LEGISLATIONS OP ISRAEL AND BABYLONIA. 



145 



invalid transaction. A slave and a son are equal in that 

 respect."* And again : " If a man buys from a slave who has 

 not been authorised (to sell) by his master, or from a rogue, or 

 in secret, or at a very low price, or at an improper time, he is 

 .as guilty as the seller."t 



Turning now to the geographical influence we may note that 

 we are dealing with a country of great rivers. Hence it is 

 natural to find rules which are readily paralleled from the 

 river civilisation of India. " For a long ])assage," says Manu, 

 " the boat hire must be proportioned to the places and time." 

 And he adds a remark which is characteristic of the geography 

 of his country : " Know that this (rule refers) to (passages along) 

 the banks of rivers ; at sea tliere is no settled (^freight).:|: 

 Hammurabi proportions his boat-hire to the times and class of 

 vessel. Characteristically enough he fixes the exact daily 

 .aniount.§ Again, when Hammurabi provides that where a 

 boatman has been careless and grounded the ship, or has caused 

 what is in her to be lost, he shall render back the ship which 

 he has grounded and whatever in her he has caused to be lost,|| 

 we may compare Manu, viii, 408 and 409 : " Whatever may be 

 damaged in a boat by the fault of the boatmen, that shall be 

 made good by the boatmen collectively (each paying) his share. 

 This decision in suits (brought) by passengers (holds good only) 

 in case the boatmen are culpably negligent on the water ; in case 

 of (an accident) caused by (the will of) the gods, no fine can be 

 (inflicted on them)," In this passage " whatever " is referred 

 by some commentators to " merchandise/' by others to 

 ^' luo-oacpe." 



The geography of the country must be held responsible for 

 other provisions. On Hammurabi's accession," says Mr. King, 

 " he first devoted himself to the internal improvement of his 

 territory. In the past both Babylon and Sippar had suffered 

 from floods, and the recurrence of these he sought to diminish 

 by erecting dams and cutting canals."1F " It was an alluvial 

 plain," Professor Sayce writes of tlie country, " sloping towards 

 the sea, and inundated by the overflow of the two great rivers 

 which ran through it. When cultivated it was exceedingly 



* i, 29 ff. 

 t vii, 3. 

 X viii, 406- 

 § §§ 275-7 

 II § 237. 



T Encyclopcedia Biblica^ col. 445. 



