Thieves have to pay from a hundred to seven times the value of the goods stolen, according to the social standing of the person from whom they have stolen.
When the thief is a recidivist, his hands may be cut off if it is his fifth conviction, and he may be hamstrung if it is his seventh. For the ninth conviction his eyes can be put out.
If a thief is punished by the person from whom he is attempting to steal, the courts will not take cognizance of the case; but should the thief be killed, blood-money, to the amount of five ounces of silver, must be paid to his family.
Children aged less than thirteen are not punishable for theft, but their parents are remonstrated with. When a woman commits a theft, the fines and possible corporal punishment are borne in equal proportions by herself and her husband.
No corporal punishment can be inflicted on a pregnant woman, nor on those suffering from an illness, who have recently lost parents, or who are older than seventy.
He who harbours a thief is held to be a greater culprit than the thief himself. If a person witness a theft and do not give notice thereof, he is held equally guilty with the thief. Thefts by one member of a family on another member should be punished by the head of the family alone.
The theft of a lock, a key, or a watch-dog, is considered equivalent to robbing the objects they keep safe. [[188]]
Rape on the person of a married woman of high degree is punishable by emasculation and fines. In case the woman belongs to the middle or lower classes, the culprit pays the husband a fine and gives the woman a suit of clothes.
If a man of low rank has intercourse with the unmarried daughter of a man of high standing, he must serve the father without wages for a term of years. If the offender is of high standing, he has only a fine to pay.
In all cases of assault and battery, fines, known as song jal, or “life money,” are alone imposed, to which may be added the amount necessary for medical treatment for the wounded party. The amount of the fine is fixed by the size and depth of the wounds, the importance of the bone broken or the organ injured.