(M252) The parties, having found a judge and obtained a day for hearing, “entered,” or “went down to,” the great temple of Shamash, at Sippara, called Ebabbarim.(105) There, as we know, Ḥammurabi set up one of the copies of the Code. The case was heard sometimes at the “old gate.”(106) At Babylon, the parties were taken to the temple of Merodach, Esagila.(107) At Larsa, the “gate” of _NIN-MAR-KI_, or the temple of Sin, might be chosen.(108) The temple of Ishhara is also named.(109) (M253) 5. *Procedure.*—We have only scattered hints regarding legal procedure. The Code says that the judges “saw the pleas.”(110) The scribe uses the same expression.(111) As a rule, he records the plaintiff’s statement of claim first. Then he records a counter-statement. There is a strong suggestion that he quotes from written documents. The judges read these, or heard the verbal statements. (M254) As part of the legal process, the object in dispute, or, at any rate, the deeds relating to it, were brought into court, and resigned into the hands of the god.(112) He was to discern the rightful owner and restore the object to him. Hence the decision was “the judgment of Shamash in the house of Shamash,(113) the judgment of the house of Shamash.”(114) So the defendant was said “to make his account before Shamash.”(115) In bringing a suit the parties “sought the altar of Shamash.”(116) In case of loss or damage, the claimant recounted it “before god.” (M255) In confirmation of the statements alleged witnesses might be called for, who were put on oath before god and the king. They were supposed to know the object claimed and whose it was,(117) or to know that a transaction had taken place.(118) (M256) Tampering with witnesses, or with a jury, was penalized by the Code.(119) The judges might refuse to accept the witness,(120) and then might decide the case on the sworn deposition of the plaintiff. (M257) Documentary evidence might be demanded. The judges might decide to take the evidence of their own senses and go to see an estate or a house in dispute.(121) Or they might determine that it was a case for the accused to purge himself, which he did by oath.(122) (M258) Having thus informed themselves of the rights of the case the judges proceeded to pronounce a decision, “they caused them to receive judgment.” This phrase nearly always occurs in the legal decisions. The decision might be called “the judgment of the particular judge,” for example, _dîn Išarlim_, “Israel’s judgment.”(123) The sentence is sometimes stated in the words of the judges themselves, introduced by _ikbu_, “they said.”(124) Thus we read “the tablet which A granted to B is good, they said.”(125) (M259) If one party was in the wrong, the judges “laid the wrong on him,”(126) or “put him in the wrong.”(127) When the suit was to recover a debt, or find compensation, the judges might name a sum which they paid over to the proper person.(128) This was damages, not a fine.