§ 7

Law § 7 of Hammurabi's Code

Summary
the punishment for buying certain goods from a man's son or slave without witnesses is execution.
Translation
If a man has purchased or accepted for safekeeping either silver or gold or a male slave or a female slave or an ox or a sheep or a donkey or anything at all from a member of the awīlum class or an awīlum’s slave without witnesses and contracts, said man is a thief; he will be executed. · ·
Law Code
Law Code of Hammurabi
Law Group
Theft, Kidnapping, Robbery
Inscription

Cuneiform

Law § 7 - Cuneiform - Law Code of Hammurabi

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 4, col. VI, lns. 41–56)

Transliteration

[š]um-ma a-wi-lum lu KUG.BABBAR lu KUG.SIG17 lu ÌR lu GEME2 lu GUD lu UDU lu ANŠE ù lu mi-im-ma šum-šu i-na qá-at DUMU a-wi-lim!(LUM) ù lu ÌR a-wi-lim ba-lum ši-bi ù ri-ik-sa-tim iš-ta-am ù lu ana ma-ṣa-ru-tim im-ḫu-ur a-wi-lum šu-ú šar-ra-aq id-da-ak

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 50)

Normalization

šumma awīlum lū kaspam lū ḫurāṣam lū wardam lū amtam lū alpam lū immeram lū imēram ū lū mimma šumšu ina qāt mār awīlim ū lū warad awīlim balum šībī u riksātim ištām ū lū ana maṣṣarūtim imḫur awīlum šū šarrāq iddâk.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 50)

Translation

If a man has purchased or accepted for safekeeping either silver or gold or a male slave or a female slave or an ox or a sheep or a donkey or anything at all from a member of the awīlum class or an awīlum’s slave without witnesses and contracts, said man is a thief; he will be executed.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 50–51)

Inscription

Location of Law § 7 · Powered by Stele3DSM

Orientation Front
Side(s) Sides 2 – 3 (overflow)
Column(s) Col. 6
Line(s) Lns. 41–56
Key
Law § 7
Prologue
Laws
Epilogue
Damage
Open Law § 7 in Stele3DSM

Logic

Logic Map for § 7 · Powered by LawgicSnifferSM

#
Steps
  • 1 If
  • 2
  • 3 a man
  • 4 has purchased or accepted for safekeeping either silver or gold
  • 5 or
  • 6 a male slave
  • 7 or
  • 8 a female slave
  • 9 or an ox or a sheep or a donkey or anything at all
  • 10
  • 11 (and)
  • 12
  • 13 from a member of the awīlum class
  • 14 or
  • 15 an awīlum's slave
  • 16
  • 17 (and)
  • 18
  • 19 without (having)
  • 20 witnesses and contracts
  • 21
  • 22 (then)
  • 23
  • 24 said man
  • 25 is a thief;
  • 26
  • 27 (and)
  • 28
  • 29 he
  • 30 will be executed.
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33

Vocabulary

Akkadian Words · Powered by GrammarSnifferSM

šumma (conditional Particle) "if; whether"

awīlum (Noun form) Masculine Singular Nominative of awīlu "man"

awīlim (Noun form) Masculine Singular Genitive of awīlu "man"

iddâk (N-Stem Durative Verb form) 3rd Person Common Singular of dâku "to kill"

Citation

Dedović, B. "§ 7 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 23 Oct. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/7. [Accessed 2 Nov. 2024]

MLA 9

Dedović, B. (2023, October 23). § 7 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/7

APA 7

Dedović, Boban. "§ 7 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created October 23, 2023. Modified September 3, 2024. Accessed November 2, 2024. https://ehlaw.org/law/7.

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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