nce to male wine sellers. A female publican had to conduct
her business honestly, and was bound to accept a legal tender. If she
refused corn and demanded silver, when the value of the silver by
"grand weight" was below the price of corn, she was prosecuted and
punished by being thrown into the water. Perhaps she was simply
ducked. As much may be inferred from the fact that when she was found
guilty of allowing rebels to meet in her house, she was put to death.

The land laws were strict and exacting. A tenant could be penalized
for not cultivating his holding properly. The rent paid was a
proportion of the crop, but the proportion could be fixed according to
the average yield of a district, so that a careless or inefficient
tenant had to bear the brunt of his neglect or want of skill. The
punishment for allowing a field to lie fallow was to make a man hoe
and sow it and then hand it over to his landlord, and this applied
even to a man who leased unreclaimed land which he had contracted to
cultivate. Damage done to fields by floods after the rent was paid was
borne by the cultivator; but if it occurred before the corn was reaped
the landlord's share was calculated in proportion to the amount of the
yield which was recovered. Allowance was also made for poor harvests,
when the shortage was not due to the neglect of the tenant, but to
other causes, and no interest was paid for borrowed money even if the
farm suffered from the depredations of the tempest god; the
moneylender had to share risks with borrowers. Tenants who neglected
their dykes, however, were not exempted from their legal liabilities,
and their whole estates could be sold to reimburse their creditors.

The industrious were protected against the careless. Men who were
negligent about controlling the water supply, and caused floods by
opening irrigation ditches which damaged the crops of their
neighbours, had to pay for the losses sustained, the damages being
estimated according to the average yield of a district. A tenant who
allowed his sheep to stray on to a neighbour's pasture had to pay a
heavy fine in corn at the harvest season, much in excess of the value
of the grass cropped by his sheep. Gardeners were similarly subject to
strict laws. All business contracts had to be conducted according to
the provisions of the Code, and in every case it was necessary that a
proper record should be made on clay tablets. As a rule a dishonest
tenant or trader had to