The Oldest Code of Laws in the World: The code of laws promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, B.C. 2285-2242Hammurabi, King of Babylonia
History
The Oldest Code of Laws in the World: The code of laws promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, B.C. 2285-2242
Hammurabi, King of Babylonia
Law -- Iraq -- Babylonia -- Sources
section 170. If a man his wife has borne him sons, and his maidservant
has borne him sons, the father in his lifetime has said to the sons which
the maidservant has borne him 'my sons,' has numbered them with the sons
of his wife, after the father has gone to his fate, the sons of the wife
and the sons of the maidservant shall share equally in the goods of the
father's house; the sons that are sons of the wife at the sharing shall
choose and take.
section 171. And if the father in his lifetime, to the sons which the
maidservant bore him, has not said 'my sons,' after the father has gone
to his fate the sons of the maid shall not share with the sons of the
wife in the goods of the father's house, one shall assign the maidservant
and her sons freedom; the sons of the wife shall have no claim on the
sons of the maidservant for servitude, the wife shall take her marriage
portion and the settlement which her husband gave her and wrote in a deed
for her and shall dwell in the dwelling of her husband, as long as lives
she shall enjoy, for money she shall not give, after her they are her
sons' forsooth.
section 172. If her husband did not give her a settlement, one shall pay
her her marriage portion, and from the goods of her husband's house she
shall take a share like one son. If her sons worry her to leave the
house, the judge shall enquire into her reasons and shall lay the blame
on the sons, that woman shall not go out of her husband's house. If that
woman has set her face to leave, the settlement which her husband gave
her she shall leave to her sons, the marriage portion from her father's
house she shall take and she shall marry the husband of her choice.
section 173. If that woman where she has entered shall have borne
children to her later husband after that woman has died, the former and
later sons shall share her marriage portion.
section 174. If she has not borne children to her later husband, the
sons of her bridegroom shall take her marriage portion.
section 175. If either the slave of the palace or the slave of the poor
man has taken to wife the daughter of a gentleman, and she has borne
sons, the owner of the slave shall have no claim on the sons of the
daughter of a gentleman for servitude.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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