Code of Lipit-Ishtar

The Code of Lipit-Ishtar is a collection of laws promulgated by Lipit-Ishtar ((r. 1934 – 1924 BCE (MC))), a ruler in Lower Mesopotamia. As cuneiform law, it is a legal code written in cuneiform script in the Sumerian language.

It is the second-oldest known extant legal code after the Code of Ur-Nammu. As it is more detailed than that earlier code, it paved the way for the famous later Code of Hammurabi.

Historical background
Lipit-Ishtar ((r. 1934 – 1924 BCE (MC))) was the fifth king of the Dynasty of Isin, which was founded after the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur. His father, Ishme-Dagan, is credited with the restoration of Nippur, an ancient Sumerian city located in today's Iraq. The Dynasty of Isin governed the city of Isin, also located in today's Iraq, and held political power in the cities of Lower Mesopotamia.

Lipit-Ishtar himself is said to have restored peace and is praised for the establishment of a functioning legal system.

Original stele
The original diorite stele inscribed with the code was placed in Nippur. Two pieces of this stele have survived to this day. The American academic Martha Roth notes that during this period a tradition existed to name individual years after notable events that happened in that year and argues that one named year could commemorate the erection of the stele. In its English translation, the year is named as follows: "The year in which Lipit-Ishtar established justice in the lands of Sumer and Akkad."

Transmission
The code has been handed down to the present day through various sources. All but two of them stem from Nippur. About half of the code is contained in these sources and thus transmitted. The total length the code is considered to be about the same as that of the later Code of Hammurabi.

Legal contents
The Code of Lipit-Ishtar is similar in structure to the Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest surviving law code. It has a prologue, which justifies its legal authority, a main body which contains the civil and penal laws governing life and a concluding epilogue.

Prologue
The prologue legitimatizes the legal content of the code. The gods An and Enlil are invoked and it is explained that they have invested Lipit-Ishtar as "the country’s prince" in order to "establish justice in the land, eradicate the cry for justice [...] [and] forcefully restrain crime and violence" so "that Sumer and Akkad [can] be happy". The prologue further informs the reader that Lipit-Ishtar has recently freed slaves from Nippur, Ur, and Isin.

The academic Martha Roth summarizes the prologue as containing self-praise of Lipit-Ishtar, listing all Lower Mesopotamian cities under his rule, and emphasizing his success as a restorer of justice.

Laws
The existing main body consists of almost fifty legal provisions. The first set of them deals with boats. They are followed by provisions on agriculture, fugitive slaves, false testimony, foster care, apprenticeship, marriage and sexual relationships as well as rented oxen. The provisions are all introduced by the Sumerian tukun-be, meaning "if". The transmitted provisions do not contain crimes which are punished by death.

The code contains, for example, a provision according to which false accusers have to bear the punishment for the crimes they have alleged. All extant provisions of the code are listed by Martha Roth and Claus Wilcke (academic).

Epilogue
The epilogue of the code contains three large lacunae. The remaining parts explain that Lipit-Ishtar executed a divine order and brought justice to his land: "I, Lipit-Ishtar […] silenced crime and violence, made tears, laments and cries for justice taboo, let probity and law shine, made Sumer and Akkad content."

Furthermore, the erection of the stele is reported upon, and blessings are said to those who honour the stele and curses inflicted upon those who would venture to desecrate or destroy it.

Critical edition and modern translations
No modern critical edition of the code exists. Its last English translation was performed by Martha Roth in 1995. The German academic Claus Wilcke translated it into German in 2014.

Excerpts from the "Code of Lipit-Ištar"


The text exists on several partial fragments. The following complete laws have been reconstructed:

§8 If a man gave bare ground to another man to set out as an orchard and the latter did not complete setting out that bare ground as an orchard, he shall give to the man who set out the orchard the bare ground which he neglected as part of his share.

§9 If a man entered the orchard of another man and was seized there for stealing, he shall pay ten shekels of silver.

§10 If a man cut down a tree in the garden of another man, he shall pay one-half mina of silver.

§11 If adjacent to the house of a man the bare ground of another man has been neglected and the owner of the house has said to the owner of the bare ground, "Because your ground has been neglected someone may break into my house: strengthen your house," and this agreement has been confirmed by him, the owner of the bare ground shall restore to the owner of the house any of his property that is lost.

§12 If a slave-girl or slave of a man has fled into the heart of the city and it has been confirmed that he (or she) dwelt in the house of (another) man for one month, he shall give slave for slave.

§13 If he has no slave, he shall pay fifteen shekels of silver.

§14 If a man's slave has compensated his slave-ship to his master and it is confirmed (that he has compensated) his master two-fold, that slave shall be freed.

§15 If a miqtum [servant] is the grant of a king, he shall not be taken away.

§16 If a miqtum went to a man of his own free will, that man shall not hold him; he (the miqtum) may go where he desires.

§17 If a man without authorization bound another man to a matter of which he (the latter) had no knowledge, that man is not affirmed (i.e., legally obligated); he (the first man) shall bear the penalty in regard to the matter to which he had bound him.

§18 If the master of an estate or the mistress of an estate has defaulted on the tax of an estate and a stranger has borne it, for three years he (the owner) may not be evicted. Afterwards, the man who bore the tax of the estate shall possess that estate and the former owner of the estate shall not raise any claim.

§22 If the father is living, his daughter whether she be a high priestess, a priestess, or a hierodule shall dwell in his house like an heir.

§24 If the second wife whom he had married bore him children, the dowry which she brought from her father's house belongs to her children but the children of his first wife and the children of his second wife shall divide equally the property of their father.

§25 If a man married his wife and she bore him children and those children are living, and a slave also bore children for her master but the father granted freedom to the slave and her children, the children of the slave shall not divide the estate with the children of their former master.

§27 If a man's wife has not borne him children but a harlot from the public square has borne him children, he shall provide grain, oil and clothing for that harlot. The children which the harlot has borne him shall be his heirs, and as long as his wife lives the harlot shall not live in the house with the wife.

§29 If a son-in-law has entered the house of his (prospective) father-in-law and afterwards they made him go out (of the house) and gave his wife to his companion, they shall present to him the betrothal gifts which he brought and that wife may not marry his companion.

§34 If a man rented an ox and injured the flesh at the nose ring, he shall pay one-third of its price.

§35 If a man rented an ox and damaged its eye, he shall pay one-half its price.

§36 If a man rented an ox and broke its horn, he shall pay one-fourth its price.

§37 If a man rented an ox and damaged its tail, he shall pay one-fourth its price.