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party and retained in the archives of the latter, as proof of the rights,
mostly property rights, that were thereby established.^51.5 Scholastic documents
These were exercises in Sumerian produced in the scribal schools
that used legal material as their base. They were of two types, the
first being model court cases, that is, literary accounts of celebrated
trials.^6 Unlike the litigation records, their purpose was purely acad-
emic. A murder trial, for example, recounts the arguments for and
against convicting a wife for complicity in her husband’s murder.^7
The second type was legal exercise tablets containing a mixture
of casuistic laws of the kind found in law codes, contractual clauses,
and legal phrases of the kind found in later lexical texts.^81.6 There are a large number of miscellaneous non-legal sources
from which indirect knowledge may be gained about the law in prac-
tice. Most prominent among these are private letters and adminis-
trative or accounting records; occasionally, prayers and omens may
contain information of legal interest. For example, the prayer of an
unrequited creditor provides us with valuable information about mar-
riage law and litigation.^9- C AL
2.1 Organs of Government
2.1.1 The King
In this period Mesopotamia was divided into a number of kingdoms
ruled by hereditary monarchs. The king’s power was not absolute
but, in theory at least, was subject to the rule of law. The legitimacy(^5) Studied by Dombradi, Darstellung.. ., see also Leemans, “Textes paléo-baby-
loniens...”
(^6) Reviewed by Hallo, “A Model Court Case...”
(^7) Jacobsen, “Homicide...”
(^8) Such as LOx, SLEx, and SHLF, edited by Roth, Law Collections..., 40–54. ana
itti“u, often cited for this period, is a lexical text from the Neo-Assyrian period (=
MSL 1). It undoubtedly reflects earlier traditions but is not reliable as independent
evidence.
(^9) UET 6 402 = Charpin, Clergé, 326–27.
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