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is to give slave for slave (or 15 shekels in lieu), which is akin to ordi-
nary theft. LE 50 is explicit: an official who keeps a runaway slave
(or straying animal) for more than a month is to be treated as a
thief.
Kidnapping a free person for sale into slavery was an aggravated
form of theft, for which LH 14 imposes the death penalty.8.4.4 Burglary^205
Trespass was not necessarily an aggravating factor in theft: LL 9
imposes only a payment of twenty shekels for cutting down a tree
in another’s orchard. Trespass with intent to steal was, however, an
offense in itself, albeit minor: LL 10 and LE 12–13 both impose a
payment of ten shekels. On the other hand, if the trespasser were
caught at night, the householder may have had the right to kill him
on the spot.^206 LH 25 allows summary justice for the looting of a
burning house by one who had gone to help extinguish the blaze:
he is thrown into the fire. In the same way, LH 21 provides that a
man caught breaking into a house (i.e., by making a breach in the
mud-brick wall) was to be killed and hanged in the breach. There
is no day/night distinction as in LE; it may reflect the harsher
rhetoric of LH or a distinction between mere trespass and the more
violent act of housebreaking.8.4.5 Robbery^207
Theft with violence was regarded as a separate offense (verb¢abà-
tum), probably because it reflected a different social reality. Robbers
were typically outsiders who waylaid travelers or raided settled areas.
If caught, they would be killed, but they were not often caught.
Consequently, it was the local authorities who were obliged to com-
pensate the victims (LH 22–24).8.4.6 Fraud
Fraudulent practices are treated like theft in AS 7. A creditor who
seeks to evade the debt-release decree by falsely declaring that an
interest-bearing loan given by him was a commercial transaction (not(^205) Westbrook, Studies.. ., 124–25.
(^206) For this interpretation of the phrase “he shall die; he shall not live” in LE
12–13, see the discussion of LE 28 at 8.3.1.1 above.
(^207) Wilcke, “Diebe.. .,” 63–64.
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