ABSTRACT
Introduction Crime at its most basic level is committed by an individual against an individual. In the broadest sense, crime dates to prehistoric man, although in the absence of any mutually agreed (or societally imposed) code of conduct from a strict semantic standpoint a “crime” cannot be committed. (Remember, an act that is unethical or immoral is not necessarily illegal.) However, the earliest set of laws-the Code of Hammurabi, dating to approximately 1780 bc-includes extensive regulations governing commerce, down to setting the rental rates for oxen, carts, ferries, and freight boats and the reimbursements for very specic damages to such rented property.1 Judging from the number of statutes governing business matters, this must have been an area with substantial potential for conict.
