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7.6.2 As regards the palace, the tamkàruacted as a traveling agent
of the central administration. From time to time he was entrusted
with capital in order to trade in foreign lands. Upon the return of
the commercial expedition, his accounts would be settled with the
palace accountants.^152 The same procedures applied to business enter-
prises financed by private persons, except that the contract between
the financing party and the merchant often included sureties who
guaranteed fulfillment of the merchant’s obligations.^1537.6.3 At times, business ventures financed by private individuals
were arranged through interest-bearing loans: the merchant received
an amount of capital with a view to carrying out whatever com-
mercial activities he deemed most opportune.^154 At the end of the
business venture, which most often had to be concluded within one
year, the merchant was obliged to pay back the capital plus inter-
est. As in all other ¢ubulluloans, interest was calculated at an annual
rate of 50 percent. More complex arrangements provide for a share
by the financier in the profit (Akk. n/mèmelu= Hurrian tamkara““i)
resulting from the trading venture.^155 In these agreements, too, the
merchants’ obligations were at times guaranteed by sureties.- C D
Our sole source of information on criminal law is lawsuits brought
by the injured parties.^156 Death and corporal punishment are attested,
but not as punishments for criminal offences. Mutilation is some-
times mentioned as a special sanction for breach of contract or other
misconduct, but always related to the sphere of civil law. The death
penalty is threatened in some court cases in which the judges ordered
an ordeal (cf. 3.6 above). All the sanctions in criminal cases involve
compensation for loss and injury. In contrast to the practice attested
in the Alalakh, Ugarit, and Emar archives, Nuzi trials, whether civil(^152) Ibid., 178–80, 184–85.
(^153) Ibid., 181–83.
(^154) Ibid., 185–88.
(^155) Ibid., 179–80; 187–88; Maidman, “Some Late Bronze Age Legal Tablets.. .,”
66–69 (= BM 17604).
(^156) Cf. Hayden, Court Procedure.. ., 65–69, 136–47, 158–71.
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