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LBAT 1419; VAB 3 29 §23) and do not shed light on the sub-
stantive law of the time. Only one published text appears to refer
to prosecution for murder.^224 The document seems to record a pre-
liminary hearing at which the victim’s father accuses another man
of the crime. The reappearance of the defendant at a subsequent
trial is then guaranteed by the defendant’s father and sister.8.2 Assault
Instances of assault, both actual (YOS 7 97) and attempted (TCL
12 117), were prosecuted, but it is not clear what penalties were
imposed, since the verdicts in these cases are not recorded.8.3 Sexual Offenses
The only sexual offense to which explicit reference is made is adul-
tery on the part of a wife. Several marriage contracts indicate that
an adulterous wife was subject to the death penalty (see 5.1.4 above).
The occurrence of this statement in contracts is striking. It had always
been a husband’s right to punish his adulterous wife with death. It
is not clear why such a right becomes contractually stipulated.8.4 Theft and Related Offenses
8.4.1 Theft
In addition to ordinary larceny, the concept of theft includes mis-
appropriation and embezzlement—situations where a person has legal
possession of another’s property and then removes or sells it for per-
sonal profit (YNER 1 2; YOS 6 208). Misappropriation is to be dis-
tinguished from misuse, which involves unauthorized use of goods
but not for personal profit (BIN 1 113; YOS 6 225). Misuse was
not treated as theft. Numerous documents deal with theft of private
property and of temple property. Penalties for the latter were much
stiffer than those for the former.8.4.1.1 Theft of temple property was typically met with a fine equal
to thirty times the amount stolen.^225 This was true for theft of all(^224) See Wunsch, “ ‘Du hast meinen Sohn geschlagen!’ ”
(^225) One possible exception is BIN 1 120. The issue in this document, however,
may not be theft but the failure on the part of a seller to deliver goods (twelve
slaves in this case) that he had previously sold to the Eanna temple; see Joannès,
“Un administrateur...”.
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