בס"ד
The Hebrew Bible
JPS Electronic Edition, based on the 1917 JPS translation, Copyright © 1998
Exodus, Chapter 20
12: Honour thy father and thy mother(Ed: Commandment 5), that thy days may be long upon the land which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee.
13: Thou shalt not murder(Ed: Commandment 6); Thou shalt not commit adultery(Ed: Commandment 7); Thou shalt not steal(Ed: Commandment 8); Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour(Ed: Commandment 9).
14: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife(Ed: Commandment 10), nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Exodus, Chapter 21
2 If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
26 And if a man smite the eye of his bondman, or the eye of his bondwoman, and destroy it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
27 And if he smite out his bondman's tooth, or his bondwoman's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
28 And if an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.
29 But if the ox was wont to gore in time past, and warning hath been given to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.
32 If the ox gore a bondman or a bondwoman, he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
Leviticus, Chapter 19
9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corner of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest.
10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather the fallen fruit of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am HaShem your G-d.
13 Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour, nor rob him; the wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
36 Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have:
Deuteronomy, Chapter 19
15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth; at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be establishment
16 If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to bear perverted witness against him;
17 then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before HaShem, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days.
18 And the judges shall inquire diligently; and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 then shall ye do unto him, as he had purposed to do unto his brother; so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.
21 And thine eye shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Deuteronomy, Chapter 24
1 When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, then it cometh to pass, if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he writeth her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house,
2 and she departeth out of his house, and goeth and becometh another man's wife,
3 and the latter husband hateth her, and writeth her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife;
4 her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before HaShem; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee for an inheritance
Twelve Tables of Rome:
· I.1
"If he (plaintiff) summon him (defendant) into court, he shall go. If he does not go, (plaintiff) shall call witnesses. Then only he shall take him by force. If he refuses or flees, he (plaintiff) shall lay hands on him. If disease or age is an impediment, he shall grant him a team (of oxen). He shall not spread with cushions the covered carriage if he does not wish to.
· II.3
Whoever is in need of evidence, he shall go on every third day to call out loud before the doorway of the witness."
· III. 1
"When a debt has been acknowledged or a judgment has been pronounced in court, 30 days must be the legitimate grace period. Thereafter, arrest of the debtor may be made by the laying on of hands. Bring him into court. If he does not satisfy the judgment (or no one in court offers himself as surety on his behalf) the creditor may take the debtor with him. He may bind him either in stocks or fetters, with a weight of no less than 15 lbs. (or more if he desires)." [After 60 days in custody, the case is returned to the court, and if the debt is not then paid, the debtor can be sold abroad as a slave, or put to death.]
· IV. 1 "A dreadfully deformed child shall be killed."
· IV. 2 "If a father surrender his son for sale three times, the son shall be free."
· V. 1 "Our ancestors saw fit that "females, by reason of levity of disposition, shall remain in guardianship, even when they have attained their majority."
· V. 7 A spendthrift is forbidden to exercise administration over his own goods.
· V. 8 The inheritance of a Roman citizen-freedman is made over to his patron, if the freedman has died intestate and has no natural successor.
· VI. 1 When a party shall make bond or conveyance, what he has named by word-of-mouth that shall hold good.
· VI. 2 Marriage by `usage' (usus): If a man and woman live together continuously for a year, they are considered to be married; the woman legally is treated as the man's daughter.
· VIII. 1 "If any person has sung or composed against another person a SONG (carmen) such as was causing slander or insult.... he shall be clubbed to death."
· VIII. 2 "If a person has maimed another's limb, let there be retaliation in kind, unless he agrees to make compensation with him." (Lex talionis)
· VIII. 21 "If a patron shall defraud his client, he must be solemnly forfeited (`killed')."
· VIII. 23 "Whoever is convicted of speaking false witness shall be flung from the Tarpeian Rock."
· VIII. 26 "No person shall hold meetings in the City at night."
· IX. 3 "The penalty shall be capital punishment for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision."
· IX. 6 "Putting to death... of any man who has not been convicted, whosoever he might be, is forbidden."
· X. 4 "Women must not tear cheeks or hold chorus of `Alas!' on account of a funeral."
· X. 6a "Anointing by slaves is abolished, and every kind of drinking bout....there shall be no costly sprinking, no long garlands, no incense boxes."
· XI. 1 "Marriage shall not take place between a patrician and a plebeian."
· XII. 5 "Whatever the People has last ordained shall be held as binding by law."
The Code of Hammurabi
Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters, edited by
C.H.W. Johns. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904.
1. If a man has accused another of laying a nêrtu [death spell?] upon him, but has not proved it, he shall be put to death. . . .
3. If a man has borne false witness in a trial, or has not established the statement that he has made, if that case be a capital trial, that man shall be put to death. . . .
6. If a man has stolen goods from a temple, or house, he shall be put to death; and he that has received the stolen property from him shall be put to death. . . .
14. If a man has stolen a child, he shall be put to death. . . .
21. If a man has broken into a house he shall be killed before the breach and buried there.
22. If a man has committed highway robbery and has been caught, that man shall be put to death.
23. If the highwayman has not been caught, the man that has been robbed shall state on oath what he has lost and the city or district governor in whose territory or district the robbery took place shall restore to him what he has lost.
24. If a life [has been lost], the city or district governor shall pay one mina of silver to the deceased’s relatives. . . .
42. If a man has hired a field to cultivate and has caused no grain to grow on the field, he shall be held responsible for not doing the work on the field and shall pay an average rent. . . .
53. If a man has neglected to strengthen his dike and has not kept his dike strong, and a breach has broken out in his dike, and the waters have flooded the meadow, the man in whose dike the breach has broken out shall restore the grain he has caused to be lost. . . .
55. If a man has opened his runnel for watering and has left it open, and the water has flooded his neighbor’s field, he shall pay him an average crop. .
117. If a man owes a debt, and he has given his wife, his son, or his daughter [as hostage] for the money, or has handed someone over to work if off, the hostage shall do the work of the creditor’s house; but in the fourth year he shall set them free. . . .
128. If a man has taken a wife and has not executed a marriage-contract, that woman is not a wife. . . .
138. If a man has divorced his wife, who has not borne him children, he shall pay over to her as much money as was given for her bride-price and the marriage-portion which she brought from her father’s house, and so shall divorce her. . . .
143. If [a woman] has not been discreet, has gone out, ruined her house, belittled her husband, she shall be drowned. . . .
168. If a man has determined to disinherit his son and has declared before the judge, “I cut off my son,” the judge shall inquire into the son’s past, and, if the son has not committed a grave misdemeanor such as should cut him off from sonship, the father shall [not] disinherit his son. . . .
195. If a son has struck his father, his hands shall be cut off.
196. If a man has knocked out the eye of a patrician, his eye shall be knocked out. [For a similar law of the Hebrews, see Deuteronomy 19:21].
197. If he has broken the limb of a patrician, his limb shall be broken.
198. If he has knocked out the eye of a plebeian or has broken the limb of a plebeian, he shall pay one mina of silver.
199. If he has knocked out the eye of a patrician’s servant, or broken the limb of a patrician’s servant, he shall pay half his value. . . .
215. If a surgeon has operated with the bronze lancet on a patrician for a serious injury, and has cured him, or has removed a cataract for a patrician, and has cured his eye, he shall take ten shekels of silver. . . .
218. If a surgeon has operated with the bronze lancet on a patrician for a serious injury, and has caused his death, or has removed a cataract for a patrician, with the bronze lancet, and has made him lose his eye, his hands shall be cut off. . . .
229. If a builder has built a house for a man, and has not made his work sound, and the house he built has fallen, and caused the death of its owner, that builder shall be put to death.
230. If it is the owner’s son that is killed, the builder’s son shall be put to death. . . .
237. If a man has hired a boat and boatman, and loaded it with corn, wool, oil, or dates, or whatever it be, and the boatman has been careless, and sunk the boat, or lost what is in it, the boatman shall restore the boat which he sank, and whatever he lost that was in it. . . .
245. If a man has hired an ox and has caused its death, by carelessness, or blows, he shall restore ox for ox, to the owner of the ox. . . .
251. If a man’s ox be a gorer, and has revealed its evil propensity as a gorer, and he has not blunted its horn, or shut up the ox, and then that ox has gored a free man, and cause his death, the owner shall pay half a mina of silver. . .
282. If a slave has said to his master, “You are not my master,” he shall be brought to account as his slave, and his master shall cut off his ear. . .
בס"ד
Law Code Comparison
Directions: Read the excerpts of both Hammurabi’s law code, Rome’s twelve tables and the laws as written in the Hebrew Bible. Answer the questions below. Identify the number of each law that you used to answer the question.
Social Structure:
1. Describe what you learn about the social class structure for each civilization in each law code.
Babylon - Law # ______
Hebrew - Law # ______
Roman - Law # ______
Comparison:
2. Describe one similarity between three law codes.
Similarity: Law # ______
Law # ______
Law # ______
3. Describe one difference between three codes.
Law # ______
Difference:
Law # ______
Law # ______
Conclusion:
4. Using the information above, draw a conclusion about this time period with reference to the following questions:
a. What does the emphasis placed on particular “crimes” or “behaviors” indicate about the specific culture (describe each culture) and how did that affect the laws they created?
b. Are there inherent strengths or weaknesses present in the legal codes of the cultures? Explain your reasoning.
c. What additional type of documentation could have been included in this selection to further enhance your understanding? Explain your reasoning.