메소포타미아 법사상 연구 -받는 소(Goring Ox)를 중심으로

The study is on texts dealing with goring ox from Mesopotamia and the Bible, i.e., Hammurabi code of Old Babylon, a leading power in ancient world, and the law of Eshnunna, a city state beyond Tigris river in 18th century BC in ancient Mesopotamia, and holiness code of the Bible in Palestine. All texts are compared and evaluated in a various perspectives. The ox was regarded as a major cattle of wealth, transportation and cultivation in ancient world. The goring ox may have caused some threat to lives and social order, for which the laws on goring ox were stipulated as social norms. The goring ox was not seen guilty and the crime was compensated in Mesopotamia, while the ox which gored a man to death was regarded as a murderer, and was stoned to death and the owner of the habitually goring ox was also subject to capital punishment in the Hebrew Bible. The diversity of application on goring ox according to different cultures and civilization shows some alternatives for keeping the social order and peaceful reconciliation of conflict, an ideal of Mesopotamian laws. Based on comparative study of legal regulations on goring ox, we can draw some insight on principles and method of ancient laws, and their applications and alternatives.