L , 
hinted at in the Jewifh code ; and the better opinion would 
feem to be, that foine difeafe with which the unhappy 
woman was afflicted was the true caufe of divorce; as the 
poffibility of her being divorced by a fecond is fuggefted, 
as the Levite, in whom more than ordinary purity was re¬ 
quired, is prohibited to marry her at all, and the firft huf- 
band to take her again. No divorce could be neceffary 
in the cafe of adultery ; the culprit was punilhed with 
death. In the cafe of deduction too, it is (aid, the /educed 
virgin (hall be his wife, and he may not■ put her away all his 
days. Deut. xxii. 29. Lev. xx. 
Upon the conqueft of Canaan, the land was divided 
into lots ; tliefe lots were drawn by the different tribes, 
and by them fubdivided and parcelled out to the different 
families compofing each tribe in an equitable courfe of 
diftribution. To a numerous family a greater inheritance 
was given than to a (mailer, and, in the language of the 
book, to every one was his inheritance given according to 
thofe that were numbered of him ; (Lev. xxvi. 54..) and the 
land-marks were forbidden to be removed. In the diftri- 
bution of a father’s property, the elded fon born to him 
had a right to a double portion ; and this the parent had 
it not in his power to deprive him of; the ancedor, it 
feems, might allot the fhares as he pleafed, but a double 
portion was the birth-right of the elded. The remainder 
was parcelled out among the younger fons ; and, if from 
fuch a mode of fuccefiion the land became the oftener di¬ 
vided, it merely required the greater induftry to render 
each portion available, brought the whole to its intended 
date of mediocrity, and filled the country with inhabi¬ 
tants. 
For want of male iiTue, the inheritance defcended to all 
the daughters equally: if the ancedor left no daughter, 
the property palled to his brothers, and, for want of bro¬ 
thers, to his uncles, and for want qf them to the neared 
kinfman of his family; the females were in other refpefts 
excluded from the poffeffion of the foil; and it would 
feem, that the hulband, whenever dowry was in queftion, 
inftead of receiving, actually paid a fum to the father as 
the price of his daughter to wife. Num. xxvii. Deut. xxii. 
The inheritances thus defcending could never be com¬ 
pletely parted with, except that portion of an inheritance 
which confided of houfes in cities which were not in¬ 
cluded in the defcendible land. The objedt of the law 
was to prevent any one from becoming too rich. By allow¬ 
ing irredeemable purchafe, a fortunate family might ac¬ 
quire a large (hare of property, and thereby dedroy the 
univerfal equality of the nation, and that moderation of 
means which it was a principal objedt of the Mofaic infti- 
tutes to preferve, as one of the belt means of guarding its 
liberties and virtue. 
When the Hebrew parted with his land, his alie¬ 
nation of it could effedt no more than a difpofal for a 
certain number of years, though with the ownerdiip 
for the term, the poffeffion was adtually delivered and 
kept; but the law, which did not allow of parting with 
the property for ever, equally difcouraged this fpecies of 
tenure ; any brother of the mortgagor might redeem, or 
the mortgagee himfelf on paying an average price, accord¬ 
ing to the principal advanced, for the number of years 
unexpired between the period of redemption and the next 
jubilee year. In the mean while, the mortgagee was 
obliged to be contented with the ufufruct of the pad: 
years in lieu of the fum dedudted from the principal. If 
the mortgagor was unable to redeem, dill the fiftieth year 
ranfomed his inheritance. The fiftieth year was to be hal¬ 
lowed. The people were commanded to found the trum¬ 
pet, to proclaim liberty throughout the land to the inha¬ 
bitants ; and every man was free to reclaim his poffedion, 
and return to the boi'om of his family. See Jubilee, 
vol. xi. p. 4.73. 
Ufury or intered upon loans was allowed to be taken 
from the dranger, but not from the Hebrew. The po¬ 
licy of this law appears tp have been to prevent as much 
as pqdlble any one from contradting debts 5 this was belt 
^ w. 539 
effected by rendering the loan of money difficult to be ob¬ 
tained ; and the allowing no intered upon it, and the re- 
leafing the debt if not difcharged before the fabbatical 
year, feems a reafonable way of obtaining the objedt in 
view. See the article Jew, vol. x. p. 815. 
By the law of depofit, the party was bound to redore 
the thing depofited or the double, unlefs it appeared be¬ 
fore the judges that he had not embezzled it, in which 
cafe he only paid the value. Where the depofit confided 
of cattle which died or were loft by other accident with¬ 
out the fault of the party, he was freed from all reftitu- 
tion or return. In matter of hire he was holden to re¬ 
turn in perfeCt condition the thing hired, unlefs accident 
happened toil in the prefence of the owner ; in this event 
he vyas wholly acquitted. The raiment of the poor might 
be pledged, but mud be returned before the night; that 
of the widow could never be taken in pawn, nor could a 
mill-done. The pledge mud have been purely voluntary ; 
none could take it from the dwelling; and the party lend¬ 
ing upon it mud have dood abroad until the pledge was 
brought out and delivered. 
Theft appears to have been confidered more in the na¬ 
ture of a civil than a criminal offence. If the party dole 
an ox and killed it, he was compelled to redore the quin¬ 
tuple ; of a fheep, the quadruple; if found with the mai- 
ner, the double; the latter was alfo the reditution for 
other goods Itolen ; but, if the thief had nothing to pay 
with, he was fold for the theft. In all cafes of wrong 
through a man’s own fault, or the harm of his cattle, he 
was bound to make good the damage. 
Of all the inditutions and cudoms of the world, that of 
favery feems the mod unjud, at the fame time that it was 
the mod general. Had the (lave the power of redeeming 
himfelf, his condition would not be altogether hopelefs ; 
but, where it is otherwife, the mifery of man capable of re¬ 
flecting thoroughly upon his degradation mud be com¬ 
plete indeed. The more mental ability he poffefles', the 
deeper mud be his poignancy to know, that he is merely 
the mod valuable, though perhaps not the molt valued, 
animal in his mader’s ltock. The inhuman and abomi¬ 
nable traffic of man may be traced to very early times ; 
and the curfe ofNoah upon Ham and his descendants did 
not pals unaccompliflied. The fird (lave whofe name 
we are acquainted with was Hagar the Egyptian, the 
bond-flave of Sarah ; her midrefs difpofed of her perfon 
to her hufband, and afterwards compelled him to difmils 
her with her child ; and it is no lefs Angular, that the firft 
traders we hear of in human flefh were the defendants of 
this fame female (lave, who aftually bought the great 
grandchild of her midrefs from his own brethren. Gen. 
xxxvii. 27, 28. 
Slavery was divided into two kinds, abfolute flavery 
and fervitude ; the dranger might be of either defcrip- 
tion, but the Hebrew of the. latter only. The life of the 
(lave was not abfolutely in his mader’s power; if he killed 
him upon the fpot, the (lave was avenged ; but, if the (lave 
furvived a day or two, the mader was unpunilhed, for a 
reafon, (he is his money,) the better interpretation of which 
would feem to be, that it could not be the mader’s inten¬ 
tion to deltroy his own property. The progeny of a (lave 
on a wife given to him by his mader belonged to the mai¬ 
ler. On the other hand, the law was extremely atten¬ 
tive to their condition. The captive or the (lave taken, 
to wife, orgivento a fon as fuch, could not again be fold 
Deut. xxi. 11. The Hebrew (lave might redeem himfelf, 
or be redeemed- by his kindred, on the fame terms that.he 
was enabled to redeem his land : he had the option of his 
freedom on the fabbatical year; and, when difcharged, 
could not be fent away empty; he was to be furniihed 
liberally out of his mader’s flock, his floor, and his wine- 
prefs. The humanity of the legiflator is no lefs remark¬ 
able in regard to others. If the (lave was defpoiled even 
of a tooth by his angry mader, the injury was redeemed 
by his indant freedom. If he efcaped to the roof of an¬ 
other, his protedtion was infurcd, he could not be. given 
