This very handy summary and exposition of the sources and content of early ancient Near Eastern law was first published in 2003 by the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften. In this second edition, Prof. Wilcke has provided minor corrections and a 44-page section that includes additions to the first printing, supplemental bibliography, and an appendix that takes into account newly unearthed texts from the Bank of Italy collection.Topics covered include matters such as law codes and edicts, government and administrative principles and law, personal status, family law, property and inheritance, treaties, contracts and exchange of goods, and edicts. The result is the single most comprehensive, synthetic source on law and legal matters in the ancient Near East of the early periods.