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otherwise, there was no special term for a court of law, which was
usually referred to simply as “the judges.”2.1.4.6 The office of judge itself may well have been permanent,
since the title “judge” was appended to personal names even in non-
litigious contexts, indicating a professional or at least an honorific
status. The court need not, however, consist of titular judges. The
city elders and mayor functioned as a local court, sometimes joined
by the local merchants’ association (kàrum). Titular judges, royal
officials, and possibly even laymen might be joined together to form
a court (AbB 2 106). In the same way, royal officials might supple-
ment a local bench, such as that of the city elders.2.1.4.7 The criteria for composition of a particular bench are not
known, nor is it clear whether the choice was in the litigants’ hands.
The courts of certain local centers such as Nippur enjoyed special
prestige (AbB 11 7; 11 159).2.1.4.8 In earlier records from Babylonia, judges are often found
sitting in a local temple, although there is no indication that they
were priests or applied religious law.^23 The one case in which priests
join the local bench involved a theft from their temple (TCL 11
245 = Wilcke, “Diebe.. .,” 59).2.2 Functions
2.2.1 Compulsory Service^24
One of the main points of contact between the government and its
subjects arose from the obligation upon free citizens to perform cer-
tain services (ilkum) for the palace. There were two main types of
service.2.2.1.1 Corvée (tup“ikkum)
Persons were summoned to do forced labor on public works, espe-
cially maintaining the canals and harvesting, for a set number of
days in the year.^25 It is probably to this labor that Lipit-Ishtar refers(^23) Dombradi, Darstellung.. ., 233–39.
(^24) Evans, “Labour-Service...”
(^25) See Stol, “Corvée...”
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