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M 3:4–8). If the garments are sold by the fuller, it is deemed to be
theft and punished accordingly (MAL 3:9ff.).- C D
8.1 The Assyrian System^132
Assyrian criminal law has more than a touch of calculated fright-
fulness: the death penalty is often prescribed alongside mutilation of
face or body and beating. Some punishments are ironic (e.g., MAL
A 40: the prostitute who has presumed to wear a veil has her head
covered in hot pitch); others are talionic (MAL A 20 for sodomy).
Cumulation of punishments is common practice. Men can be forced
into the royal corvée (“ipar “arre), generally for one month and doubt-
less consisting of forced labor on earthworks or construction pro-
jects. Punishments are fixed and statutory, with a few exceptions
(MAL A 1; C 8 and 10). Talion is applied on several occasions,
especially vicarious talion, where it falls on a wife in lieu of her hus-
band (MAL A 50 for abortion; MAL A 55 for rape). The laws pun-
ish only the proven culprit who has been tried and convicted in
public proceedings (bâru-kânu). There is a notable concern for strict
equality in punishment, which leads to the paramour being muti-
lated more extensively than the adulteress so as to make them suffer
in the same measure (MAL A 15).8.2 Theft and Related Offenses
8.2.1 Theft of movables, mostly animals, is punished with fifty
strokes of the rod and a number of days’ royal corvée. The thief
must also reimburse the victim. If the value of the objects stolen
exceeds a certain amount, punishment is to be decided by the king,
even if the victim has been compensated in full (MAL C+G 8).^133
Theft of a sheep is subject to more severe public punishment—a
hundred strokes of the rod and a month of royal corvée—and the
culprit is in addition said to be “liable for the theft of the sheep”
(“urqa “a immere ina““i), which perhaps means that the owner will nego-(^132) Cardascia, Lois.. ., 77–84.
(^133) On the theft of animals and the powers of the rab àlàniand the king, cf. also
George, “Tablets...”
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