These regulations show the privileges and responsibilities
which pertained to the two classes of free men in the Babylonian
community, and they indicate the relative social positions which they
enjoyed.
Both classes of free men could own slaves, though it is obvious that
they were more numerous in the households and on the estates of members
of the upper class. The slave was the absolute property of his master
and could be bought and sold and employed as a deposit for a debt,
but, though slaves as a class had few rights of their own, in certain
circumstances they could acquire them. Thus, if the owner of a female
slave had begotten children by her he could not use her as the payment
for a debt, and in the event of his having done so he was obliged to
ransom her by paying the original amount of the debt in money. It was
also possible for a male slave, whether owned by a member of the upper
or of the middle class, to marry a free woman, and if he did so, his
children were free and did not become the property of his master. Also,
if the free woman whom the slave married brought with her a marriage
portion from her father's house, this remained her own property on the
slave's death, and supposing the couple had acquired other property
during the time they lived together as man and wife, the owner of the
slave could only claim half of such property, the other half being
retained by the free woman for her own use and for that of her children.
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