It is probable that such grants of land were made to private individuals in return for special services which they had rendered to the king.  Thus a broken kudurru among M. de Morgan’s finds records the confirmation of a man’s claims to certain property by Biti-liash II, the claims being based on a grant made to the man’s ancestor by Kurigalzu for services rendered to the king during his war with Assyria.  One of the finest specimens of this class of charters or title-deeds has been found at Susa, dating from the reign of Melishikhu, a king of the Third Dynasty.  The document in question records a grant of certain property in the district of Bit-Pir-Shadu-rabu, near the cities Agade and Dur-Kurigalzu, made by Melishikhu to Marduk-aplu-iddina, his son, who succeeded him upon the throne of Babylon.  The text first gives details with regard to the size and situation of the estates included in the grant of land, and it states the names of the high officials who were entrusted with the duty of measuring them.  The remainder of the text defines and secures the privileges granted to Marduk-aplu-iddina together with the land, and, as it throws considerable light upon the system of land tenure at the period, an extract from it may here be translated: 

“To prevent the encroachment on his land,” the inscription runs, “thus hath he (i.e. the king) established his (Marduk-aplu-iddina’s) charter.  On his land taxes and tithes shall they not impose; ditches, limits, and boundaries shall they not displace; there shall be no plots, stratagems, or claims (with regard to his possession); for forced labour or public work for the prevention of floods, for the maintenance and repair of the royal canal under the protection of the towns of Bit-Sikkamidu and Damik-Adad, among the gangs levied in the towns of the district of Nina-Agade, they shall not call out the people of his estate; they are not liable to forced labour on the sluices of the royal canal, nor are they liable for building dams, nor for closing the canal, nor for digging out the bed thereof.”

[Illustration:  260.jpg KUOTTRRU, OR “BOUNDARY-STONE.”]

Inscribed with a text of Melishikhu, one of the kings of the Third or Kassite Dynasty of Babylon, recording a grant of certain property to Marduk-aplu-iddina, his son The photograph is reproduced from M. de Morgan’s Delegation en Perse, Mem., t. ii, pi. 24.

“A cultivator of his lands, whether hired or belonging to the estate, and the men who receive his instructions (i.e. his overseers) shall no governor of Bit-Pir-Shadu-rabu cause to leave his lands, whether by the order of the king, or by the order of the governor, or by the order of whosoever may be at Bit-Pir-Shadu-rabu.  On wood, grass, straw, corn, and every other sort of crop, on his carts and yoke, on his ass and man-servant, shall they make no levy.  During the scarcity of water in the canal running between the Bati-Anzanim canal and the canal of the royal district, on the