He
might plant it and tend it for four years, and in the fifth year of
his tenancy the original owner of the field took half of the garden
in payment, while the other half the planter of the garden kept for
himself. If a bare patch had been left in the garden it was to be
reckoned in the planter's half. Regulations were framed to ensure the
proper carrying out of the planting, for if the tenant neglected to do
this during the first four years, he was still liable to plant the plot
he had taken without receiving his half, and he had to pay the owner
compensation in addition, which varied in amount according to the
original condition of the land. If a man hired a garden, the rent he
paid to the owner was fixed at two-thirds of its produce. Detailed
regulations are also given in the code concerning the hire of cattle
and asses, and the compensation to be paid to the owner for the loss or
ill-treatment of his beasts. These are framed on the just principle that
the hirer was responsible only for damage or loss which he could have
reasonably prevented. Thus, if a lion killed a hired ox or ass in the
open country, or if an ox was killed by lightning, the loss fell upon
the owner and not on the man who hired the beast. But if the hirer
killed the ox through carelessness or by beating it unmercifully, or if
the beast broke its leg while in his charge, he had to restore another
ox to the owner in place of the one he had hired.
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