A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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4.1.2 The debt and slave release provisions were a privilege confined

to native subjects but at the same time they reveal that slavery was

not incompatible with citizenship, although it might prevent the exer-

cise of citizenship functions. According to LH 280, “sons of the land”

who are slaves and somehow find their way abroad, where they are

purchased and brought home, may then be reclaimed by their local

owner. King Samsu-iluna forbade the purchase of a “male or female

slave, a son of Idamaraz or a son of Arrap¢um,” from the Sutean

nomads (AbB 3 1). Since the order refers to men and women alike,

gender was not a factor in citizenship.

4.1.3 A foreigner could acquire a protected status from the local

ruler and thus become a resident alien (ubàrum). LE 41 protects the

resident alien along with other categories of outsider from economic

exploitation by a taverness.^48

4.2 Class

Free persons fell into two main social classes, the awìlum(Sum. lú)

and the mu“kènum (Sum. ma“.en.kak), which may be roughly desig-

nated as “gentleman” and “commoner,” respectively. awìlumwas used

for “gentleman” (Herr, monsieur) in polite parlance; mu“kènumcould

be synonymous with “wretched.” Otherwise the distinction is prob-

lematic, both socially and legally.

4.2.1 In the law codes, awìlumwas used generically, to mean “some-

one,” with no further specification of status or profession. Thus most

of the provisions begin: “If an awìlum.. .” In a few paragraphs, how-

ever, when contrasted with mu“kènum, it refers to a narrower cate-

gory, higher in wealth or social standing, or both (LH 196–223).

4.2.2.1 mu“kènumin the law codes was used in three ways:

1. in a context which suggests nothing more than “someone,” as
   with awìlum. Thus in LE 12 and 13 he is the householder or
   landowner who seizes a burglar on his property and in 24 a man
   whose wife or son has been wrongfully distrained.

(^48) See Westbrook, “nap†arum...”
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