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Code of Hammurabi
1750
BC
When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki,
and Bel, Lord of Heaven and Earth,
decreed the fate of the
land, they assigned Marduk the son of El
dominion over earthly
man.
They called it Babylon founding
an everlasting kingdom
whose foundations are laid as
solidly as those of heaven and Earth.
Anu and Bel called by name
Hammurabi, exalted prince who stood in awe of
Marduk, to bring the
rule of righteousness to the land, to dispossess evil doers so that
the strong cannot harm the
weak.
Commissioned to care for the people and
further the
well-being of mankind
Hammurabi, the prince, called
of El am I
Sublime patron of E-kur the shield of the land, who
reestablished Eridu, conquered the four
quarters of the Earth, made great the name of Babylon and rejoiced the
heart of Marduk; the royal
scion whom Sin made; who enriched
Ur; the humble, the reverent, who brings wealth to Gish-shir-gal; who again
laid the foundations of Sippara; the lord who granted new life to Uruk, who
brought plenteous water to its inhabitants and perfected the beauty of Anu and
Nana; who reunited the scattered inhabitants of Isin; who richly endowed
E-gal-mach; who firmly founded the farms of Kish, crowned E-me-te-ursag with
glory, redoubled the great holy treasures of Nana, managed the temple of
Harsag-kalama; who increased the power of Cuthah; made all glorious in
E-shidlam, the Black Bull,
who gored the enemy; beloved of the Marduk Nebo, who rejoiced the inhabitants
of Borsippa, the Sublime; who is indefatigable for E-zida; the
divine king of the
city; who broadened the fields of Dilbat, who heaped up the harvests for
Urash; the Elect of Ma-ma; who fixed the temple bounds of Kesh, who made rich
the holy feasts of Nin-tu; who provided food and drink for Lagash and Girsu,
who restored the vessels for worship in E-ud-gal-gal; the king who granted life
to the city of Adab; the guide of E-mach; who granted life to the inhabitants
of Mashkanshabri and brought
abundance to the
temple of Shidlam; who penetrated the secret cave of
the bandits, saved the inhabitants of Malka from misfortune and fixed their
home fast in wealth; who established pure sacrificial gifts for Ea and
Dam-gal-nun-na; who subjected the districts on the Ud-kib-nun-na Canal to the
sway of Dagon; who spared the inhabitants of Mera and Tutul; who presents holy
meals to the divinity of Nin-a-zu, who cared for its inhabitants in their need,
provided a portion for them in Babylon in peace; the shepherd of the oppressed
and of the slaves; who recognizes the right, who
rules by law; who gave
back to the city of Ashur its
protecting idol; who
let the name of Ishtar of
Nineveh remain in E-mish-mish. I am the mighty son of
Sin-muballit; the royal scion
of Eternity; the mighty
monarch, the sun of Babylon, whose rays shed light over the land of
Sumer and Akkad; the king, obeyed by the four quarters of
the world.
1. If any one ensnare
another, putting a bane upon him, even if he can not prove it, he that ensnared
him shall be put to death.
2. If any one bring an
accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the
river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house.
But if the river prove that the accused is not
guilty, and
he escape unhurt, then he
who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into
the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.
3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and
does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense
charged, be put to death.
4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a fine
of grain or money, he shall receive the fine that the action produces.
5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgement
in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his
own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and
he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and
never again shall he sit
there to render judgement.
6. If any one steal the property of a
temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives
the stolen article from him
shall be put to death.
7. If any one buy from the
son or the slave of another man, without witness' or a contract, silver or
gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he
take it in charge, he is considered a thief and
shall be put to death.
8. If any one steal
cattle or sheep, or an ass,
or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a general or to the court, the
thief shall king he shall
pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with
which to pay he shall be put to death.
9. If any one lose an article,
and find it in the possession of another: if the other in whose possession the
article is found say "A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witness',"
and if the owner of the article say, "I will bring witness' who know my
property," then shall the purchaser bring the merchant who sold it to him, and
the witness' before whom he bought it, and the owner shall bring witness' who
can identify his property. The judge shall examine their testimony -- both of
the witness' before whom the price was paid, and of the witness' who identify
the lost article on oath. The merchant is then proved to be a
thief and shall be put to
death. The owner of the lost article receives his property, and he who bought
it receives the money
he paid from the estate of the merchant.
10. If the purchaser does not
bring the merchant and the witness' before whom he bought the article, but its
owner bring witness' who identify it, then the buyer is the
thief and shall be put to
death, and the owner receives the lost article.
11. If the owner do not
bring witness' to identify the lost article, he is an evil doer, he has
traduced, and shall be put to death.
12. If the witness' be not at
hand, then shall the judge set a limit, at the expiration of six months. If his
witness' have not appeared within the six months, he is an evil doer, and shall
bear the fine of the pending case.
13. (There is no thirteenth law's;
the number thirteen is skipped.)
14. If any one steal the minor son of
another, he shall be put to death.
15. If any
one take a male or female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a
freed man, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death.
16. If any
one receive into his house a runaway male or female slave of the court, or of a
freed man, and does not bring it out at the public proclamation of the major
domus, the master of the house shall be put to death.
17. If any one
find runaway male or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their
masters, the master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver.
18. If the slave will not give the name of the master, the finder shall
bring him to the palace; a
further investigation must follow, and the slave shall be returned to his
master.
19. If he hold the slaves in his house, and they are caught
there, he shall be put to death.
20. If the slave that he caught run
away from him, then shall he swear to the owners of the slave, and he is free
of all blame.
21. If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall
be put to death before that hole and be buried.
22.
Anyone caught committing a
robbery shall be put to death.
23. If the
robber is not caught, then shall he
who was robbed claim under
oath the amount of
his loss; then shall the community compensate him for the goods stolen.
24. If children are stolen then shall the community pay one mina of
silver to their relatives.
25. If fire break out in a house, and some
one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the
house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown
into that self-same fire.
26. If a chieftain or a man (common soldier), who has been
ordered to go upon the king's highway for war does not go, but hires a
mercenary, if he withholds the compensation, then shall this officer or man be
put to death, and he who represented him shall take possession of his house.
27. If a chieftain or man be caught in the misfortune of the king
(captured in battle), and if his fields and garden be given to another and he
take possession, if he return and reaches his place, his field and garden shall
be returned to him, he shall take it over again.
28. If a chieftain or
a man be caught in the misfortune of a king, if his son is able to enter into
possession, then the field and garden shall be given to him, he shall take over
the fee of his father.
29. If his son is still young, and can not take
possession, a third of the field and garden shall be given to his mother, and
she shall bring him up.
30. If a chieftain or a man leave his
house, garden, and field and
hires it out, and some one else takes possession of his house, garden, and
field and uses it for three years it becomes his.
31. If a chieftain or
a man leave his house, garden, and field and hires it out for one year and then
return, the house, garden, and field shall be given back to him, and he shall
take it over again.
32. If a chieftain or a man is captured on the "Way
of the king" (in war), and a merchant buy him free, and bring him back to his
place; if he have the means in his house to buy his freedom, he shall buy
himself free: if he have nothing in his house with which to buy himself free,
he shall be bought free by the temple of his community; if there be nothing in
the temple with which to buy him free, the court shall buy his freedom. His
field, garden, and house shall not be given for the purchase of his freedom.
33. If a ... or a ... enter himself as withdrawn from the "Way of the
King," and send a mercenary as substitute, but withdraw him, then the ... or
... shall be put to death.
34. If a ... or a ... harm the property of a
captain, injure the captain, or take away from the captain a gift presented to
him by the king, then the ... or ... shall be put to death.
35. If any
one buy the cattle or sheep which the king has given to a chieftain from him,
then the money is forfeit to the king.
36.
The field, garden, and
house of a chieftain, of a man, or tenant, can not be sold.
37. If
any one buy the field, garden, or house of a chieftain, man, or
a tenant, his
contract tablet of sale shall be broken. The field, garden, and house
return to their owners.
38.
A chieftain, man, or a tenant can
not assign his tenure of field, house, or garden to his
hierodule or daughter,
nor can he assign it for a debt.
39. He may, however, assign a field, garden, or house which he has
bought, and holds as property, to his hierodule or daughter or give it for
debt.
40. He may sell field, garden, and house to a merchant (royal
agents) or to any other public official, the buyer holding field, house, and
garden for its usufruct.
41. If any one
fence in the field, garden,
and house of a chieftain, man, or a tenant, furnishing the stakes therefore; if
the chieftain, man, or the tenant return to field, garden, and house, the
stakes which were given to him become his property.
42. If any one take over a field to till it, and obtain
no harvest therefrom, it must be proved that he did no work on the field, and
he must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to the owner of the field.
43. If he do not till the field, but let it lie fallow, he shall give
grain like his neighbor's to the owner of the field, and the field which he let
lie fallow he must plow and sow and return to its owner.
44. If any one
take over a field
lying unused and wasted to make it arable, but is
lazy, and does not make it arable, he shall
plow the fallow field in the fourth year, harrow it and till it, and give it
back to its owner, and for each ten gan (a measure of area) ten gur of grain
shall be paid.
45. If a man rent his field
for tillage for a fixed rental, and receive the rent of his field, but bad
weather come and destroy the harvest, the
injury falls upon the tiller of the soil.
46. If he do not receive
a fixed rental for his field, but lets
it on half or third shares of the harvest, the grain on the field shall be
divided proportionately between the tiller and the owner.
47. If the
tiller, because he did not succeed in the first year, has had the soil tilled
by others, the owner may raise no objection; the field has been cultivated and
he receives the harvest according to agreement.
48. If any one owe a
debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the
grain does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his
creditor any grain, he washes his debt tablet in water and pays no rent for
this year.
49. If anyone mortgage a field tillable for grain or sesame
and contract to plant grain or sesame in the field, and to harvest the crop;
the tenant harvest of grain or sesame that is in the field shall belong to the
owner of the field and the tenant shall pay grain as rent.
50. If he
mortgages a cultivated grain-field or a cultivated sesame-field, the grain or
sesame in the field shall belong to the owner of the field, and he shall repay
the moneychanger as rent.
51. If he has no money to repay, then he
shall pay in grain or sesame in place of the money as rent for what he received
from the moneychanger, according to the royal tariff.
52. If the
gardener does not plant
grain or sesame in the field the contract remains valid.
53. Dams must
be maintained and equitable damages must be paid for failed dams.
54. On
failure to pay compensation injured parties may enslave the culprit and divide
his possessions.
55. Water ditches must be maintained and equitable
damages must be paid for failed ditches.
56. No rain runoff
redistribution allowed.
57. If a shepherd trespasses the owner of the
field shall harvest his crop and the shepherd who has pastured his flock
without permission shall pay to the owner twenty gur of millet for every ten
gan.
58. Any shepherd that lets his flock into a field and they graze
there, this shepherd shall take possession of the field which he has allowed to
be grazed on, and at the harvest he must pay sixty gur of grain for every ten
gan.
59. If any man, without the knowledge of the owner of a garden,
fell a tree in a garden he shall pay half a mina in money.
60. If any
one give over a field to a gardener, for him to plant it as a garden, if he
work at it, and care for it for four years, in the fifth year the owner and the
gardener shall divide it, the owner taking his part in charge.
61. If
the gardener has not completed the planting of the field, leaving one part
unused, this shall be assigned as his.
62. If he does not plant the
field that was given over to him as a garden, if it be arable land (for grain
or sesame) the gardener shall pay the owner the produce of the field for the
years that he let it lie fallow, according to the produce of neighboring
fields, put the field in arable condition and return it to its owner.
63. If he transform
waste land into arable fields and return it to its owner, the latter shall
pay him for one year ten gur for ten gan.
64. If any one hand over his
garden to a gardener to work, the gardener shall pay to its owner two-thirds of
the produce of the garden, for so long as he has it in possession, and the
other third shall he keep.
65. If the gardener does not work in the
garden and the produce falls off, the gardener shall pay in proportion to other
neighboring gardens.
[The text for 33 laws numbered 66 through 99 is
missing]
100. ... interest for the money, as much as he has received,
he shall give a note therefore, and on the day, when they settle, pay to the
merchant.
101. If there are no mercantile arrangements in the place
whither he went, he shall leave the entire amount of money which he received
with the broker to give to the merchant.
102. If a merchant entrust
money to an agent for some investment, and the broker suffer a loss he shall
make good the capital to the merchant.
103. An agent robbed on a
journey shall swear by
Marduk and be free of obligation.
104. If a merchant give an agent
grain, wool, oil, or any other goods to transport, the agent shall give a
receipt for the amount, compensate the merchant therefore and he shall obtain a
receipt from the merchant for the money that he gives the merchant.
105. If the agent is careless, and does not take a receipt for the
money which he gave the merchant, he can not consider debt paid.
106.
If the agent quarrel with the merchant (denying the receipt), the merchant
swear before Marduk he has given this money to the agent, and the agent shall
pay him three times the sum.
107. If the
merchant cheat the agent by bearing false
witness to the transaction by denying receiving what the agent has given
him, he shall pay six times that sum to the agent.
108. If a barmaid
does not accept grain according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes
money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the grain, she shall be
convicted and thrown into the river.
109. If conspirators meet in the
house of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered
to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.
110. If a
"sister of Marduk" open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall
this woman be burned to death.
111. If an barmaid furnish sixty ka of beer she shall receive fifty ka
of millet at the harvest.
112. Property
on loan appropriated for the lenders use shall be returned fivefold if not
returned on the agreed contract date. (futures contract)
113.
Merchants improperly accounting for grain consignments lose their commission.
114. False claimants revealed shall pay one-third of a mina of silver
in every case.
115. Debtors may be imprisoned and starved to death.
116. If a free-born man dies in prison from blows or maltreatment, the
son of the jailer shall be put to death; if he a slave dies, the jailer shall
pay one-third of a mina of gold.
117. If any
one fails to meet a claim for debt and sells himself, his wife, his son, and
daughter or gives them away to forced labor: they shall work for three years for the man who
bought them and in the fourth year they shall be set free.
118. If
he gives a male or female slave away for
forced labor, and the
merchant subleases them, or sells them for money, no objection can be raised.
119. If any one fails to meet a claim for debt, and he sells the maid
servant who has borne him children, for money, the money which the merchant has
paid shall be repaid to the merchant by the owner of the slave and she shall be
freed.
120. If any one store grain for safe keeping in another's house,
and any harm happen to the grain in storage, or if the owner of the house open
the granary and take some of the grain, or if he denies that the grain was
stored in his house: then the owner of the grain shall claim his grain before
god (on oath), and the
owner of the house shall pay the grain's owner for the grain taken.
121. If any one stores grain in another man's house he shall pay him
storage at the rate of one gur for every five ka of grain per year.
122. If any one give another silver, gold, or anything else to keep, he
shall show everything to some witness, draw up a contract, and then hand it
over for safe keeping.
123. If he turn it over for safe keeping without
witness or contract, and if he to whom it was given deny it, then he has no
legitimate claim.
124. If any one deliver silver, gold, or anything
else to another for safe keeping, before a witness, but he deny it, he shall be
brought before a judge, and all that he has denied he shall pay in full.
125. If any one place his property with another for safe keeping, and
there, either through thieves or robbers, his property and the property
of the other man be lost, the owner of the house, through whose neglect the
loss took place, shall compensate the owner for all that was given to him in
charge. But the owner of the house shall try to follow up and recover his
property, and take it away from the thief.
126. If any one who has not
lost his goods state that they have been lost, and make false claims: if he
claim his goods and amount of injury before Marduk, even though he has not lost
them, he shall be fully compensated for all his loss claimed.
127. If
any one "point the finger" (slander) at a 'sister of the temple' or the
hierodule of any one, and can not prove it, this man shall be taken before the
judges and his brow shall be marked by cutting the skin.
128. If a man
take a woman to hierodule, but have no intercourse with her, this woman is no
hierodule to him.
129. If a man's hierodule be
surprised (in flagrante delicto) with another man, both shall be tied and
thrown into the river, but the husband may pardon his hierodule and the king
his hierodule.
130.
If a man violate the hierodule
(betrothed or child-wife) of another man, who has never known a man, and still
lives in her father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man
shall be put to death, but the hierodule is
blameless.
131.
If a man bring a charge against
a hierodule, but she is not surprised with another man, she must
take an oath and then may
return to her house.
132. If the "finger is pointed" at
a man's hierodule about another man, but
she is not caught sleeping with the other man,
she shall jump into the river for
her husband.
133. If a man is taken
prisoner in war, and there is sustenance in his house, but his wife leave
house, and go to another house: because this wife did not keep her house, and
went to another house, she
shall be judicially condemned and thrown into the river.
134.
If any one is captured in war
and there is not sustenance in his house, if then his wife go to another house
this woman shall be held blameless.
135. If a man be taken prisoner
in war and there is no sustenance in his
house and his wife goes to
another house and bear children; and if later her husband return and come to
his home: then his wife shall return to her husband, but the children shall
follow their father.
136. If any one leave his house, runs away, and
then his wife goes to another house, if then he return, and
wishes to take his wife back: because he fled from his home and ran away, the
wife of this runaway shall not return to her husband.
137. If a man wish
to separate from his wife who has borne him children, or from his hierodule who
has borne him children: then he shall give that hierodule her dowry, and a part
of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she can rear her
children. When she has brought up her children, a portion of all that is given
to the children, equal as that of one son, shall be given to her. She may then
marry the man of her heart.
138. If a man wishes to
separate from his wife who has borne him no children, he shall give her the
amount of her purchase money and the dowry which she brought from her father's
house, and let her go.
139. If there was no purchase price he shall
give her one mina of gold as a gift of release.
140. If he be a freed
slave he shall give her one-third of a mina of gold.
141. If a man's
wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it, plunges into debt, tries to
ruin her house, neglects her husband, and is judicially convicted: if her
husband offer her release, she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing as a
gift of release. If her husband does not wish to release her, and if he take
another wife, she shall remain as servant in her husband's house.
142.
If a woman quarrel with her husband, and say: "You are not congenial to me,"
the reasons for her prejudice
must be presented. If she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but
he neglects her, then no quilt attaches to this woman, she shall take her dowry
and go back to her father's house.
143. If she is not
innocent, but leaves her
husband, and ruins her house, neglecting her husband,
this woman shall be cast
into the River.
144. If a man take a wife and this woman give her
husband a maid-servant, and she bear him children, but this man wishes to take
another hierodule, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a
second hierodule. (Polygamy limited to wife and
maid-servant.)
145. If a man take a hierodule, and
she bear him no children, and he intend to take another hierodule: if he take
this second hierodule, and bring her into the house, this second hierodule
shall not be allowed equality with his first
hierodule.
146.
If a man take a wife and she give this man a maid-servant as hierodule and she
bear him children, and then this maid assume equality with the wife: because
she has borne him children her master shall not sell her for money, but he may
keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the maid-servants.
147.
If she have not borne him
children, then her mistress may sell her for money.
148. If a man
take a hierodule, and she be seized by disease, if he then desire to take a
second hierodule he shall not put away his hierodule, who has been attacked by
disease, but he shall keep her in the house which he has built and support her
so long as she lives.
149. If this
woman does not wish to remain in her husband's house, then he shall compensate
her for the dowry that she brought with her from her father's house, and she
may go.
150. If a man gives his hierodule a field, garden, and
house and a deed thereof, if then after the death of her husband the sons raise
no claim, then the mother may bequeath all to one of her sons whom she prefers,
and need leave nothing to his brothers.
151. If a woman who lived in a
man's house made an agreement with her husband, that no creditor can arrest
her, and has given a document thereof: if that man, before he married that
woman, had a debt, the creditor can not hold the woman for it. But if the
woman, before she entered the man's house, had contracted a debt, her creditor
can not arrest her husband therefore. (Debts are personal - not
communal.)
152. If after the woman had entered the man's house, both
contracted a debt, both must pay the merchant.
153. If the wife of one
man on account of another man has their mates (her husband and the other man's
hierodule) killed, both of them shall be impaled. (Black Widow
situation)
154. If a man be quilty of incest with his daughter, he
shall be exiled.
155. If a man betroth a girl to his
son, and his son have intercourse with her, but the father afterward defile
her, and be surprised, then he shall be bound and cast into the river.
156. If a man betroth a girl to his son, but his son has not known her,
and if then he defile her, he
shall pay her half a gold mina, and compensate her for all that she brought out
of her father's house. She may
then marry the man of her heart.
157.
If any one be quilty of incest
with his mother, both shall be burned.
158.
If a son be surprised with
his father's chief hierodule, who has borne children, he shall be driven out of
his father's house.
159. If any one, who has brought property into his
father-in-law's house, and has paid the purchase money, looks for another wife,
and says to his father-in-law: "I do not want your daughter," the girl's father
may keep all that he had brought.
160. If a man bring property into the
house of his father-in-law, and pay the "purchase price": if then the father of
the girl say: "I will not give you my daughter," he shall give him back all
that he brought with him.
161. If a man bring property into his
father-in-law's house and pay the "purchase price," if then his friend slander
him, and his father-in-law say to the young husband: "You shall not marry my
daughter," then he shall give back to him undiminished all that he had brought
with him; but his daughter shall not be married to the friend.
162. If
a man marry a woman, and she bear sons to him; if then this woman dies, then
shall her father have no claim on her dowry; this belongs to her sons.
163. If a man marry a woman and she bear him no sons; if then this
woman dies, if the "purchase price" which he had paid into the house of his
father-in-law is repaid to him, her husband shall have no claim upon her
father's property.
164. If his father-in-law's does not pay back to him
the amount of the "purchase price" he may subtract the amount of the "purchase
price" from the dowry, and then pay the remainder to her father's
house.
165. If a man
gives to one of his sons whom he prefers a field, garden, and house, and a deed
thereof: if later the father die, and the brothers divide the estate, then they
shall first give the son the present of his father, and he shall accept it; and
the rest of the paternal property shall they divide.
166. If a man take
wives for his sons, but take no hierodule for his minor son, and if then he
die: if the sons divide the estate, they shall set aside besides his portion
the money for the "purchase price" for the minor brother who had taken no
hierodule as yet, and secure a hierodule for him.
167. If a man marry a
wife and she bear him children: if this wife dies and he then take another wife
and she bear him children: if then the father die, the sons must not partition
the estate according to the first wife, they shall divide the dowries of their
mothers in this way; the paternal estate they shall divide equally with one
another.
168. If a man wish to put his son out of his house, and
declare before the judge: "I want to put my son out," then the judge shall
examine his reasons. If the son be quilty of no great fault, for which he can
be rightfully put out, the father shall not put him out.
169. If he be
quilty of a grave fault, which should rightfully deprive him of the filial
relationship, the father shall forgive
him the first time; but if he be quilty of a grave
fault a second time
the father may deprive his son of
all filial relation.
170. If his
hierodule bear sons to a man, or his maid-servant have borne sons, and the
father while still living says to the children whom his maid-servant has borne:
"My sons," and he count them with the sons of his hierodule; if then the father
die, then the sons of the hierodule and of the maid-servant shall divide the
paternal property in common. The son
of the hierodule is to partition and choose.
171. If, however, the father while still living did not say to
the sons of the maid-servant: "My sons," and
then the father dies, then the sons of the maid-servant shall not share with
the sons of the hierodule, but the freedom of the maid and her sons shall be
granted. The sons of the wife shall have no right to enslave the sons of
the maid; the hierodule shall take
her dowry (from her father), and the gift that her husband gave her and deeded
to her (separate from dowry, or the purchase money paid her father), and live
in the home of her husband: so long as she lives she shall use it, it shall not
be sold for money. Whatever she leaves shall belong to her children.
172. If her husband made her no gift, she shall be compensated for her
gift, and she shall receive a portion from the estate of her husband, equal to
that of one child. If her sons oppress her, to force her out of the house, the
judge shall examine the matter, and if the sons are at fault the woman shall
not leave her husband's house. If the woman desires to leave the house, she
must leave to her sons the gift which her husband gave her, but she may take
the dowry of her father's house. Then she may marry the man of her heart.
173. If this woman bear sons to her second husband, in the place to
which she went, and then die, her earlier and later sons shall divide the dowry
between them.
174. If she bear no sons to her second husband, the sons
of her first husband shall have the dowry.
175. If a State slave or the
slave of a freed man marry the daughter of a free man, and children are born,
the master of the slave shall have no
right to enslave the children of the free.
176. If, however, a State slave or the slave of a freed
man marry a man's daughter, and after he marries her she bring a dowry from a
father's house, if then they both enjoy it and found a household, and
accumulate means, if then the slave die, then she who was free born may take
her dowry, and all that her husband and she had earned; she shall divide them
into two parts, one-half the master of the slave shall take,
and the other half shall the free-born woman take for her children. If the
free-born woman had no gift she shall take all that her husband and she had
earned and divide it into two parts; and the master of the slave shall take
one-half and she shall take the other for her children.
177. If a
widow, whose children are not grown, wishes to enter another house (remarry),
she shall not enter it without the knowledge of the judge. If she enter another
house the judge shall examine the state of the house of her first husband. Then
the house of her first husband shall be entrusted to the second husband and the
woman herself as managers. And a record must be made thereof. She shall keep
the house in order, bring up the children, and not sell the house-hold
utensils. He who buys the utensils of the children of a widow shall
lose his money, and the goods shall
return to their owners.
178. If a "devoted woman" or a prostitute to
whom her father has given a dowry and a deed therefore, but if in this deed it
is not stated that she may bequeath it as she pleases, and has not explicitly
stated that she has the right of disposal; if then her father die, then her
brothers shall hold her field and garden, and give her grain, oil, and milk
according to her portion, and satisfy her. If her brothers do not give her
grain, oil, and milk according to her share, then her field and garden shall
support her. She shall have the usufruct of field and garden and all that her
father gave her so long as she lives, but she can not sell or assign it to
others. Her estate belongs to her brothers.
179. If
a temple-virgin receive a gift from her
father, and a deed in which it has been explicitly stated that she may dispose
of it as she pleases, and give her complete disposition thereof: if then her
father die, then she may leave her property to whomsoever she pleases. Her
brothers can raise no claim.
180. If a father give a present to his
daughter, either marriageable or a prostitute, and then die, then she is to
receive a portion as a child from the paternal estate, and enjoy its usufruct
so long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.
181. If a
father devote a temple-virgin
to Marduk and give her no present: if then the father die, she shall receive
the third of a child's portion from the inheritance of her father's house, and
enjoy its usufruct so
long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.
183. If a man
give his daughter by a concubine a dowry, and a husband, and a deed; if then
her father die, she shall receive no portion from the paternal estate.
184. If a man does not give a dowry to his daughter by a concubine, and
no husband; if then her father dies, her brother shall give her a dowry
according to her father's wealth and secure a husband for her.
185. If
a man adopt a child and to his name as son, and rear him, this grown son can
not be demanded back again.
186. If a man adopt a son, and if after he
has taken him he injure his foster father and mother, then this adopted son
shall return to his father's house.
187. The son of a paramour in the
palace service, or of a prostitute, can not be demanded back.
188. If
an artisan has undertaken to rear a child and teaches him his
craft, he can not be demanded
back.
189. If he has not taught him his craft, this adopted son may
return to his father's house.
190. If a man does not maintain a child
that he has adopted as a son and reared with his other children, then his
adopted son may return to his father's house.
191. If a man, who had
adopted a son and reared him, founded a household, and had children, wish to
put this adopted son out, then this son shall not simply go his way. His
adoptive father shall give him of his wealth one-third of a child's portion,
and then he may go. He shall not give him of the field, garden, and house.
192. If a son of a paramour or a prostitute say to his adoptive father
or mother: "You are not my father, or my mother," his tongue shall be cut off.
193. If the son of a paramour or a prostitute
desire his father's house, and
desert his adoptive father and adoptive mother, and goes to his father's house,
then shall his eye be put out.
194. If a man give
his child to a nurse and the child die in her hand, but the nurse unbeknown to
the father and mother nurse another child, then they shall convict her of
having nursed another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and
her breasts shall be cut off.
195. If a son strike his father, his hand
shall be hewn off.
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his
eye shall be put out.
197. If he break another man's bone, his bone
shall be broken.
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break
the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
199. If he put out
the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay
one-half of its value.
200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal,
his teeth shall be knocked out.
201. If he
knock out the teeth of a
freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina.
202. If any one
strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows
with an ox-whip in public.
203. If a free-born man strike the body of
another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.
204.
If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels
in money.
205. If the slave of a freed man
strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.
206. If
during a quarrel one man strike another and wound him, then he shall swear, "I
did not injure him wittingly," and pay the physicians.
207. If the man
die of his wound, he shall swear similarly, and if he (the deceased) was a
free-born man, he shall pay half a mina in money.
208. If he was a
freed man, he shall pay one-third of a mina.
209. If a man strike a
free-born woman so that she lose her
unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.
210. If the woman
die, his daughter shall be put to death.
211. If a woman of the free
class lose her child by a blow, he
shall pay five shekels in money.
212. If this woman die, he shall pay
half a mina.
213. If he strike the maid-servant of a man, and she
lose her child, he shall pay two
shekels in money.
214. If this maid-servant die, he shall pay one-third
of a mina.
215. If a physician make a large incision with an operating
knife and cure it, or if he open a tumor (over the eye) with an operating
knife, and saves the eye, he shall receive ten shekels in money.
216.
If the patient be a freed man, he receives five shekels.
217. If he be
the slave of some one, his owner shall give the physician two
shekels.
218. If a physician make a large incision with the operating
knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the
eye, his hand shall be cut off.
219. If a physician make a large
incision in the slave of a freed
man, and kill him, he shall replace the slave with another slave.
220.
If he had opened a tumor with the operating knife, and put out his eye, he
shall pay half his value.
221. If a physician heal the broken bone or
diseased soft part of a man, the patient shall pay the physician five shekels
in money.
222. If he were a freed man he shall pay three shekels.
223. If he were a slave his owner shall pay the physician two shekels.
224. If a veterinary surgeon performs a serious operation on an ass or
an ox, and cures it, the owner shall pay the surgeon one-sixth of a shekel as a
fee.
225. If he perform a serious operation on an ass or ox, and kill
it, he shall pay the owner one-fourth of its value.
226. If a barber,
without the knowledge of his master, cut the sign of a slave on a slave not to
be sold, the hands of this barber shall be cut off.
227. If any one
decieve a barber, and have him mark a slave not for sale with the sign of a
slave, he shall be put to death, and buried in his house. The barber shall
swear: "I did not mark him wittingly," and shall be guiltless.
228. If
a builder build a house for some one and complete it, he shall give him a fee
of two shekels in money for each sar of surface.
229 If a builder build
a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which
he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
230. If it kill the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be
put to death.
231. If it kill a slave of the owner, then he shall pay
slave for slave to the owner of the house.
232. If it ruin goods, he
shall make compensation for all that has been ruined, and inasmuch as he did
not construct properly this house which he built and it fell, he shall re-erect
the house from his own means.
233. If a builder build a
house for some one, even though
he has not yet completed it; if then the walls seem toppling, the builder must
make the walls solid from his own means.
234. If a shipbuilder build a
boat of sixty gur for a man, he shall pay him a fee of two shekels in money.
235. If a shipbuilder build a boat for some one, and does not make it
tight, if during that same year that boat is sent away and suffers injury, the
shipbuilder shall take the boat apart and put it together tight at his own
expense. The tight boat he shall give to the boat owner.
236. If a man
rent his boat to a sailor, and the sailor is careless, and the boat is wrecked
or goes aground, the sailor shall give the owner of the boat another boat as
compensation.
237. If a man hire a sailor and his boat, and provide it
with grain, clothing, oil and dates, and things of the category needed for
fitting it: if the sailor is careless, the boat is wrecked, and its contents
ruined, then the sailor shall compensate for the boat which was wrecked and all
in it that he ruined.
238. If a sailor wreck any one's ship, but saves
it, he shall pay the half of its value in money.
239. If a man hire a
sailor, he shall pay him six gur of grain per year.
240. If a merchantman run against a ferryboat, and wreck
it, the master of the ship that was wrecked shall seek justice before god; the
master of the merchantman, which wrecked the ferryboat, must compensate the
owner for the boat and all that he ruined.
241. If any one impresses an
ox for forced labor, he shall pay
one-third of a mina in money.
242. If any one hire oxen for a year, he
shall pay four gur of grain for plow-oxen.
243. As rent of herd cattle
he shall pay three gur of grain to the owner.
244. If any one hire an
ox or an ass, and a lion kill it in the field, the loss is upon its owner.
245. If any one hire oxen, and kill them by bad treatment or blows, he
shall compensate the owner, oxen for oxen.
246. If a man hire an ox,
and he break its leg or cut the ligament of its neck, he shall compensate the
owner with ox for ox.
247. If any one hire an ox, and put out its eye,
he shall pay the owner one-half of its value.
248. If any one hire an
ox, and break off a horn, or cut off its tail, or hurt its muzzle, he shall pay
one-fourth of its value in money.
249. If any one hire an ox, and
Marduk strikes it that it dies, the man who hired it shall swear by Marduk and
be considered guiltless.
250. If while an ox is passing some one kill
it, the ox owner can set up no claim against the hirer.
251. If an ox is a goring ox, and it shown that he is a gorer,
and the owner does not bind his horns, or
fasten the ox up, and
the ox gore a free-born man and kill
him, the owner shall pay one-half a mina in money.
252. If he kill
a man's slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina.
253. If any one agrees with another to tend his field,
give him seed, entrust a yoke
of oxen to him, and bind him to cultivate the field, if he steal the grain or
plants, and take them for himself,
his hands shall be hewn
off.
254. If he take the seed-grain for himself, and does not use
the yoke of oxen, he shall compensate him for the amount of the seed-grain.
255. If he sublet the man's yoke of oxen or
steal the seed-grain, planting nothing in
the field, he shall be convicted, and for each one hundred gan he shall pay
sixty gur of grain.
256. If his community will not pay for him, then he
shall be placed in that field with the cattle to
work.
257. If any one hire a
field laborer, he shall pay him eight gur of grain per year.
258. If
any one hire an ox-driver, he shall pay him six gur of grain per year.
259. If any one steal a water-wheel from the field, he shall pay five
shekels in money to its owner.
260. If any one steal a shadduf (used to
draw water from the river or canal) or a plow, he shall pay three shekels in
money.
261. If any one hire a herdsman for
cattle or sheep, he shall pay him eight gur of grain per annum.
262. If
any one, a cow or a sheep ...
263. If he kill the cattle or sheep that
were given to him, he shall compensate the owner with cattle for cattle and
sheep for sheep.
264. If a herdsman, to whom cattle or sheep have been
entrusted for watching over, and who has received his wages as agreed upon, and
is satisfied, diminish the number of the cattle or sheep, or make the increase
by birth less, he shall make good the increase or profit which was lost in the
terms of settlement.
265. If a herdsman, to whose care cattle or sheep
have been entrusted, be quilty of fraud and make false returns of the natural
increase, or sell them for money, then shall he be convicted and pay the owner
ten times the loss.
266. If the animal be killed in the stable by Marduk
(an accident), or if a lion kill it, the herdsman shall declare his innocence
before Marduk, and the owner bears the accident in the stable.
267. If
the herdsman overlooks something, and an accident happens in the stable, then
the herdsman is at fault for the accident which he has caused in the stable,
and he must compensate the owner for the cattle or sheep.
268. If any
one hire an ox for threshing, the amount of the hire is twenty ka of grain.
269. If he hire an ass for threshing, the hire is twenty ka of grain.
270. If he hire a young animal for threshing, the hire is ten ka of
grain.
271. If any one hire oxen, cart and driver, he shall pay one
hundred and eighty ka of grain per day.
272. If any one hire a cart
alone, he shall pay forty ka of grain per day.
273. If any one hire a
day laborer, he shall pay him from the New Year until the fifth month (April to
August, when days are long and the work hard) six gerahs in money per day; from
the sixth month to the end of the year he shall give him five gerahs per day.
274. If any one hire a skilled artisan, he shall pay as wages of the
potter five gerahs, of a tailor five gerahs, of a ropemaker four gerahs, of a
mason four gerahs per day.
275. If any one hire a ferryboat, he shall
pay three gerahs per day.
276. If he hire a freight-boat, he shall pay
two and one-half gerahs per day.
277. If any one hire a ship of sixty
gur, he shall pay one-sixth of a shekel in money as its hire per day.
278. If any one buy a male or female slave, and before a month has
elapsed disease show itself, he shall return the slave to the seller, and
receive the money which he had paid.
279. If any one buys a male or
female slave, and a third party claim it, the seller is liable for the claim.
280. If while in a
foreign country a man
buys a male or female slave belonging to another of his own country; if when he
return home the owner of the male or female slave recognize it: if the male or
female slave be a native of the country, he shall give the
slave back without any
money.
281. If they are from another country, the buyer shall declare
the amount of money paid therefore to the merchant, and keep the male or female
slave.
282. If a slave say to his master: "You are not my master," if
they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.
This is
the rule of law Hammurabi, the wise
king, established.
A righteous law, and pious statute did Hammurabi
teach the land.
I am Hammurabi, the protecting king.
I have not withdrawn myself from men, whom Bel gave to me, the
rule over whom Marduk gave to me, I
was not negligent, but I made them
a peaceful
homeland.
I expounded all great difficulties,
I made the light shine
upon my subjects.
With the mighty weapons
which Zamama and Ishtar entrusted to me, with the keen vision with which Ea
endowed me, with the wisdom
that Marduk gave me, I have
uprooted the enemy in north
and south, subdued
the Earth, brought prosperity to the land and
guaranteed security to the
inhabitants.
The great Anunaki have called me,
I am the salvation bearing
shepherd, whose staff is
straight; on my breast I cherish the inhabitants of the land
of Sumer and Akkad; in my shelter I have let
them repose in peace; in my deep wisdom
have I enwrapped them.
That the strong might not injure the weak, in order to
protect the widows and orphans, in
order to bespeak justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all
injuries I set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial stone, as
king of righteousness.
The king who rules the kings of the cities
Hammurabi am I.
My words are well considered; there is no wisdom like
unto mine.
By the command of
Shamash, the great judge of
heaven and Earth, let
righteousness go forth in the land: by the order of Marduk, my lord, let no
destruction befall my monument.
In heaven, let my name be ever
repeated; let the oppressed come and stand before this my image as king of
righteousness; let him read the
inscription, and understand my precious words: the inscription will explain his
case; he will find out what is just, and his heart will be glad, so that he
will say:
"Hammurabi is a
ruler, who is as a
father to his subjects, who holds the words of Marduk in reverence, who has
achieved conquest for Marduk over the north and
south, who rejoices the heart of
Marduk, his lord, who has bestowed benefits for ever and ever on his subjects,
and has established order in the land."
When he reads the record, let him pray with full heart to Marduk, my lord, and
Zarpanit, my lady; and then shall the Anunaki, who inhabit heaven, graciously
grant the desires daily presented before Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my
lady.
In future time, through all coming generations, let the king, who
may be in the land, observe the words of righteousness which I have written on
my monument; let him not alter the law's of the land which I have given, the
edicts which I have enacted.
If such a ruler have wisdom, and be able
to keep his land in order, he shall observe the words which I have written in
this inscription; the rule, statute, and
law of the land which I have given;
the decisions which I have
made will this inscription show him; let him rule his subjects accordingly and
grant prosperity
to his subjects.
Hammurabi am I, the king of righteousness, on whom
Shamash has conferred law's.
My
words are well considered; my deeds are not equaled; to bring low those that
were high; to humble the proud, to expel insolence and arrogance.
If a
succeeding ruler considers my words, which I have written in this my
inscription, if he does not annul my law's, nor corrupt my words, then may
Shamash lengthen that king's reign, as he has that of me, the king of
righteousness, that he may reign in
righteousness over his subjects.
If this future
ruler does not esteem my
words, which I have written in my inscription, and fears not the curse of god,
if he destroy the law which I have
given, corrupt my words, efface my name, writes his name there, that man,
whether king, chieftan, or commoner, no matter what he may be, may Anu the
Sublime, king of the Anunaki, who has ordered my rule, withdraw from him the
glory of royalty, break his scepter
and curse his destiny.
May Bel, the lord of
heaven and Earth, who
fixes destiny, whose command can not
be altered, who has made my kingdom great, order a rebellion which the
usurper's hand can not control; may he let the wind of the overthrow of the
usurper's habitation blow.
Bel, lord of heaven and Earth ordain the
years of the usurper's rule in groaning, years of scarcity, years of famine,
darkness without light,
death with seeing eyes be
fated to him; may Bel, the lord of heaven and Earth, order with his potent
mouth the destruction of the usurper's city, the dispersion of his subjects,
the cutting off of his rule, the removal of his name and
memory from the
land.
May Ea, the great ruler, whose
fated decrees come to pass, the
thinker of the gods, the omniscient, who maketh long
the days of my life, withdraw understanding and wisdom from the usurper, lead
him to forgetfulness,
shut up his rivers at their sources, and not allow grain or sustenance for man
to grow in his land.
May
Shamash, the great judge of heaven and Earth, who supporteth all means of
livelihood, sha supporteth all means of livelihood, shatter the usurper's
dominion, annul his law's, destroy his way, make vain the march of his
troops, send him in his visions
forecasts of the uprooting
of the foundations of his throne and of the destruction of his land.
May the condemnation of Shamash overtake him forthwith; may he be
deprived of water above among the living, and his
spirit below in the Earth.
the moon and Marduk, the divine father, whose crescent gives light among the
gods, take away the crown and
regal throne from the usurper; may he put upon him heavy quilt and great
decay.
May he destine him as fated
to days, months and years
filled with sighing and tears, a life that is like unto death.
May Adad, the lord of fruitfulness, ruler of heaven and Earth,
my helper, withhold from the usurper rain from heaven, and the
flood of water from the springs,
destroying his land by famine and want; may he
rage mightily over his city,
and make his land into heaps of ruined cities.
May
Zamama, the great
warrior, the first-born son of E-Kur, who goeth at my
right hand, shatter the
usurper's weapons on the field of battle, turn day into
night for him, and let his foe
triumph over him.
May Ishtar, the goddess of fighting and war, who
unfetters my weapons, my gracious
protecting
spirit, curse the usurper's
kingdom in her angry heart;
in her great wrath,
change his grace into evil, and
shatter his weapons on the place of fighting and war.
May she create
chaos and sedition for
him, strike down his warriors, that the Earth may drink their
blood, and throw down the
piles of corpses of his warriors on the field of battle; may she not grant him
mercy but deliver him into the hands of his enemies and imprison him in the
land of his enemies.
May Nergal, the might among the gods whose contest
is irresistible, who grants me victory, in his great
might burn up the usurper's
subjects like a slender reedstalk, cut off his limbs with his mighty weapons,
and shatter him like a clay
image.
May Nin-tu, the sublime mistress of the lands, the fruitful
mother, deny the usurper a son, vouchsafe him no name, give him no successor
among men.
May Nin-karak, the daughter of Anu, who
adjudges grace to me,
cause to come upon the usurper high fevers and severe wounds that can not be
healed, whose nature the physician does not understand, which he can not treat
with dressing, which, like the bite of death, can not be removed, until they
have sapped away his life.
May he lament the loss of his life and his
power, and may the great gods of heaven and Earth, the Anunaki, altogether
inflict a curse and evil upon the confines of his temple, his land, his
warriors, his subjects, and his troops.
May Bel curse the usurper
with
the potent curses of his mouth
that can not be altered.
May this
curse come upon him forthwith.
"When
Hammurabi lay dying in 1749 BC, his son Samsuiluna wrote a letter saying that
he found the land so burdened by debt that he remitted arrears owed by many
types of royal tenants.
To revive their economic position he "restored
order (misharum) in the land," directing that tablets recording non-commercial
debts be broken so as to cancel the agrarian debts that had accumulated since
the last such misharum act thirteen years earlier (in Hammurabi's 30th year,
1762).
"In the land, nobody shall move against the 'house' of the
soldier, the fisher, and other subjects." - Michael Hudson |
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This web site is not a commercial web site and
is presented for educational purposes only.
This website defines a new
perspective with which to engage reality to which its author adheres. The
author feels that the falsification of reality outside personal experience has
forged a populace unable to discern propaganda from reality and that this has
been done purposefully by an international corporate cartel through their
agents who wish to foist a corrupt version of reality on the human race.
Religious intolerance occurs when any group refuses to tolerate religious
practices, religious beliefs or persons due to their religious ideology. This
web site marks the founding of a system of philosophy named The Truth of the
Way of the Lumière Infinie - a rational gnostic mystery religion based
on reason which requires no leap of faith, accepts no tithes, has no supreme
leader, no church buildings and in which each and every individual is
encouraged to develop a personal relation with the Creator and Sustainer
through the pursuit of the knowledge of reality in the hope of curing the
spiritual corruption that has enveloped the human spirit. The tenets of The
Truth of the Way of the Lumière Infinie are spelled out in detail on
this web site by the author. Violent acts against individuals due to their
religious beliefs in America is considered a "hate crime."
This web site
in no way condones violence. To the contrary the intent here is to reduce the
violence that is already occurring due to the international corporate cartels
desire to control the human race. The international corporate cartel already
controls the world economic system, corporate media worldwide, the global
industrial military entertainment complex and is responsible for the collapse
of morals, the elevation of self-centered behavior and the destruction of
global ecosystems. Civilization is based on coöperation. Coöperation
does not occur at the point of a gun.
American social mores and values
have declined precipitously over the last century as the corrupt international
cartel has garnered more and more power. This power rests in the ability to
deceive the populace in general through corporate media by pressing emotional
buttons which have been preprogrammed into the population through prior
corporate media psychological operations. The results have been the destruction
of the family and the destruction of social structures that do not adhere to
the corrupt international elites vision of a perfect world. Through distraction
and coercion the direction of thought of the bulk of the population has been
directed toward solutions proposed by the corrupt international elite that
further consolidates their power and which further their purposes.
All
views and opinions presented on this web site are the views and opinions of
individual human men and women that, through their writings, showed the
capacity for intelligent, reasonable, rational, insightful and unpopular
thought. All factual information presented on this web site is believed to be
true and accurate and is presented as originally presented in print media which
may or may not have originally presented the facts truthfully. Opinion and
thoughts have been adapted, edited, corrected, redacted, combined, added to,
re-edited and re-corrected as nearly all opinion and thought has been
throughout time but has been done so in the spirit of the original writer with
the intent of making his or her thoughts and opinions clearer and relevant to
the reader in the present time.
Fair Use Notice
This site may contain
copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically
authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our
efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, human rights, political,
economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe
this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for
in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.
Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those
who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for
research and educational purposes. For more information see:
www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted
material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
 Copyright
© Lawrence Turner
All Rights Reserved
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