and tavern-keepers, especially noting some restrictions that apply only to women in those roles and places (since some such roles were conventionally female positions in Babylonian society). 

A few rules address further cases of depositing assets like gold or grain, and the consequences of irregular withdrawals or the mishandling of such assets, which in most cases would result in a hefty fine. Imprisoning debtors is allowed in Babylonian society, even to the point of the debtor dying naturally while imprisoned (in which case no guilt is incurred to the imprisoning agent)—but if a debtor is imprisoned and killed by violence, the imprisoning agent would incur either a fine or a sentence of capital punishment. 

Several laws deal not only with monetary assets or commodities, but with persons as well. Selling oneself into indentured servitude is permitted for repayment of a debt, but the time period of servitude is limited to three years, after which the person will go free.