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the property. Clauses valuing the pledge at the level of the loan or
higher (7.3.3 above) were presumably intended to bar redemption if
the pledge were sold on default.^1497.5.2 Family members sold into slavery because of debt could be
released without payment after a reasonable period of years, when
they were deemed to have worked offthe debt (and interest). LL 14
requires proof that the slave had “returned his slavery to his mas-
ter... twofold”; LH 117 sets a fixed term of three years for the
debtor’s wife or children.7.5.3 The mì“arumedicts occasionally decreed by Old Babylonian
kings canceled debts outright and slavery based on debts.^150 AS dis-
tinguishes between interest-bearing loans, which were cancelled (3),
and credit advanced in business transactions, which were exempt (8:
purchase price, (trading) journey, partnership, tadmiqtum). If a con-
tract of the latter class contained a penalty clause imposing interest
after default, that clause was void, but the advance itself remained
valid (9). Free citizens pledged or sold by reason of debt were released,
which implies cancellation of the underlying debt (20). A parallel
provision of the Edict of Samsu-iluna denies release if the sale or
pledge was for the full price, the same considerations applying as
with redemption.^1517.6 Suretyship^152
A surety was said to assume control over the debtor (Akk. qàtàtim
leqûm; Sum. “u.du 8 .a “u ba.an.ti), reflecting his original obligation to
assure the debtor’s presence at a specified place on maturity of the
debt. If the debtor was dead, fled, or in default, the surety might
be liable to deliver another in his place or to perform the obliga-
tion himself.
If suretyship began at the time of the loan, the surety’s obligation
was secondary: the creditor had first to seek satisfaction from the(^149) Cf. CT 45 37, where a litigant claims her predecessor in title paid full value
for land in the midst of severe economic conditions.
(^150) E.g., Jursa, “Als König Abi-esu¢...”
(^151) Text edited by Hallo, “Slave Release.. .”; see Westbrook, “Hard Times...”
(^152) Malul, Symbolism, 209–52; Ries, “Haftung.. .”; Westbrook, Security for Debt...,
79–83.
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