§ 4

Law § 4 of Hammurabi's Code

Summary
The punishment for unfounded allegations involving grain or silver cannot be avoided.

This law seems to rely on conditions provided in § 3.

Translation
If he came forth for testimony about grain or silver, he will bear the penalty of that case. · ·
Law Code
Law Code of Hammurabi
Law Group
Unsubstantiated Allegations
Inscription

Cuneiform

Law § 4 - Cuneiform - Law Code of Hammurabi

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 4, col. V–VI, lns. 68; 1–5)

Transliteration

šum-ma a-na ši-bu-ut ŠE ù KUG.BABBAR ú-ṣí-a-am a-ra-an di-nim šu-a-ti it-ta-na-aš-ši.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 113)

Normalization

šumma ana šībūt êm u kaspim uṣiam, aran dīnim šuāti ittanašši.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 113)

Translation

If he came forth for testimony about grain or silver, he will bear the penalty of that case.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 113)

Inscription

Location of Law § 4 · Powered by Stele3DSM

Orientation Front
Side(s) Sides 3 – 1 (overflow)
Column(s) Cols. 5–6
Line(s) Lns. 68–5
Key
Law § 4
Prologue
Laws
Epilogue
Damage
Open Law § 4 in Stele3DSM

Logic

Logic Map for § 4 · Powered by LawgicSnifferSM

#
Steps
  • 1 If
  • 2
  • 3 he
  • 4 came forth for testimony about grain or silver,
  • 5
  • 6 [then]
  • 7
  • 8 he
  • 9 will bear the penalty of that case.
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12

Vocabulary

Akkadian Words · Powered by GrammarSnifferSM

šumma (conditional Particle) "if; whether"

ana (Preposition) "to, for, in order to"

u (Conjunction)

Staff notes

  1. 'Obvious and redundant qualifications'
    Added on January 22, 2024 by eHammurabi Staff

    Seemingly obvious or repeated statements like "he will bear the penalty of that case" oftentimes mean that the punishment or penalty cannot be negotiated or otherwise avoided. This also seems to occur in capital cases that include statements like "... he shall be killed. He will not live."

    See also: N/A
  2. 'Law continuations'
    Added on March 22, 2024 by eHammurabi Staff

    Provision § 4 seems to be the first instance of continuation; that is, the reliance of contents from a previous provision in order to make sense of the current one. In this case: § 3 calls for the death penalty if one has given false testimony for a capital case; but § 4 calls for monetary penalties if the nature of the case is grain or silver. This continuation thus provides a different penalty for a similar crime due to different qualifications.

    See also: § 3

Citation

Dedović, B. "§ 4 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 22 Oct. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/4. [Accessed 3 Nov. 2024]

MLA 9

Dedović, B. (2023, October 22). § 4 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/4

APA 7

Dedović, Boban. "§ 4 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created October 22, 2023. Modified September 10, 2024. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://ehlaw.org/law/4.

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

eHammurabi Glossary

The § symbol commonly denotes "a shorthand notation for the word 'section'."

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eHammurabi Glossary

The term Cuneiform commonly means "an ancient writing system used by various cultures around Mesopotamia."

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eHammurabi Glossary

The term Normalization commonly means "the application of grammatical rules unto transliterated sound values."

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eHammurabi Glossary

The term Translation commonly means "the conversion of linguistic contents and their meanings from one language into another."

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eHammurabi Glossary

The term Transliteration commonly means "the conversion of sound values from one writing system into another."

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