Codex Hammurabi 49–52 and the esip-tabal Contracts from Susa

Bibliographic Data

ID9085056
AuthorsHossein Badamchi (University of Tehran Tehran Iran), Badamchi Hossein (University of Tehran), Guido Pfeifer (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main Germany)
Year2022
Volume65
Issue5-6
Pages707-733
Publication date2022-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4995 • E-ISSN: 1568-5209
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/15685209-12341580
OpenAlexW4295807695
LanguageEN
References cited14

The so-called esip-tabal contract is a particular type of agricultural transaction known from Codex Hammurabi and the Akkadian legal texts found in Susa. The Akkadian phrase esip-tabal is a statement made by the owner of the field to the other party, which is commonly understood to be a tenant. Modern scholarship first interpreted this contract as a lease. Later it was considered an antichretic loan, a loan in which the creditor takes over the debtor’s agricultural land as security. However, the place of this contract in the long-term history of law is still unknown and scholars have not made any analogies from other legal cultures. Using the methodology of comparative legal history, and drawing especially on Islamic law, this essay offers a new interpretation of the esip-tabal contract as a sale of future crops. The essay then discusses the rationale behind the contract and its possible continuity into later periods

Bill of lading · Business · Creditor · Debt · Debtor · Interpretation (philosophy) · Interregnum · Linguistics · Political science · African history and culture analysis · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Finance · Law · Philosophy

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