shared
their own mother's property, but had no share in that of a stepmother.

A father could disinherit a son in early times without restriction, but the
Code insisted upon judicial consent and that only for repeated unfilial
conduct. In early times the son who denied his father had his front hair
shorn, a slave-mark put on him, and [v.03 p.0120] could be sold as a slave;
while if he denied his mother he had his front hair shorn, was driven round
the city as an example and expelled his home, but not degraded to slavery.

Adultery was punished with the death of both parties by drowning, but if
the husband was willing to pardon his wife, the king might intervene to
pardon the paramour. For incest with his own mother, both were burned to
death; with a stepmother, the man was disinherited; with a daughter, the
man was exiled; with a daughter-in-law, he was drowned; with a son's
betrothed, he was fined. A wife who for her lover's sake procured her
husband's death was gibbeted. A betrothed girl, seduced by her prospective
father-in-law, took her dowry and returned to her family, and was free to
marry as she chose.

In the criminal law the ruling principle was the _lex talionis_. Eye for
eye, tooth for tooth, limb for limb was the penalty for assault upon an
_amelu_. A sort of symbolic retaliation was the punishment of the offending
member, seen in the cutting off the hand that struck a father or stole a
trust; in cutting off the breast of a wet-nurse who substituted a
changeling for the child entrusted to her; in the loss of the tongue that
denied father or mother (in the Elamite contracts the same penalty was
inflicted for perjury); in the loss of the eye that pried into forbidden
secrets. The loss of the surgeon's hand that caused loss of life or limb;
or the brander's hand that obliterated a slave's identification mark, are
very similar. The slave, who struck a freeman or denied his master, lost an
ear, the organ of hearing and symbol of obedience. To bring another into
danger of death by false accusation was punished by death. To cause loss of
liberty or property by false witness was punished by the penalty the
perjurer sought to bring upon another.

The death penalty was freely awarded for theft and other crimes regarded as
coming under that head; for theft involving entrance of palace or temple
treasury, for illegal purchase from minor or slave, for selling stolen
goods or receiving the same, for common theft in the