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7.4 Distraint
The creditor “seized” (ißbat) the debtor, or “detained him in confine-
ment” or “in his house” (ina kili or ina bìtì“u ikla). Distraint is doc-
umented most frequently for failure to pay a debt,^132 including
situations in which a surety has secured release of a prisoner and
then seizes the prisoner himself to recover his bail,^133 and in failed
sale transactions.^134 The debtor himself is most often the distrainee,
although family members were also subject to distraint.^135 In sales,
the surety (kattû) and his family were subject to distraint.^1367.5 Debt and Social Justice
Four texts from the ›ana kingdom (see 1.2 above) stipulate provi-
sions in the event of anduràru: a royal act of remission of debts and
manumission of debt slaves. In these texts, concerning real estate
and adoption, the commodities exchanged (i.e., property and child)
are said to be “irrevocable; not subject to claim or to anduràru”
(naßbum “a làbaqrim u làanduràrim).^137 Additional evidence for anduràru
in the ›ana region is provided by a date formula: “The year when
›ammu-rabi, king, established anduràruin his land.” From Babylonia
proper, a literary text praises King Kurigalzu as he “he who estab-
lished anduràruof the people of Babylonia” (“àkin anduràr ni“ìBàbili)
(see 2.1.1 above).
The intent of the anduràruclauses in the ›ana contracts is to guar-
antee the buyer/adopting parents that the transfer cannot be revoked
by royal decree of debt cancellation. It is not clear on what basis
exemption was possible in these cases.7.6 Suretyship^138
Suretyship is documented for the release of persons imprisoned for
debt,^139 for failure to execute terms of a contract,^140 or on suspicion(^132) E.g., UET 7 18.
(^133) E.g., UET 7 16, 17, 18, and see 7.2.2.3 above.
(^134) E.g., UET 7 2, 24.
(^135) E.g., Peiser Urkunden 116 (a daughter).
(^136) E.g., UET 7 2, in which the wife of the surety is distrained by the dissatisfied
buyer of a slave.
(^137) See Lion, “L’anduràru,” 2–3.
(^138) See Petschow, Mittelbabylonische.. ., 33–36.
(^139) UET 7 16, 17, 18.
(^140) UET 7 24.
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