CLASSICS 2LW3 Lecture 4: 18th September
4 Apr 2018
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Property: older mesopotamian societies: all land owned by a city"s god, by hammurabi"s time private ownership is the norm, fixed tithes (dues) attached to land, king still free to charter (buy and reallocate) land for distinguished individuals. If somebody bought from somebody who didn"t actually own the land, the purchaser could be prosecuted: generally peasant like small time farmers who cultivate their own land. The laws provide some measure of social insurance for theft of property, loss of life and capture of a household"s head (and breadwinner) in war (or in service of the king)-law 32. House can"t be sold to gain the ransom, it has to come from the castle. If this provision is transgressed, the citizen receives capital punishment and the mercenary inherits his house- and thus, essentially, his place as a citizen (law 26) 1ad: covenant code (exodus, holiness code (leviticus, deuteronomic code (deuteronomy, priestly code (exodus, leviticus, numbers, ten commandments or decalogue.
