activities of a certain Lulu.^214 No information on the terms is given.
Temple personnel lease land from their temple (see 2.1.3.4.1 above)
and a lease of land between city-states is mentioned in an inter-
national treaty (see International Law in the Third Millennium).7.6.2 The hire of a man over two years is reported in the sister
document to the land lease.^215 The same Lulu “led him away (it-ru).
Silver for him, ⅓mina 4 shekels of silver in(? text: of ) the second
year Ù-ì-lí gave as his hire (ig-ri-“u 11 ).” That means at least twelve
shekels a year, a not inconsiderable amount.7.6.3 The use of ten donkeys as draft animals for plowing —worth
2 shekels of silver—is counted among the purchaser’s disbursements
to the seller in a field purchase.^216 Nothing is known about the terms.7.6.4 Oath
Promissory oaths not to go back on the contract are attested through-
out the period, albeit infrequently. In one case, a man had bought
two female slaves, and the parties to the contract had sworn the
respective promissory oath by the king’s name. But the seller after-
ward sold the same slaves to a business partner of the first pur-
chaser, who acted as “commissioner” in this second sale, from which
it may be assumed that he consented to the breach of contract.^217
Nonetheless, the fact that another “commissioner” was also involved
in the second sale is a strong indicator that such a sworn contract
could not be annulled without the intervention of a court of law.- D
8.1 Where a donkey had been freed (by gross negligence or malice),
one offender promises in court to replace it.^218(^214) BIN 8 144:55–59 (cf. the parallel text MAD 5 101, without mention of the
lease.)
(^215) MAD 5 101 ii 1–8. In BIN 8 144:27–31, Lulu is said to have led away this
man, too.
(^216) Grand document juridique, I+J (Wilcke, “Neue Rechtsurkunden.. .,” 54–56).
(^217) SRU 56.
(^218) SRU 80.
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