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The Code of Hammurabi

section 9 · 9 of 248

The Code of Hammurabi

English, translated by C. H. W. Johns — Johns, The Oldest Code of Laws in the World, Edinburgh, 1903

If a man who has lost something of his, something of his that is lost has been seized in the hand of a man, the man in whose hand the lost thing has been seized has said, 'A giver gave it me,' or 'I bought it before witnesses,' and the owner of the thing that is lost has said, 'Verily, I will bring witnesses that know my lost property,' the buyer has brought the giver who gave it him and the witnesses before whom he bought it, and the owner of the lost property has brought the witnesses who know his lost property, the judge shall see their depositions, the witnesses before whom the purchase was made and the witnesses knowing the lost property shall say out before God what they know; and if the giver has acted the thief he shall be put to death, the owner of the lost property shall take his lost property, the buyer shall take the money he paid from the house of the giver.