Topic: Compare and Contrast the Law of Ur-Nammu and the Code of Hammurabi
Directions:
Student will research and analyze the topic above. The paper must be at least four typed pages (Times New Roman Size 12 Font). The paper is expected to be well balanced, well organized, and your own academic work. You should use only the primary sources above for most of your paper. It is assumed that no work will be acceptable without some outside research and use of academically appropriate sources. Your textbook will not provide enough information or insight. Your sources should be academic sources, no encyclopedia entries. Following standard writing practices are expected.
Paper requirements:
- Student must use size 12 Font [ This font is Times New Roman Font 12]
- Sources must be cited (either MLA or Chicago Style) This includes subsequent notes, endnotes, or footnotes. The essay must also include a Bibliography or Works Cited page. Primary Sources are very crucial to historical writing. It is expected that primary sources will be used.
1)The Code of Ur-Nammu
Then did Ur-Nammu, the mighty warrior, king of Ur, king of Sumer, and Akkad, by the might of Nanna, lord of the city (of Ur), and in accordance with the true word of Utu, establish equity in the land [and] he banished malediction, violence, and strife. By granting immunity in Akkad to the maritime trade from the seafarers’ overseer, to the herdsman from the “oxen-taker,” the “sheep-taker,” and the “donkey-taker,” he set Sumer and Akkad free…
The orphan was not delivered up to the rich man; the widow was not delivered up to the mighty man; the man of one shekel was not delivered up to the man of one mina.…
4: If the wife of a man, by employing her charms, followed after another man and he slept with her, they [i.e., the authorities] shall slay that woman, but that male [i.e., the other man] shall be set free.
5: If a man proceeded by force, and deflowered the virgin [text: “undeflowered”] slave-woman of another man, that man must pay five shekels of silver.
6: If a man divorces his primary wife, he must pay [her] one mina of silver.
7: If it is a [former] widow [whom] he divorces, he must pay [her] one-half mina of silver.
8: If [however] the man had slept with the widow without there having been any marriage contract, he need not pay [her] any silver.
10: If a man had accused a[nother] man of…and he [i.e., the accuser] had him [i.e., the accused] brought to the river-ordeal, and the river-ordeal proved him innocent, then the man who had brought him [i.e., the accuser] must pay him three shekels of silver.
11: If a man accused the wife of a man of fornication, and the river[-ordeal] proved her innocent, then the man who had accused her must pay one-third of a mina of silver.
12: If a [prospective] son-in-law entered the house of his [prospective] father-in-law, but his father-in-law later gave [his daughter (i.e., the prospective bride) to] another man, he [the father-in-law] shall return to him [i.e., the rejected son-in-law] two fold the amount of bridal presents he had brought.
14: If […] a slavewoman [or a male slave fled from the master’s house] and crossed beyond the territory of the city, and [another] man brought him/her back, the owner of the slave shall pay to the one who brought him back two shekels of silver.
15: If a [man…] cut off the foot [variant: limb] of [another man with his…], he shall pay ten shekels of silver.
16: If a man, in the course of a scuffle, smashed the limb of another man with a club, he shall pay one mina of silver.
17: If someone severed the nose of another man with a copper knife, he must pay two-thirds of a mina of silver.
18: If a man cut off the […] of [another man] with a [club] he shall pay [x shekels (?)] of silver…
22: If a man’s slave-woman, comparing herself to her mistress, speaks insolently to her [or: him], her mouth shall be scoured with 1 quart of salt.
23: If a man’s slave-woman, comparing herself to her mistress, struck her…
25: If a man appeared as a witness [in a lawsuit], and was shown to be a perjurer, he must pay fifteen shekels of silver.
26: If a man appeared as a witness [in a lawsuit], but declined to testify on oath, he must make good as much as is involved in the lawsuit.
27: If a man proceeded by force, and plowed the arable field of a[nother] man, and he [i.e., the latter] brought a lawsuit [against him], but he [i.e., the squatter] reacts in contempt, that man will forfeit his expenses.
28: If a man flooded the field of a[nother] man with water, he shall measure out [for him] three k�r of barley per ikū of field.
29: If a man had leased an arable field to a[nother] man for cultivation, but he [the lessee] did not plow it, so that it turned into wasteland, he shall measure out [to the lessor] three kÅ�r of barley per ikÅ« of field….
2)The Code of Hammurabi
1: If a seignior accused a[nother] seignior and brought a charge of murder against him, but has not proved it, his accuser shall be put to death.
2: If a seignior brought a charge of sorcery against a[nother]) seignior, but has not proved it, the one against whom the charge of sorcery was brought, upon going to the river, shall throw himself into the river, and if the river has then overpowered him, his accused shall take over his estate; if the river has shown that seignior to be innocent and he has accordingly come forth safe, the one who brought the charge of sorcery against him shall be put to death, while the one who threw himself into the river shall take over the estate of his accuser.
3: If a seignior came forward with false testimony in a case, and has not proved the word which he spoke, if that case was a case involving life, that seignior shall be put to death.
4: If he came forward with [false] testimony concerning grain or money, he shall beat the penalty of that case.
5: If a judge gave a judgment, rendered a decision, deposited a sealed document, but later has altered his judgment, they shall prove that that judge altered the judgment which he gave and he shall pay twelvefold the claim which holds in that case; furthermore, they shall expel him in the assembly from his seat of judgment and he shall never again sit with the judges in a case.
6: If a seignior stole the property of church or state, that seignior shall be put to death; also the one who received the stolen goods from his hand shall be put to death.
7: If a seignior has purchased or he received for safekeeping either silver or gold or a male slave or a female slave of an ox or a sheep or an ass or any sort of thing from the hand of a seignior’s son or a seignior’s slave without witnesses and contracts, since that seignior is a thief, he shall be put to death.
8: If a seignior stole either an ox or a sheep or an ass or a pig or a boat, if it belonged to the church [or] if it belonged to the state, he shall make thirtyfold restitution; if it belonged to a private citizen, he shall make good tenfold. If the thief does not have sufficient to make restitution, he shall be put to death.
9: When a seignior, [some of] whose property was lost, has found his lost property in the possession of a[nother] seignior, if the seignior in whose possession the lost [property] was found has declared, “A seller sold [it] to me; I made the purchase in the presence of witnesses,” and the owner of the lost [property] in turn has declared, “I will produce witnesses attesting to my lost [property]”; the purchaser having then produced the seller who made the sale to him and the witnesses in whose presence he made the purchase, and the owner of the lost [property] having also produced the witnesses attesting to his lost [property], the judges shall consider their evidence, and the witnesses in whose presence the purchase was made, along with the witnesses attesting to the lost [property], shall declare what they know in the presence of god, and since the seller was the thief, he shall be put to death, while the owner of the lost [property] shall take his lost [property], with the purchaser obtaining from the estate of the seller the money that he paid out.
10: If the [professed] purchaser has not produced the seller who made the sale to him and the witnesses in whose presence he made the purchase, but the owner of the lost property has produced witnesses attesting to his lost property, since the [professed] purchaser was the thief, he shall be put to death, while the owner of the lost property shall take his lost property.
11: If the [professed] owner of the lost property has not produced witnesses attesting to his lost property, since he was a cheat and started a false report, he shall be put to death.
12: If the seller has gone to [his] fate, the purchaser shall take from the estate of the seller fivefold the claim for that case.
13: If the witnesses of the seignior were not at hand, the judges shall set a time-limit of six months for him, and if he did not produce his witnesses within six months, since that seignior was a cheat, he shall bear the penalty of that case.
14: If a seignior has stolen the young son of a[nother] seignior, he shall be put to death.
15: If a seignior has helped either a male slave of the state or a female slave of the state or a male slave of a private citizen or a female slave of a private citizen to escape through the city-gate, he shall be put to death.
16: If a seignior has harbored in his house either a fugitive male slave or female slave belonging to the state or to a private citizen and has not brought him forth at the summons of the police, that householder shall be put to death.
17: If a seignior caught a fugitive male or female slave in the open and has taken him to his owner, the owner of the slave shall pay him two shekels of silver.
18: If that slave has not named his owner, he shall take him to the palace in order that his record may be investigated, and they shall return him to his owner.
19: If he has kept that slave in his house [and] later that slave has been found in his possession, that seignior shall be put to death.
20: If the slave has escaped from the hand of his captor, that seignior shall [so] affirm by god to the owner of the slave and he shall then go free.
21: If a seignior made a breach in a house, they shall put him to death in front of that breach and wall him in.
22: If a seignior committed robbery and has been caught, that seignior shall be put to death.
23: If the robber has not been caught, the robbed seignior shall set forth the particulars regarding his lost property in the presence of god, and the city and governor, in whose territory and district the robbery was committed, shall make good to him his lost property.
24: If it was a life that was lost, the city and governor shall pay one mina of silver to his people.
25: If fire broke out in a seignior’s house and a seignior, who went to extinguish [it] cast his eye on the goods of the owner of the house and has appropriated the goods of the owner of the house, that seignior shall be thrown into that fire….
195: If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand.
196: If a seignior has destroyed the eye of a member of the aristocracy, they shall destroy his eye.
197: If he has broken a[nother] seignior’s bone, they shall break his bone.
198: If he has destroyed the eye of a commoner or broken the bone of a commoner, he shall pay one mina of silver.
199: If he has destroyed the eye of a seignior’s slave or broken the bone of a seignior’s slave, he shall pay one-half his value.
200: If a seignior has knocked out a tooth of a seignior of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth.
201: If he has knocked out a commoner’s tooth, he shall pay one-third mina of silver.
202: If a seignior has struck the cheek of a seignior who is superior to him, he shall be beaten sixty [times] with an oxtail whip in the assembly.
203: If a member of the aristocracy has struck the cheek of a[nother] member of the aristocracy who is of the same rank as himself, he shall pay one mina of silver.
204: If a commoner has struck the cheek of a[nother] commoner, he shall pay ten shekels of silver.
205: If a seignior’s slave has struck the cheek of a member of the aristocracy, they shall cut off his ear.
206: If a seignior has struck a[nother] seignior in a brawl and has inflicted an injury on him, that seignior shall swear, “I did not strike him deliberately”; and he shall also pay for the physician.
207: If he has died because of this blow, he shall swear [as before], and if it was a member of the aristocracy, he shall pay one-half mina of silver.
208: If it was a member of the commonalty, he shall pay one-third mina of silver.
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.
210: If that woman has died, they shall put his daughter to death.
211: If by a blow he has caused a commoner’s daughter to have a miscarriage, he shall pay five shekels of silver.
212: If that woman has died, he shall pay one-half mina of silver.
213: If he struck a seignior’s female slave and has caused her to have a miscarriage, he shall pay two shekels of silver.
214: If that female slave has died, he shall pay one-third mina of silver.
215: If a physician performed a major operation on a seignior with a bronze lancet and has saved the seignior’s life, or he opened up the eye-socket of a seignior with a bronze lancet and has saved the seignior’s eye, he shall receive ten shekels of silver.
216: If it was a member of the commonalty, he shall receive five shekels.
217: If it was a seignior’s slave, the owner of the slave shall give two shekels of silver to the physician.
218: If a physician performed a major operation on a seignior with a bronze lancet and has caused the seignior’s death, or he opened up the eye-socket of a seignior and has destroyed the seignior’s eye, they shall cut off his hand.
219: If a physician performed a major operation on a commoner’s slave with a bronze lancet and has caused [his] death, he shall make good, slave for slave.
220: If he opened up his eye-socket with a bronze lancet and has destroyed his eye, he shall pay one-half his value in silver.
221: If a physician has set a seignior’s broken bone, or has helped a sprained tendon, the patient shall give five shekels of silver to the physician.
222: If it was a member of the commonalty, he shall give three shekels of silver.
223: If it was as seignior’s slave, the owner of the slave shall give two shekels of silver to the physician.
224: If a veterinary surgeon performed a major operation on either an ox or ass and has saved [its] life, the owner of the ox or ass shall give to the surgeon one-sixth [shekel] of silver as his fee.
225: If he performed a major operation on an ox or an ass and has caused [its] death, he shall give to the owner of the ox or ass one-fourth its value.
226: If a brander cut off the slave-mark of a slave not his own without the consent of the owner of the slave, they shall cut off the hand of that brander.
227: If a seignior deceived a brander so that he has cut off the slave-mark of a slave not his own, they shall put the seignior to death and immure him as his gate; the brander shall swear, “I did not cut [it] off knowingly,” and then he shall go free.
228: If a builder constructed a house for a seignior and finished [it] for him, he shall give him two shekels of silver per sar [42.2 square yards] of house as his remuneration.
229: If a builder constructed a house for a seignior, but did not make his work strong, with the result that the house which he built collapsed and so has caused the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.
230: If it has cause the death of a son of the owner of the house, they shall put the son of that builder to death.
231: If it has caused the death of a slave of the owner of the house, he shall give slave for slave to the owner of the house. …