Justice and Reform

Sources

Social Justice. In the modern world a socially minded leader faced with corruption and economic turmoil would declare that his or her political goal was “change,” to give citizens and future generations a better life. The ancient Near Eastern worldview lacked this modern concept of ongoing progress. Reform meant the re-establishment of a past order in which each household operated without discord. Society was stratified, and the ordering of classes was considered normal; there existed little social mobility. Revolutionary transformation was unthinkable. A good society was one in which people in each class conducted themselves according to proper modes of behavior believed to have once existed in an idealized past. Change meant clearing away abuse and cleaning up economic dislocations; it did not imply social or political upheaval. In this view, society needed to return to the status quo by expelling those elements that interfered with good order.

Royal Reform. In order for a Mesopotamian monarch to fulfill his duty to the gods to shepherd his people properly, he was expected to bring about reform of abuses. Some rulers considered themselves reformers when they declared in royal pronouncements that they would fashion laws to make society more just and equitable. These kings maintained that they had a religious obligation as a trustee of their deity to protect their people and restore order so that the strong would not oppress the weak; widows and orphans would be cared for; and the poor would be released from their debts. The earliest attested reform document was issued by Uru’inimgina of Lagash, circa 2400 b.c.e. During the Old Babylonian period (circa 1894 - circa 1595 b.c.e.), some kings are known to have declared that, as the gods’ trustee, they would restore order by reducing burdensome debt. In the prologue to his laws, Hammurabi (circa 1792 - circa 1750 b.c.e.) stated that as the “pious prince, who venerates the gods,” he had a duty “to make justice prevail in the land, to abolish the wicked and the evil, to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak.” He also claimed that he quelled rebellion, guided his people, established justice, and enhanced the well-being of his people. The ruler who claimed to have instituted equity called himself a shar mesharim, “king of justice.”

Reform Edicts. During the Old Babylonian period, the king might issue periodic decrees that attempted to redress domestic economic problems and thereby proclaim himself to be a reformer who restored justice to the land. These releases, called mesharum-edicts, were issued at the king’s accession or irregularly on an as-needed basis during the king’s reign. The main focus of such edicts was to cancel existing debts, mainly agricultural loans. They provided relief for debtors bound into servitude, annulment of the debtor’s sale of his property to pay off arrears, and cancellations of various unpaid land taxes and outstanding non-commercial loans. Their effectiveness as either propaganda or real attempts to alleviate economic hardship can be measured by the fact that some kings issued several of these edicts during their reigns.

Righteous Rule. According to a royal inscription attributed by scholars to the reign of Enlil-bani of Isin (circa 1860 - circa 1837 b.c.e.), the king provided food and proper housing for the inhabitants of the city of Nippur, perhaps because of dislocations caused by war. He also claimed to have acted on behalf of the citizens of Isin, his home city, by decreasing taxes, reducing burdensome compulsory-labor services (corvée), and restoring law and order. In addition, he maintained that he responded to complaints and reduced abuses of power by royal herdsmen. The king concluded that he established righteousness, banished evil and violence, and made justice prevail in Isin.

O (god) Enlil … I established justice in Nippur and made righteousness prevail. As is done for sheep, I looked for food to eat, let them (the inhabitants of Nippur) eat fresh vegetables. The heavy yoke (of corvée) I removed from their necks. I settled them in a permanent settlement. After I had reestablished righteousness in Nippur (and) had provided well-being (for the people) I also established righteousness and justice in Isin, the city which (the gods) An and Enlil entrusted to Ninisina (the patron goddess of Isin), provided well-being for the region.

The barley dues (to be delivered on the basis of field rentals), which so far have been one-fifth. I reduced indeed to one-tenth (of the yield). The subjects (mushkenu) I let serve (from now on) for only four days per month, and for the sheep and cattle of the places which (so far) were [permitted] to graze the field(s) [of the …] and because they (the persons affected) had therefore raised complaints—I have now indeed removed sheep and cattle of the palace from the furrows (with sprouting barley). And raising a complaint I have declared to be taboo. I am a judge who loves righteousness. I destroyed evil and violence. I restored … the just man … (Renger)

THE EDICT OF AMMI-SADUQA

The tenth ruler of the First Dynasty of Babylon, Ammi-saduqa, who ruled circa 1646 - circa 1626 b.c.e., issued a reform edict that included many provisions referring to the cancellation of debts, a royal tradition that dated back to about 2400 b.c.e.., when king Uru’inimgina of Lagash canceled obligations resulting from nonpayment of debt and slave status resulting from punishment for theft or murder. Ammi-saduqa’s edict freed only citizens from debt obligations. Foreigners, prisoners of war, or house-born slaves were not affected by the decree. In Mesopotamian societies the concept of social justice existed to re-establish or restore the status of those citizens who fell into debt or servitude. Equality did not extend to all inhabitants of the land, and there existed no incentive to aid those born into poverty or slavery:

(This is) the tablet [of the decree that the land was ordered] to hear at the time that the king invoked a mesbarum for the land.…

(Cancellation of arrears and promissory notes)

With respect to the arrears of the tenant farmers, the shepherds, the knackers (people who buy useless or worn out livestock and sell the meat or hides), their agreements, promissory notes and their payments are herewith remitted … the collector shall not dun their estate(s).

(Cancellation of interest-bearing debts)

Whoever has given barley or silver to an Akkadian or an Amorite on an interest-bearing basis, or on a melqetum basis, because the king has invoked the metharum for the land, his document is voided, he may not collect the barley or silver on the basis of his document….

(Legal protection against a creditor’s suit)

A creditor may not sue against the house of an Akkadian or an Amorite for whatever he had lent him; should he sue for payment, he shall die.

(Exemptions)

(But) an Akkadian or an Amorite who has received barley, silver, or other goods either as merchandise for a commercial journey, or as a joint enterprise for the production of profit, his document is not voided (by the mesharum document); he must repay in accordance with the stipulations of his contract.

(Business agreements for profit not based on interest are still to be honored.)

(Similarly) if an Akkadian or an Amorite has received barley, silver, or other goods as an advance for use in a business enterprise for a profit, and had a document executed, the creditor stipulating in writing that at the expiration of the term (of the contract) the money would accrue interest, or if he made any additional stipulations, he (the debtor) shall not repay on the terms of the (added) stipulations, but shall repay only the principle. The supplementary stipulations upon the Akkadian or Amorite are remitted.

(Annulment of debtor and members of immediate family from debt-slavery)

If a debt has resulted in a foreclosure against a citizen of Numhia, a citizen of Emutbalum, a citizen of Idamaras, a citizen of Uruk, a citizen of Isin, a citizen of Kisurra, or a citizen of Malgium, which resulted in (the debtor) placing his own person, his wife or his children in debt servitude, or in placing them as collateral security for a loan—because the king has instituted the mesharum decree in the land, he is free; his release is established.

(Exemption)

If a houseborn slave woman or male slave of a citizen (of the above cities)… was sold or he was distrained for debt-service on a loan, or he was even left as collateral security on a loan, his release shall not be effected.

Source: J. J. Finkelstein, “The Edict of Ammisaduqa,” in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, third edition with supplement, edited by James Bennett Pritchard (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), pp. 526-528.

Sources

J. J. Finkelstein, “Ammisaduqa’s Edict and the Babylonian ‘Law Codes,’” Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 15 (1961): 91-104.

Finkelstein, “Some New Misharum Materials and Its Implications,” Studies in Honor of gBenno Landsberger on his Seventy-fifth Birthday, April 21, 1965, edited by Hans Gustav Güterbock and Thorkild Jacobsen, Assyriological Studies, no. 16 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965), pp. 233-246.

Johannes Renger, “Royal Edicts of the Old Babylonian Period: Structural Background,” in Debt and Economic Renewal in the Ancient Near East, edited by Michael Hudson and Marc Van de Mieroop (Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 2002), pp. 139-162.