Information about Lipit Ishtar

Lipit-Ishtar (Lipit-Eshtar), was the fifth ruler of the first dynasty of Isin, and ruled from around 1934 BCE to 1924 BCE. Some documents and royal inscriptions from his time have survived, but he is mostly known because Sumerian language hymns written in his honor, as well as a so-called legal code written in his name (preceding the famed Code of Hammurabi by about 200 years),were used for school instruction for hundreds of years after his death.

Excerpts of Lipit-Ishtar Code

1. If a man entered the orchard of another man and was seized there for stealing, he shall pay ten shekels of silver.

2. If a man cut down a tree in the garden of another man, he shall pay one-half mina of silver.

3. If a man married his wife and she bore him children and those children are living, and a slave also bore children for her master but the father granted freedom to the slave and her children, the children of the slave shall not divide the estate with the children of their former master.

4. If a man's wife has not borne him children but a harlot from the public square has borne him children, he shall provide grain, oil and clothing for that harlot. The children which the harlot has borne him shall be his heirs, and as long as his wife lives the harlot shall not live in the house with the wife.

5. If adjacent to the house of a man the bare ground of another man has been neglected and the owner of the house has said to the owner of the bare ground, "Because your ground has been neglected someone may break into my house: strengthen your house," and this agreement has been confirmed by him, the owner of the bare ground shall restore to the owner of the house any of his property that is lost.

6. If a man rented an ox and damaged its eye, he shall pay one-half its price.

7. If a man rented an ox and injured the flesh at the nose ring, he shall pay one-third of its price.

8. If a man rented an ox and broke its horn, he shall pay one-fourth its price.

9. If a man rented an ox and damaged its tail, he shall pay one-fourth its price. '''

References

Martha T. Roth, Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995.