o execute the law.

(M57)

III. If a father has said to his son, "You are not my son," he
shall leave house and yard.

Here the father has power to repudiate a son, who must go. The word for
"leave" is literally "take himself up," "go up out of." The word "yard" is
simply "inclosure" and may mean the city walls, as a symbol of shelter.

(M58)

IV. If a mother has said to her son, "You are not my son," he
shall leave house and property.

Here we expect, by analogy with Laws I. and II., that this penalty is
rather less than that in III. The "property" means "house furniture." The
son must leave home and can take no house furniture with him. He has no
claim to inherit anything. But he need not leave the city. Hence it seems
likely that III. denied him the right of city shelter.

(M59)

V. If a wife hates her husband and has said, "You are not my
husband," one shall throw her into the river.

(M60)

VI. If a husband has said to his wife, "You are not my wife," he
shall pay half a mina of silver.

The contrast in the penalties is startling. Note the impersonal form of V.
The executioners here are the family, or city, not the husband. Publicity
is therefore implied. It is not a private quarrel, but a refusal of
conjugal rights. In the second case the man divorces, or puts away, his
wife, but pays a heavy fine.

(M61)

VII. If a man has hired a slave and he dies, is lost, has fled,
has been incapacitated, or has fallen sick, he shall measure out
10 _KA_ of corn _per diem_ as his wages.

Here the Sumerian text differs from the Semitic. In the former the
employer is said to "cause" the slave to suffer these detriments, in the
latter he is said to come by them. The verb rendered "lost" is used in
that sense in the later Code of Hammurabi. What is the exact sense of the
verb rendered "has been incapacitated" is not clear. Professor Hommel(60)
renders _durchbrennen_, Delitzsch(61) renders _weichen, entweichen, oder
zu arbeiten aufhoeren_. But it is clear that the employer is to pay a daily
fine for injury done to the slave, or for loss to his owner, caused or
connived at by him. The slave's refusal to work could not be made the
ground for fining him. If anyone paid for that it would be the owner. The
employer pays for his work, but is bound to keep him safe and treat him
reasonably well and return him in good condition to his owner. In later
times th