Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/769

 THE LAWS OF HAMMURABI 743

sell his goods, and woe betide the luckless would-be purchaser (87). A man's slaves are not to be aided or concealed except at fearful penalty ( 15) ; if a burglar enter a house, the punish- ment is death (21); if the citizen is robbed upon the highway, the city and governor must make good the loss on the basis of his sworn schedule (23). The holder of crown land may not be dispossessed except for neglect of duty (2731), nor may the king's land be alienated (36, 37). The landowner is carefully protected against dishonest and lazy tenants ( 43, 44). The money -lender is guarded in his rights, although a debtor whose crop is ruined by flood or drought is released from interest for the disastrous year (48). The owner of a field is protected against the carelessness of a neighbor whose neglected dyke or forgotten runnel causes an inundation (5 3-56), against the shepherd who turns flocks upon the land (57), or against the trespasser who fells a tree (59). The merchant is safeguarded in his relations with an agent, who must look to himself and demand receipts and witnesses at every turn ( 100107). The property- owner who intrusts his goods to a common carrier (112), or leaves them on deposit ( 122-25), or stores grain in a warehouse is well secured in his rights ( 113). The slaveholder may col- lect damages from those who injure his man or maid, whether it be the unfortunate or bungling surgeon (219), or the owner of a goring ox (252). The householder is protected from loss due to the faulty construction of his dwelling, holding the builder responsible both for the damage and the replacing of the house (229-31). The boat-owner may recover the value of vessel and cargo from a careless lessee (236), just as the owner of a hired ox may exact damages for the injury or death of his animal (245-48). The possessor of flocks may insist that the shepherd maintain a normal birth-rate among the cattle or sheep, or may recover ten-fold the number that the shepherd may be proved to have stolen (263, 264). Of the thirtyn seven capital crimes indicated in the code, eighteen relate to property. The mere enumeration of these provisions serves to emphasize the extent to which property rights and vested inter- ests had become sacrosanct at the time when Hammurabi ruled in Babylon four millenniums ago.