§ 7

Law § 7 of Hammurabi's Code

Summary
the punishment for buying certain goods from a man's son or slave without witnesses is execution.
Translation
If a man has purchased or accepted for safekeeping either silver or gold or a male slave or a female slave or an ox or a sheep or a donkey or anything at all from a member of the awīlum class or an awīlum’s slave without witnesses and contracts, said man is a thief; he will be executed.
Law Code
Law Code of Hammurabi
Law Group
Theft, Kidnapping, Robbery

Cuneiform

Law § 7 - Cuneiform - Law Code of Hammurabi

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 4, col. VI, lns. 41–56)

Transliteration

[š]um-ma a-wi-lum lu KUG.BABBAR lu KUG.SIG17 lu ÌR lu GEME2 lu GUD lu UDU lu ANŠE ù lu mi-im-ma šum-šu i-na qá-at DUMU a-wi-lim!(LUM) ù lu ÌR a-wi-lim ba-lum ši-bi ù ri-ik-sa-tim iš-ta-am ù lu ana ma-ṣa-ru-tim im-ḫu-ur a-wi-lum šu-ú šar-ra-aq id-da-ak

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 50)

Normalization

šumma awīlum lū kaspam lū ḫurāṣam lū wardam lū amtam lū alpam lū immeram lū imēram ū lū mimma šumšu ina qāt mār awīlim ū lū warad awīlim balum šībī u riksātim ištām ū lū ana maṣṣarūtim imḫur awīlum šū šarrāq iddâk.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 50)

Translation

If a man has purchased or accepted for safekeeping either silver or gold or a male slave or a female slave or an ox or a sheep or a donkey or anything at all from a member of the awīlum class or an awīlum’s slave without witnesses and contracts, said man is a thief; he will be executed.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 50–51)

Citation

MLA 9

Dedović, B. "§ 7 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 23 Oct. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/7. [Accessed 14 Nov. 2026]

APA 7

Dedović, B. (2023, October 23). § 7 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/7

CMS 16

Dedović, Boban. "§ 7 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created October 23, 2023. Modified December 15, 2024. Accessed November 14, 2026. https://ehlaw.org/law/7.

Bibliography

ACH

Abulhab, Saad D. The Law Code of Hammurabi: Transliterated and Literally Translated from its Early Classical Arabic Language. New York, NY: Blautopf, 2017.

CHTP

Bergmann, Eugen. Codex Ḫammurabi: Textus Primigenius. Rome, Italy: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1953.

HAG3

Huehnergard, John. A Grammar of Akkadian (Third Edition). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011.

HKEY3

Huehnergard, John. Key to a Grammar of Akkadian (Third Edition). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013.

–

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "OMNIKA: Digital Mythology Library & Search Engine." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation, accessed November 14, 2023. https://omnika.org. [Visit]

RHL

Richardson, Mervyn E.J. Hammurabi's Laws: Text, Translation and Glossary. New York, NY: T & T Clark International, 2004.

SoT

Sound of Text Contributors. "Sound of Text: AI Text-to-Speech." Accessed November 14, 2023. https://soundoftext.app. [Visit]

eHammurabi Glossary

The § symbol is a shorthand notation for the word 'section'.

Read more

eHammurabi Glossary

Cuneiform is an ancient writing system used by various cultures around Mesopotamia.

Read more

eHammurabi Glossary

Normalization is the application of grammatical rules unto transliterated sound values.

Read more

eHammurabi Glossary

Translation is the conversion of linguistic contents and their meanings from one language into another.

Read more

eHammurabi Glossary

Transliteration is the conversion of sound values from one writing system into another.

Read more