§ 171

Law § 171 of Hammurabi's Code

Translation

But if the father during his life did not say to the children that the slave bore him, “my children,” after the father has passed on, the children of the slave will not share with the children of the wife in the property of the paternal estate; the freedom of the slave and her children will be established; the children of the wife may not claim the children of the slave for slavery; the wife will take her dowry and the wedding gift that her husband gave her (and) registered in a document for her, and live in her husband’s residence; she may use (it) as long as she is alive, (but) may not sell (it); her inheritance is her children’s only.

Law Code

Law Code of Hammurabi

Law Group

Inheritance

Inscription

Cuneiform

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 22, col. R XII–XIII, lns. 61–89; 1–5)

Transliteration

ù šum-ma a-bu-um i-na bu-ul-ṭì-šu a-na DUMU.MEŠ ša GEME₂ ul-du-šum DUMU.MEŠ-ú-a la iq-ta-bi wa-ar-ka a-bu-um a-na ši-im-tim it-ta-al-ku i-na NÍG.GA É A.BA DUMU.MEŠ GEME₂ it-ti DUMU.MEŠ ḫi-ir-tim ú-ul i-zu-uz-zu an-du-ra-ar GEME₂ ù DUMU.MEŠ-ša iš-ša!(TA)-ak-ka-an DUMU.MEŠ ḫi-ir-tim a-na DUMU.MEŠ GEME₂ a-na wa-ar-du-tim ú-ul i-ra-ag-gu-mu ḫi-ir-tum še-ri-ik-ta-ša ù nu-du-na-am ša mu-sà id-di-nu-ši-im i-na DUB-pí-im iš-ṭú-ru-ši-im i-le-qé-ma i-na šu-ba-at mu-ti-ša uš-ša-ab a-di ba-al-ṭa-at i-ik-ka-al a-na KUG.BABBAR ú-ul i-na-ad-di-in wa-ar-ka-sà ša DUMU.MEŠ-ša-ma

Source: Huehnergard (2011, p. 291)

Normalization

u šumma abum ina bulṭīšu ana mārī ša amtum uldūšum “mārūya” lā iqtabi, warka abum ana šīmtim ittalku ina makkūr bīt abim mārū amtim itti mārī ḫīrtim ul izuzzū; andurār amtim u mārīša iššakkan; mārū ḫīrtim ana mārī amtim ana wardūtim ul iraggumū; ḫīrtum šeriktaša u nudunnâm ša mussa iddinūšim ina ṭuppim išṭurūšim ileqqē-ma ina šubat mutīša uššab; adi balṭat ikkal; ana kaspim ul inaddin; warkassa ša mārīšā-ma.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 69)

Translation

But if the father during his life did not say to the children that the slave bore him, “my children,” after the father has passed on, the children of the slave will not share with the children of the wife in the property of the paternal estate; the freedom of the slave and her children will be established; the children of the wife may not claim the children of the slave for slavery; the wife will take her dowry and the wedding gift that her husband gave her (and) registered in a document for her, and live in her husband’s residence; she may use (it) as long as she is alive, (but) may not sell (it); her inheritance is her children’s only.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 69)

Inscription

Location of Law § 171 · Powered by Stele3D^SM

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Side(s) Sides 5 – 4 (overflow)

Column(s) Cols. 35–36

Line(s) Lns. 60–5

Key

Law § 171

Prologue

Laws

Epilogue

Damage

Open Law § 171 in Stele3D^SM

Logic

Logic Map for § 171 · Powered by LawgicSniffer^SM

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Steps

1 But if
2
3 tha father
4 during
5 his life
6 did not
7 say to
8 the children (that)
9 the slave
10 bore
11 him,
12 "my
13 children,"
14
15 [and] after
16
17 the father
18 has passed on
19
20 [then]
21
22 the children (of)
23 the slave
24 will not
25 share with
26 the children (of)
27 the wife
28 (in) the property of
29 the paternal estate;
30
31 [and]
32
33 the freedom
34 (of) the slave
35 and
36 her
37 children
38 will be established;
39
40 [and]
41
42 the children
43 (of) the wife
44 may not
45 claim
46 the children
47 (of) the slave
48 (for) slavery;
49
50 [and]
51
52 the wife
53 will take
54 her
55 dowry
56 and
57 the wedding gift that
58 her
59 husband
60 gave
61 her
62 and
63 [he]
64 registered in a document
65 (for) her,
66
67 [and]
68
69 she
70 [will] live in
71 her
72 husband's
73 residence;
74
75
76 she
77 may use
78 it [her dowry and wedding gift]
79 as long as
80 she
81 is alive,
82
83 but
84
85 [she]
86 may not
87 sell
88 it;
89
90 [and]
91
92 her
93 inheritance
94 is
95 her
96 children’s only.
97
98

Citation

Dedović, B. "§ 171 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 4 Nov. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/171. [Accessed 3 Nov. 2024]

MLA 9

Dedović, B. (2023, November 4). § 171 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/171

APA 7

Dedović, Boban. "§ 171 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created November 4, 2023. Modified October 27, 2024. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://ehlaw.org/law/171.

CMS 16

Bibliography

Abulhab, Saad D. The Law Code of Hammurabi: Transliterated and Literally Translated from its Early Classical Arabic Language. New York, NY: Blautopf, 2017.

ACH

Bergmann, Eugen. Codex Ḫammurabi: Textus Primigenius. Rome, Italy: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1953.

CHTP

Huehnergard, John. A Grammar of Akkadian (Third Edition). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011.

HAG3

Huehnergard, John. Key to a Grammar of Akkadian (Third Edition). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013.

HKEY3

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "OMNIKA: Digital Mythology Library & Search Engine." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation, accessed November 14, 2023. https://omnika.org. [Visit]

–

Richardson, Mervyn E.J. Hammurabi's Laws: Text, Translation and Glossary. New York, NY: T & T Clark International, 2004.

RHL

Sound of Text Contributors. "Sound of Text: AI Text-to-Speech." Accessed November 14, 2023. https://soundoftext.app. [Visit]

SoT

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§ 171