Document B: Hammurabi’s Code—Economy

The following selections from Hammurabi’s Code discuss the economy in Babylonia. As you read, pay attention to what was important to Babylonians as they tried to make a living.

42. If any one take over a field to till it, and obtain no harvest from it, it must be proved that he did no work on the field, and he must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to the owner of the field.

43. If he do not till the field, but let it lie fallow, he shall give grain like his neighbor’s to the owner of the field, and the field which he let lie fallow he must plow and sow and return to its owner.

53. If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition . . . if then the dam break and all the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined.

54. If he be not able to replace the corn, then he and his possessions shall be divided among the farmers whose corn he has flooded.

59. If any man, without the knowledge of the owner of a garden, fell a tree in a garden he shall pay half a mina in money.

 

Source: “Code of Hammurabi,” 1780 BCE.