A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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tiate with him the sum to be paid in compensation (MAL F 1). The

severity of the penalty may be explained by aggravating circum-

stances which were described in the broken part of the text at the

beginning.

8.2.2 Sacrilegious theft by a free woman is subject to a punishment

decided by the god through an oracular procedure but executed by

the secular authorities (MAL A 1). Theft within a household is pun-

ishable with death if the victim is a sick or dead husband, or with

whatever disciplinary measure the husband chooses to inflict if he is

in good health (MAL A 3). Simple theft from an outsider gives the

victim the right to mutilate the woman responsible by cutting off

her nose, unless her husband ransoms her, in which case he may

punish her himself by cutting offher ears (MAL A 5). This provi-

sion applies to theft of objects exceeding five minas of lead in value;

for goods of lesser value, punishment is lighter. Theft of clay for

brick-making requires restitution of the bricks plus strokes of the rod

and royal corvée (MAL B 15).^134

8.2.3 A male or female slave who accepts a stolen object from a

married woman is considered a receiver of stolen goods and is to

suffer facial mutilation (MAL A 4; Edict 5). The female thief has

her ears cut offby her husband (MAL A 4). In the same situation,

a third party who holds the object in good faith is deemed respon-

sible for the stolen property; in other words, he must return it or

pay compensation for it without being able to invoke his ignorance

as to its provenience (MAL A 6).^135

8.2.4 The purchaser in good faith of a stolen animal is reimbursed

by the seller/thief (MAL C+G 5). The finder of lost property may

(^134) MAL B 14 provides for the same offense possibly committed by digging a
ditch (Roth, Law Collections.. ., 180) or by trespass upon a neighbor’s land (Cardascia,
Lois.. ., 285).
(^135) For another interpretation, which separates MAL A 5 and 6, see Driver and
Miles, Assyrian Laws.. ., 27–29, according to whom the wife lacks the legal capac-
ity to pledge, even her own property, and Cardascia, Lois.. ., 103–6, for whom
this law is a special application of the general principle in MAL C+G 9: the receiver
must alert the husband or master when he is given goods by a married woman or
a slave. It would appear nonetheless that MAL A 6 represents a variant of theft
by the wife in MAL A 5: cf. Lafont, Femmes.. ., 302–5.
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