Keywords
court proceedings in Mesopotamia
Old Babylonian letters
How to Cite
Number of views: 401
Number of downloads: 331
Abstract
Besides the Old Babylonian legal collections, legal documents which come from this period also show that the procedures connected with court proceedings in Babylonia in the first half of the second millennium BC had a clearly normalized form. This is suggested by both paragraphs 9 through 13 of the Hammurabi code of laws and numerous trial documents. Unfortunately, none of these categories of texts allows one to determine whether this was a result of arranging experiences which stemmed from practice or of regulations imposed by state authorities. A separate category of texts delineating the procedures and the course of Old Babylonian proceedings are letters from this period. They contain mentions of royal decrees (ṣimdatum / ṣimdat šarrim) which regulated the course of court proceedings and even the delivery of sentences. There was an obligation to proceed in accordance with the royal decrees in case of all cases which were connected with persons who performed functions within the framework of the state’s administrative apparatus. This may mean that there was an obligation to promulgate the laws passed by the authorities. Admittedly, the texts which are called ṣimdatum or ṣimdat šarrim remain hitherto unidentified. However, they could have the form of specific orders which pertained to legal problems such as AbB 3 1, which contains a simple prohibition on particular activities.
References
Boecker H.J., Recht und Gesetz im Alten Testament und im Alten Orient, Neukirchen 1976.
Bouzon E., Die soziale Bedeutung des ṣimdat šarrim – Aktes nach den Kaufverträgen der Rim-Sin-Zeit [w:] W. von Sonden, O. Loretz, M. Dietrich (red.), Vom Alten Orient zum Alten Testament: Festschrift für Wolf-ram Freiherrn von Soden zum 85. Geburtstag am 19. Juni 1993, Neukirchen 1995.
Charpin D., Hammu-rabi de Babylone, Paris 2003.
Charpin D., Histoire politique du Proche-Orient amorrite (2002–1595) [w:] D. Charpin, D.O. Edzard, M. Stol (red.), Mesopotamien. Die altbabylonische Zeit, Fribourg 2004.
Charpin D., Lettres et procès paleo-babyloniens [w:] F. de Joannès (red.), Rendre la justice en Mesopotamie. Archives judicaires du Proche-Orient ancient (IIIe-Ire milléanaires avant J.-C.), Paris 2000.
Charpin D., Writing Law and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia, London 2010.
Cruveilhier P., Commentaire du Code d'Hammourabi, Paris 1938.
Cuq E., Études sur le droit babylonien, les lois assyriennes et les lois hittites, Paris 1929.
Dombradi E., Die Darstellung des Rechtsaustrags in den Altbabylonischen Prezessurkunden I/II, Stuttgart 1996.
Driver G.R., Miles J.C., The Babylonian Laws, t. I: Legal Commentary, Oxford 1956.
Driver G.R., Miles J.C., The Babylonian Laws, t. II: Transliterated Text, Translation, Philological Notes, Glossary, Oxford 1955.
Edzard D.O., Altbabylonische Rechts- und Wirtschaftsurkunden aus Tell ed-Der im Iraq Museum, Baghdad – München 1970.
Ferwerda G.Th, Woestenburg E., Index of Personal Names of Old Babylonian “Sippar”, Leiden 1998.
Fortner J.D., Adjudicating Entieties and Levels of Legal Authority in Lawsuit Record of the Old Babylonian Era, A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, UMI Company 1996.
Frankena R., Briefe aus dem Berliner Museum [AbB V], Leiden 1974.
Frankena R., Briefe aus dem British Museum (LIH und CT 2–33) [AbB II], Leiden 1966.
Frankena R., Briefe aus der Leidner Sammlung [AbB III], Leiden 1968.
Groneberg B., Répertoire Géographique des Textes Cunéiformes, t. III: Die Orts- und Gewässernamen der alt-babylonischen Zeit, Wiesbaden 1980.
Harris R., Ancient Sippar. A Demographic Study of an Old Babylonian City (1894–1595), Leiden 1975.
Klengel H., Hammurapi und seine Nachfolger im altbabylonischen Onomastikon, „Journal of Cuneiform Studies” 1976, t. 28, nr 3.
Klengel H., König Hammurapi und der Alltag Babylons, Zurich 1991.
Klengel H., Sklaven aus Idamaraz, „Altorientalische Forschungen” 1977, nr 5.
Klima J., Prawa Hammurabiego, Warszawa 1957.
Kohler J., Ungnad A., Hammurabi’s Gesetz, t. II–V, Leipzig 1909.
Koschaker P., Rechtsvergleichende Studien zur Gesetzgebung Hammurapis, Königs von Babylon, Leipzig 1917.
Kraus F.R., Briefe aus dem Archive des Šamaš-ḫaṣir in Paris und Oxford (TCL 7 und OECT 3) [AbB 3], Leiden 1968.
Kraus F.R., Briefe aus dem British Museum (CT 43 und 44) [AbB 1], Leiden 1964.
Kraus F.R., Briefe aus dem British Museum (CT 52) [AbB 7], Leiden 1977.
Kraus F.R., Briefe aus kleineren westeuropäischen Sammlungen [AbB 10], Leiden 1985.
Kraus F.R., Ein Zentrales Problem des altmesopotamischen Rechtes: Was ist der Codex Hammurabi? [w:] Aspects du contact sumero-akkadien. XXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Geneve, 20–23 juin 1960, Genève 1960.
Kraus F.R., Königliche Verfügungen in altbabylonischer Zeit, Leiden 1984.
Kunderewicz C., Zbiór praw z Esznunny, „Czasopismo Prawno-Historyczne” 1966, t. 18, z. 1.
Lafont S., Considérations sur le pratique judiciaire en Mésopotamie [w:] F. de Joannès (red.), Rendre la justice en Mesopotamie. Archives judicaires du Proche-Orient ancient (IIIe-Ire milléanaires avant J.-C.), Paris 2000.
Lautner J.G., Die richterliche Entscheidung und die Streitbeendigung im altbabylonischen Prozessrechte, Leipzig 1922.
Leemnas W.F., Old Babylonian Letters and Economic History. A Review Article with a Digresion on Foreign Trade, „Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient” 1968, t. 11, nr 2.
Lerberghe K. van, L’arrachement de l’emblème šurinnum [w:] G. van Driel, F.R. Kraus (red.), Zikir Šumim. Assyriological Studies Presented to F.R. Kraus on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, Leiden 1982.
Lipiński E., Prawo bliskowschodnie w starożytności. Wprowadzenie historyczne, Lublin 2009.
McAdams R., An Interdisciplinary Overview of a Mesopotamian City and its Hinterlands, „Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative” 2008, nr 35.
Mieroop M. van de, The Ancient Mesopotamian City, Oxford 1997.
Reiter K., kikkillu/kilkilu, “Raum zur Aufbewahrung des Eidesleistunssymbols (šu.nir = šurinnum) des Šamaš, „NABU” 1989, nr 107.
Renger J., Noch einmal: Was war der “Kodex” Ḫammurapi – ein erlassenes Gesetz ode rein Rechtsbuch? [w:] H.-J. Gehrke, E. Wirblauer (red.), Rechtskodifizierung und soziale Normen im interkulturellen Vergleich, Tübingen 1994.
Richardson M.E.J., Hammurabi’s Laws. Text, Translation and Glossary, London – New York 2000.
Roth M., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, Atlanta 1995.
Schorr M., Urkunden des altbabylonischen Zivil- und Prozessrechts, Lepzig 1913.
Seri A., Local Power in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia, Chicago 2005.
Soldt W.H. van, Letters in the British Museum. Part 2, Leiden 1994.
Stol M., Letters from Collections in Philadelphia, Chicago and Berkeley [AbB 11], Leiden 1986.
Stol M., Letters from Yale [AbB 6], Leiden 1981.
Stol M., Old Babylonian Corvée (tupšikkum) [w:] Th.P.J. van den Hout, J. de Roos (red.), Studio Historiae Ardens. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Philo H.J. Houwink ten Cate on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, Leiden 1995.
Stol M., Studies in Old Babylonian History, Leiden 1976.
Stol M., Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in altbabylonischer Zeit [w:] D. Charpin, D.O. Edzard, M. Stol (red.), Mes-opotamien. Die altbabylonische Zeit, Freiburg 2004.
Tyborowski W., An Unusual Text Concerning a Trial about Crops from a Field at the Poznań Archaeological Museum [w:] R. Koliński, J. Prostko-Prostyński, W. Tyborowski (red.), Awīlum ša la mašê – man who cannot be forgotten. Studies in Honor of Prof. Stefan Zawadzki Presented in the Occasion of his 70th Birthday, Berlin 2018.
Tyborowski W., Prawa Hammurabiego. Dīnāt mīšarim, Poznań 2019.
Tyborowski W., Złoto Mezopotamii. Najem siły roboczej w Babilonii okresu starobabilońskiego (XIX–XVII w. p.n.e.), Poznań 2015.
Veenhof K., Letters in the Louvre, Leiden 2005.
Walther A.F., Das Altbabylonische Gerichtswesen, Leipzig 1917.
Westbrook R., Introduction. The Character of Ancient Near Eastern Law [w:] R. Westbrook (red.), A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law, Leiden – Boston 2003.
Westbrook R., Old Babylonian Period [w:] R. Westbrook (red.), A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law, Leiden – Boston 2003.
Westbrook R., Slave and Master in Ancient Near East, „The Chicago-Kent Law Review” 1995, nr 70.
Westbrook R., Social Justice in the Ancient Near East [w:] K.D. Irani, M. Silver (red.), Social Justice in the Ancient World, Westport 1995.
Westbrook R., Studies in Biblical and Cuneiform Law, „Cahiers de la Revue Biblique” 1988, nr 26.
Westbrook R., The Old Babylonian Term napṭarum, „Journal of Cuneiform Studies” 1994, nr 46.
Yaron R., Laws of Eshnunna, Jerusalem 1988.
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Witold Tyborowski
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.