HAMMONTON, N. J., town in Atlantic County; on the Philadelphia and Reading and the Camden and A. railroads; about 27 miles southeast of Camden and 28 miles north west of Atlantic City. It is situated in a region noted for its rich farms and abundance of fruit. The chief manufactures are shoes and cigars; but it is the trade centre for the northeastern part of the county, and from Hammonton a large amount of small fruits are shipped to New York and other cities. The sewerage sys tem and waterworks are municipally owned. Pop. 5,088.
HAMMURABI, The Code of, instituted by Hammurabi, king of Babylon, about 2200 B.C. is a thousand years older than the Mosaic Age; older than the laws of either Manu, or Moses. It is engraved on a pillar of black diorite, eight feet high, which was finally unearthed, January 1902, in the acropolis mound at Susa. The obverse of the column is sur mounted by a bas-relief which represents the god Bel, the lawgiver, before whom the king stands to receive the law. The inscription which covers this stately monolith is the longest Bab ylonian record ever discovered. It contained originally about 3,000 lines of writing, divided into 49 columns; but five col umns on the front have been erased by some Elamite king, probably Sutruk Naknunti, who served the stele of Naram-Sin in a similar man ner. The writing is a very beautiful type of the best archaic script, a kind of black-letter cunei form, long used by kings for royal inscriptions. The code is divided into about 280 clauses and opens with the words, "Law and justice I es tablished in the land, I made happy the human race in those days.* Character of the The code shows a most careful and systematic order, beginning with witchcraft, which connects it with a reli gious code; it passes through all grades of social and domestic life, ending with a scale of official wages for all classes 9f workmen, even the lovs est in the scale. Hammurabi's laws of witch craft preserve the °ordeal of water.* "If a man has placed an enchantment upon a man, and has not justified himself, he upon whom the enchantment is placed to the Holy River (Euphrates) shall go; into the Holy River he shall plunge. If the Holy River holds
(drowns) him he who enchanted him shall take his house. If on the contrary, the, man is safe and thus is innocent, the wizard loses his life and his house.* The same ordeal was applied to a wife for unfaithfulness or extravagance, or to a wine seller who sold drink too cheap.
The three essential features of the code may be clearly defined. First it is based on personal responsibility and the jus talionir. Thus: °If any one destroys another's eye, his own eye shall be destroyed. If any one breaks another's bone, his own bone shall be broken. If any one knocks out the tooth of his equal, his own tooth shall be knocked out?' Next the belief in the sanctity of the oath before God, as in the Hebrew code, and also the absolute necessity of Written evidence in all legal matters, as became a nation of scribes. Judgments in the law courts required a document; an agent must take and give receipts for all money or goods entrusted to him; bonded goods required a de posit note. One of the most interesting series of, clauses relates to officers or constables em ployed on active service; the estate of such a person could be entrusted to management, could not be sold or mortgaged, but must be cared for by a deputy, or three years' absence and neg lect entailed forfeiture. Substituted service was not allowed. As might be expected in a land so rich in cultivation, the agricultural laws are most explicit. Land must be cultivated, and if neglected the owner had to pay the same as neighboring land. Damage to crop by storm excused the payment of interest on loan. There are very stringent laws as to the tending of the irrigation canals and ditches, and any damage to adjacent land by neglect had to be made good. The commercial laws are extremely important, as showing a highly developed system. Notice able are the clauses relating to agents or ped dlers, commercial travelers of the period..