2.1.4 The Courts
2.1.4.1 Judges
The organization and structure of the judiciary prior to the late OS
period is unknown. The Sumerian word for judge is di.d-ku 5 ; its
Akkadian counterpart, dayyànum, is not attested in syllabic spelling.
The king’s (in city-states, the steward’s) role as supreme judge may
be inferred from non-legal sources. Ur-Emu“, who passed sentence
in the earliest attested lawsuit,^47 is known as “the Great One of
Merchants” (gal dam-gàr.k) at the time of Lugalanda and Irikagina.^48
A herald acts as a judge in a college of judges.^49 In the provinces
of the Sargonic empire, the governor^50 and/or the saºgºga (of Isin)^51
appear as the highest judicial authority: two governors of Kazallu
(one of them a prince) judge the same case in three different con-
secutive trials.^52 But the competence of the provincial administration
to administer justice in capital cases was restricted if citizens of Agade
itself were involved.^532.1.4.2 The Commissioner
2.1.4.2.1 Documents recording litigation (with as yet no fixed form,
some records giving the impression of private notes) often mention
a commissioner (ma“kim).^54 He receives a special payment (in silver
or in kind) recorded sometimes in the court document itself: níºg
nam-ma“kim.k “that of the ma“kim-office,” or níºg ºgìri-na.k “that of150
(^47) SRU 78 from the time of Lugalanda, steward of Laga“.
(^48) See Lambert, “Ur-Emush.. .”; FAOS 15/1, p. 522.
(^49) SRU 88.
(^50) See Yang, Sargonic Inscriptions.. ., nos. 650, 815 (governor of Adab); SRU 92
= FAOS 19 Is 4; no. 96 = FAOS 19 Gir 4 (letter to the Laga“governor Lugal-
u“umgal); Gir 2 seemingly also deals with a legal problem. The governor of Nippur
decided the litigation; see Krecher, “Neue sumerische.. .,” no. 26 (reading [U]r-
dEn-líl, énsi Nibruki-k[e
4 ], di-¢bìÜs[i] ¢ì?Ü-sá). SRU 80, a lawsuit concerning an ass
let free (by gross negligence or with malice) states that the lawsuit is closed and
that it had been put before the governor of Nippur (restoring ll. 11–12 as é[n]si
Nibruki-“è, in[im] a-ºgál). Cf. Steinkeller, Third-Millennium.. ., p. 6.
(^51) See SRU 78a (see Steinkeller, Third-Millennium.. ., p. 7 on JCS20 [1966] 126);
84–85a; Steinkeller,Third-Millennium.. ., no. 5.
(^52) BIN 8 121.
(^53) In the letter FAOS 19 Um 5, a certain Ur-Utu instructs or advises one ”e““e“-
ºgu not to kill citizens of Agade and to send them to Irgigi because “Agade is king.”
It seems reasonable to regard this Irgigi as the king of the same name who, accord-
ing to the Sumerian King List, ruled in the three-year interregnum after King ”ar-
kali-“arrì.
(^54) Edzard and Wiggermann, “Ma“kim.”
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