King of Babylonia Hammurabi

“ If a man has bought silver, gold, manservant or maidservant, ox or sheep or ass, or anything whatever its name, from the hand of a man’s son, or of a man’s slave, without witness and bonds, or has received the same on deposit, that man has acted the thief, he shall be put to death. ”

“ If the field which has been given him to plant he has not planted as a garden, if it was corn land, the gardener shall measure out corn to the owner of the field, like its neighbour, as produce of the field for the years that are neglected, and he shall do the ordered work on the field and return to the owner of the field. ”

“ If a debt has seized a man, and he has handed over for the money a maidservant who has borne him children, the money the merchant paid him the owner of the maid shall pay, and he shall ransom his maid. ”

“ If a ganger or a constable has left alone his field, or his garden, or his house, from the beginning of his business, and has caused it to be waste, a second after him has taken his field, his garden, or his house, and has gone about his business for three years, if he returns and regains his city, and would cultivate his field, his garden, and his house, one shall not give them to him ”

“ If the buyer has not brought the giver who gave it him and the witnesses before whom he bought, and the owner of the lost property has brought the witnesses knowing his lost property, the buyer has acted the thief, he shall be put to death; the owner of the lost property shall take his lost property. ”

“ If a wine merchant has not received corn as the price of drink, has received silver by the great stone, and has made the price of drink less than the price of corn, that wine merchant one shall put her to account and throw her into the water. ”

“ If a man has brought in a present to the house of his father-in-law, has given a dowry, and a comrade of his has slandered him, his father-in-law has said to the claimant of the wife, ‘My daughter thou shalt not espouse,’ he shall make up and return all that he brought him, and his comrade shall not marry his wife. ”

“ If a man has lost nothing of his, but has said that something of his is lost, has exaggerated his loss, since nothing of his is lost, his loss he shall recount before God, and whatever he has claimed he shall make up and shall give to his loss. ”

“ If a man has caused the finger to be pointed against a votary, or a man’s wife, and has not justified himself, that man they shall throw down before the judge and brand his forehead.
§ 128. If a man has married a wife and has not laid down her bonds, that woman is no wife. ”

“ If a man has bought in a foreign land the manservant or the maidservant of a man, when he has come into the land, and the owner of the manservant or the maidservant has recognised his manservant or his maidservant, if the manservant or maidservant are natives without price he shall grant them their freedom. ”

“ If a man has hired an ox, and has crushed its horn, cut off its tail, or pierced its nostrils, he shall pay a quarter of its price.
§ 249. If a man has hired an ox, and God has struck it and it has died, the man who has hired the ox shall swear before God and shall go free. ”

“ If a man has neglected to strengthen his bank of the canal, has not strengthened his bank, a breach has opened out itself in his bank, and the waters have carried away the meadow, the man in whose bank the breach has been opened shall render back the corn which he has caused to be lost. ”