While doing some research I stumbled upon some old Mesopotamian laws. Reading through them I found a series of conflicting laws. They state
196: If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
197: If he break another man’s bone, his bone shall be broken.
198: If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
The first two laws do not conflict with each other. Yet the third one makes the whole thing a mess.
Did law 198 state that they also had to pay 1 mina if they break bones or eyes (and have theirs broken), or did it mean if they pay 1 mina they did not have their bones broken, or eyes taken out?