(M283) The infliction of the same loss on a criminal that he caused another is seen in the cases of mutilation, eye for eye, limb for limb, tooth for tooth,(163) but also in the penalty of son for son, daughter for daughter, slave for slave;(164) and in the rule that a vexatious suitor shall pay the penalty which his suit was calculated to bring on the defendant. (M284) This retaliation is the explanation of what seems to be vicarious punishment, where a man suffers in the person of his son, or daughter, for the loss he has caused to the son or daughter of another.(165) (M285) Another penalty was the voidance of a claim. If a man took the law into his own hands to repay his debt, he lost all claim to recover it through the courts. When the purchase was illegal and void, as that of an officer’s benefice or of a ward’s property, the purchaser had to return his purchase and lose what he had paid for it. (M286) In certain cases no suit was allowed to gain standing. Contributory negligence,(166) the natural death of hostage for debt,(167) the accidental goring of a man by a wild bull,(168) are excluded from litigation. Such events cancel all further claim or are expressly said to have no remedy. There is no case for prosecution. (M287) Compensation for loss caused by crime, or neglect, is ordered on a scale fixed by the Code. Where a tenant takes a field on produce-rent his neglect to cultivate caused a loss to the landlord. He was thus bound to pay an average yield, or a crop like his neighbor’s, or that of the next field.(169) In later times, the vagueness of this rule, which might give rise to dispute, was avoided by stating in the lease the average rent to be expected. For certain classes of land, where no comparison with the next field could be instituted, a fixed rate was set down.(170) Compensation for premature ejectment was ordered.(171) VI. Legal Decisions (M288) By a legal decision we understand a “judgment” pronounced by some judicial authority upon a case submitted. It is not easy to say whether the Babylonians had a separate name for this sort of transaction; but it had some peculiarities by which it can be easily recognized. It usually opens with the words, _duppu ana_, “tablet on,” followed by the statement of the object in dispute. This is very often abbreviated to a simple _ana_, “on,” or _aššum = ana šum_, “concerning,” or _eli_ with the same sense. These usages explain the curious tablet(172) where we have a long series of sections each containing names associated with other names by the word _aššum_. Thus we read:(173) “Nishînishu, daughter of Rîsh-Sin, _aššum_ Shamash-ellatsu, son of Itti-Sin-dinim.”