"The Code Of Hammurabi" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johns Rev Claude Hermann Walter)

ox for ox, sheep for sheep, must breed them satisfactorily. Any
dishonest use of the flock had to be repaid ten-fold, but loss by
disease or wild beasts fell on the owner. The shepherd made good all
loss due to his neglect. If he let the flock feed on a field of corn
he had to pay damages four-fold; if he turned them into standing
corn when they ought to have been folded he paid twelve-fold.
In commercial matters, payment in kind was still common, though
the contracts usually stipulate for cash, naming the standard
expected, that of Babylon, Larsa, Assyria, Carchemish, &c. The Code
enacted, however, that a debtor must be allowed to pay in produce
according to statutory scale. If a debtor had neither money nor
crop, the creditor-must not refuse goods.
Debt was secured on the person of the debtor. Distraint on a
debtor's corn was forbidden by the Code; not only must the creditor
give it back, but his illegal action forfeited his claim altogether.
An unwarranted seizure for debt was fined, as was the distraint of a
working ox. The debtor being seized for debt could nominate as
mancipium or hostage to work off the debt, his wife, a child, or
slave. The creditor could only hold a wife or child three years as
mancipium. If the mancipium died a natural death while in the
creditor's possession no claim could lie against the latter; but if he
was the cause of death by cruelty, he had to give son for son, or
pay for a slave. He could sell a slave-hostage, unless she were a
slave-girl who had borne her master children. She had to be redeemed
by her owner.
The debtor could also pledge his property, and in contracts
often pledged a field house or crop. The Code enacted, however, that
the debtor should always take the crop himself and pay the creditor
from it. If the crop failed, payment was deferred and no interest
could be charged for that year. If the debtor did not cultivate the
field himself he had to pay for the cultivation, but if the
cultivation was already finished he must harvest it himself and pay
his debt from the crop. If the cultivator did not get a crop this
would not cancel his contract. Pledges were often made where the
intrinsic value of the article was equivalent to the amount of the
debt; but antichretic pledge was more common, where the profit of
the pledge was a set-off against the interest of the debt. The whole
property of the debtor might be pledged as security for the payment of
the debt, without any of it coming into the enjoyment of the creditor.
Personal guarantees were often given that the debtor would repay or
the guarantor become liable himself.
Trade was very extensive. A common way of doing business was for a
merchant to entrust goods or money to a travelling agent, who sought a
market for his goods. The caravans travelled far beyond the limits
of the empire. The Code insisted that the agent should inventory and
give a receipt for all that he received. No claim could be made for
anything not so entered. Even if the agent made no profit he was bound
to return double what he had received, if he made poor profit he had
to make up the deficiency; but he was not responsible for loss by
robbery or extortion on his travels. On his return, the principal must