Middle Assyrian Laws

Historical source page 15

14 Morris Jastrow, Jr. from the house of her husband, whether she gives it to a man or to a woman or to any one whomsoever, the man seizes 26 his wife and imposes punishment 26 ; and on the receiver of the stolen property • -hich she has given away, (the same) punishment is to be impos- J 27 that the husband imposes on his wife. 4 If a male slave or a female slave receives anything 28 from the wife of a man, the nose and the ear of the slave, male or female, shall be cut off, and for the stolen property 29 full restitution must be made. 30 Either, the man cuts off his wife's ear, or if he releases her, 31 and does not cut off her ear, then also (the ear) of the slave, male or female, shall not be cut off, and they need not make restitution for the stolen property. If a man's wife steals something from a man's house and through someone else it is restored, the owner of the stolen property must 25 ii-6o-ar from ba'aru 'catch', as in the phrase 'they seize him and determine his guilt,' used throughout the Code for arresting a person and convicting him of a crime. 26 fyi-4-ta literally 'sin', but here as throughout the Code for 'guilt' (like the Hebrew Ifit) and also 'punishment'. This authority given to the husband to 'seize' his wife and impose punishment on his wife (as on his daughter) in certain cases is a survival of primitive conditions when punishment was meted out by individuals and not by a judicial tribunal. See above, and parallels in Post, Afrikanische Jwrisprudem, Vol. 2, p. 140 seg. Note also that the punishment meted out to the receiver follows the arbitrary one that the man imposes on his wife. 27 Generally the impersonal 'they' with plural of the verb is used in the part of the law announcing the decision. It seems preferable to render this by the use of the passive, since the code does not tell us, except in certain specific instances, who actually carries out the punishment. It is interesting to note that here as in other instances, e. g., § 4, the accessory to a crime receives a punishment equal to that of the main offender. Modern law provides that the accessory can never receive punishment in excess of what is imposed on the main offender. 28 1. e. stolen. " hir-ka, the 'stolen' property. »• tJMmal-lu-ri, literally 'they fill out'. »» ti-tiS-sar, used throughout the Code in the sense of 'letting one go'. A synonym is pataru 'redeem', e. g., § 5, though this verb is also used as the Biblical equivalent in the sense of 'buying off', e. g., § 47.