Part X

The Code closes (§ 278-282) with a series of enactments regulating dealings in slaves. As a protection to the purchaser it is stipulated that if within a month a purchased slave is taken with a bennu sickness ^[1] which incapacitates him, he is to be returned to the seller and the purchase money given back, the assumption being that the slave was not what he or she was represented to be. In accord with this, the seller is responsible in case of a prior claim on the slave, in which case the sale is likewise invalid. Similarly, a sale of a slave is invalid if made in a foreign land and the owner of the slave recognizes his former property when the slave is brought into the district in which the former owner dwells.

Such a slave is granted his freedom if he belongs to the district in which the original owner dwells, but if slaves. sold under such circumstances be not natives, they are to be bought back by the former owner. The law is of interest as pointing to an endeavor to protect slaves against being bandied about without regard to their feelings of pride.

The court decides that a slave who is not sold directly through his master gains his freedom if he is brought back to the district to which he originally belonged. In this way a restriction was placed on traffic in slaves. The law in thus assuming that a slave is purchased to be put into service and is not to be regarded as mere merchandise marks a decided step in advance to protect the dignity of human life.

To be sure, the underlying principle that slaves are chattels is maintained, and the right is accorded to the owner to dispose of him, but if he is sold to a foreigner and in the course of time is resold and brought back to his native place, his dignity is protected by his being granted his freedom. In this case, the Code proceeds on the principle found in modern law emptor caveat. The purchaser takes the risk and should assure himself of the circumstances of the slave's provenance before closing the bargain.

On the other hand, to prevent an abuse of the privilege, the old law providing that a slave who rebels against the authority of his master is to have his ear cut off is added (§ 282), to cover the case also of a slave who has run away and who is not under any conditions to have the privilege of securing his freedom through a fortuitous chain of circumstances, or by a fictitious sale in a foreign district.

The Code of Hammurapi is particularly severe on any one who aids a slave to escape or who harbors a runaway (§ 15-19), death as a penalty being imposed precisely as in the case of man stealing (§ 14) ; and if a slave escapes from the person who has captured him, the latter must swear an oath to that effect (§ 20), so as to free himself from the suspicion of having connived at the escape. On the other hand, a reward of two shekels is to be given to the one who returns a runaway slave (§ 17).