RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Law, Hebrew Law, William
pledge of any article necessary for livelihood (Deut. xxiv. 6, 13, 17, xxx., xxiv. 10-11, and Code of Hammurabi 241). In a like spirit interest was absolutely forbidden (Deut. xxiii. 19-20; cf. Ezek. xviii. 16-17), at least so far as compatriots were concerned. In the case of insolvent debtors, as in Babylonian law (cf. Code of Hammurabi, 54), the levy seems to have included the person, but though the creditor could not deprive the debtor of his property, he was permitted, as in the Code of Hammurabi (116, 117), to sell the debtor into slavery together with his family and property (II Kings iv. 1; Neh. v. 5, 8; Isa. 1. 1; Jer. xxxiv. 8 sqq.), although this servitude ended after the lapse of six years (Ex. xxi. 2; cf. Code of Hammurabi, 117, which enacts that a wife and her children shall work only three years; on the bondage of the daughter, cf. especially Ex. xxi. 7 sqq.). In Deuteronomy this law becomes a command to remit all debt in the seventh year (Deut. xv. 1 sqq.), although with little success (Deut. xv. 9 sqq.; Ezek. xvii. 7 sqq.; Jer. xxxiv. 8 sqq.). To Rabbi Hillel was ascribed the device of the proshul, a declaration before the court that the creditor reserved the right to demand payment of the debt at any time without regard to the year of release. In the Priest Code the manumission was required to take place in the year of jubilee, but kindly treatment of the enslaved debtor was enjoined (Lev. xxv. 35 sqq.; cf. Code of Hammurabi, 115-116).
Indemnity for injury to property could be exacted only where guilt was proved, as in theft and embezzlement, wherein the Hebrew law was more lenient than the Code of Hammurabi, which here frequently imposed the death penalty. The restitution for theft was to be double the
3. Injury amount of money (comp. Code of Hamto murabi, 120, 124, 126), four times the
Property, number of sheep, and five times the number of oxen (Ex. xxii. 1-3). Guilt was also evidenced by gross carelessness (Ex. xxi. 29-36, xxii. 5, 12). If a man's guilt was proved and he was unable to make restitution, he was sold into slavery as a debtor, but where there was no evidence of guilt, there was no compensation (Ex. xxii. 7-8, 10-11, 13). Deuteronomy contains no details on these subjects, but the Priest Code is occasionally milder, enacting that one who concealed anything entrusted to him, or anything stolen or found, make complete restoration and add one-fifth of the value as a fine (Lev. vi. 20-24).
VI. Inheritance: The law of inheritance was agnatic throughout. Unlike the Code of Hammurabi (172), Hebrew law denied the inheritance to the wife, since she formed part of the heritable estate of her husband. Daughters likewise were incapable of inheritance, this being another point of divergence from the Code of Hammurabi (180, 183, 184). Lack of male offspring gave the inheritance to the nearest agnate, who also had the duty of blood-revenge. The sons of different wives had equal right of inheritance, although the firstborn son received a double portion (Deut. xxi. 17). The father might, however, favor one son rather than another, and might even transfer the inheritance of the first-born to a younger son, as to the
first son of a favorite wife, although this was contrary to custom and was forbidden by Deuteronomy (Gen. xlix. 3, xxi. 1 sqq.; I Kings i. 11-13; Deut. xxi. 15-17). It is unknown whether the real estate was divided, nor is it certain whether the inheritance of the sons by a concubine (Gen. xxi. 11) was equal to that of the sons by a wife, although much seems to have depended on the good-will of the father. It was not until the later period that the law allowed daughters to inherit in case there were no sons (Num. xxvii. 4 sqq.), although in such instances they were obliged to marry a husband from their father's stock (Num. xxxvi. 1-12), in order that the estate might not pass to an unrelated family. It was an exceptional act of favor to allow daughters to inherit together with sons (Job xlii. 15), but even in case of a childless marriage the wife had no right of inheritance, the heirs then being the kinsmen of her husband.
I. Benzinger.
Bibliography: J. Klein, Das Gesetz uber das gerichtliche Beweisverfahren nach mosaisch-talmudischem Recht, Halle, 1885; J. D. Michaelis, Mosaisches Recht, 6 vols., Frankfort, 1775; Frenkel, Der gerichtliche Beweis, Berlin, 1846; J. L. Saalschutz, Das mosaische Recht, ib. 1853; L. Diestel, Die religibsen Delikte im israelitischen Strafrecht, in Jahrbiicher fiXr protestantische Theologie, v (1869), 297 sqq.; M. Duschak, Das mosaische Recht, Vienna, 1869; A. Kuenen, Religion of Israel, ii. 250-286, London, 1875; idem, National Religions and Universal Religions, pp. 82 sqq., ib. 1882; A. P. Bissel, The Law of Asylum in Israel, Leipsie, 1884; Smith, OTJC, pp. 298 sqq., 428-430, and lectures xi.-xii.; G. Wildeboer, De Pentateuchkritik en het mozaische Strafrecht, in Tijdschrift vor Strafrecht, iv. 205 sqq., v. 251 sqq.; A. Bertholet, Die Stellung der Israeliten und Juden zu den Fremden, Freiburg, 1896 E. Day, Social Life of the Hebrews, New York, 1901 C. F. Kent, Student's Old Testament, vol. iv., ib., 1907 Schurer, Geschichte, ii. 143 sqq., Eng. transl., consult Index; DB, iii. 64-72; EB, iii. 2714-30; JE, vii. 633- 638; the literature cited under Hammurabi and His Code; and the works on Hebrew archeology and antiquities by DeWette, Ewald, Keil, Benzinger, and Nowack.
LAW, WILLIAM: English controversial and devotional writer; b. at King's Cliffe (28 m. n.e. of Northampton), Northamptonshire, 1686; d. there Apr. 9, 1761. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (B.A., 1708; M.A., 1712), and was ordained and elected fellow of his college in 1711. He was a fearless nonjuror, and, in consequence of his refusal to take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration on the accession of George I., forfeited his fellowship, and all prospects of advancement in the Church. Subsequently he took up his residence at Putney as tutor to Edward Gibbon, father of the historian. In 1740 he returned to King's Cliffe, where he spent the rest of his life in literary labors and works of charity. Law was one of the most eminent English writers on practical divinity in the eighteenth century. He was a genuine mystic, although he lived in a worldly and rationalistic age, and is best known by his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (London, 1729 and often; new ed., 1906). With the exception of The Pilgrim's Progress, no book on practical religion in the language has, perhaps, been so highly praised. Gibbon, Dr. Johnson, Doddridge, and John Wesley, vie with each other in commending it as a masterpiece. At one time, Law was a kind of oracle with Wesley, and his influence upon early Methodism
Lawlor Lazarists