If you travel 7000 miles to a new kingdom but once you get there, you walk into someone getting their fingers chopped off, what are you going to do? Back in the days of King Hammurabi, this is very likely to happen to anyone that broke one of this cruel King’s laws. King Hammurabi became the ruler of Babylon, a small city-state in Mesopotamia, in 1792 BCE. Hammurabi took the place of his father, Sin-Muballit, after he died from health problems. Hammurabi claims to have gotten his 282 laws from the god of justice, Shamash. Were Hammurabi’s Laws Just? That is the question we are going to be talking about throughout this essay. I will explain whether or not I think the laws are just. The definition of the word “just” is fair, therefore I will be explaining if I think the laws are fair or unfair. In my opinion, Hammurabi’s laws were unfair to the citizens of the civilization. The laws were very cruel, unnecessary, and very extra. In the following paragraphs, I will explain my reasoning for my thoughts on Hammurabi’s laws.
“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found against the wrong.”(Theodore Roosevelt) To start off let’s talk about Hammurabi, a king not many people knew about. Thanks to clay writing tablets found by archaeologist, we know some things about him. Some things we know about Hammurabi is that he was a king for 42 years! In addition to that he was a king of a city state in Mesopotamia called, Babylon. Something else about Hammurabi is that he took power in 1792 BCE. Hammurabi also developed a code totaling an astonishing 282 laws. My question I need to answer is, Was Hammurabi’s Code Fair? There are three areas of law in Hammurabi’s Code which can be proven to be just. These three areas of law are family law, personal injury law, and property law.
Illustrate in your mind living during the 1750’s B.C.E and living in Babylon. The king and ruler, Hammurabi had multiple laws to rule this society, to make sure the widows and orphans were safe and that the weak were protected from the strong. Hammurabi ruled Babylon for about 32 years. He wrote laws using the writing system, Cuneiform. Some of these laws were harsh. Maybe too harsh. Were these laws just? Was Hammurabi’s code just? Hammurabi’s code was not just because the personal injury laws did not protect all people equally, property laws were harsh and not protecting people enough, and the Family laws should allow people to be with whoever they want to be with.
Have you ever heard the expression, treat others how you want to be treated? Well that's what Hammurabi’s code is all about. Babylonia was ruled by king Hammurabi for 42 years in 1754 BCE. In those years Hammurabi made a set of 282 laws called Hammurabi’s code to create justice and the laws were placed on a steele. Hammurabi's code was just because his purpose was to protect the weak, he made laws about property to protect your house and laws to punish people if they injure you.
Visualize having a king who made 282 laws and if a person did not follow them they would get a really big punishment. That is how it was 4,000 years ago when a king named Hammurabi ruled in Babylon. He ruled Babylon for 42 years. King Hammurabi became king of Babylon in 1754 BCE. Were Hammurabi’s laws and codes fair and just? King Hammurabi’s codes were unjust because of the evidence found in the 282 laws. The codes that King Hammurabi wrote about were personal injury law, property law and family law.
Was Hammurabi’s code just? Nearly 4,000 years ago, a man named Hammurabi became king of a city state called babylon. Hammurabi made a very important code in 18th century B.C.E. Hammurabi made 282 laws and he made these codes to protect the weak and poor from the strong. There are areas of law where Hammurabi’s code can be shown to be both, just and unjust. These are Family Law, Property Law, and Personal Injury Law. Each type of code is meant to bring justice to all the parts of society so that there would be fairness to the accused, fairness to the victim and fairness for society.
How would you feel if you had your hands chopped off? This can happen in Hammurabi’s code. If a son struck his father, his hand would be chopped off. Hammurabi ruled Babylon for 42 years. In the 38th year of his rule, Hammurabi had 282 laws carved on a large pillar like stone called stele. Some laws varied according to whether you were either higher class or lower class, and whether you were a man or a woman. Hammurabi’s Code was not just because the punishments were cruel and some were gruesome. Children were not treated as well as adults, even though his laws were supposed to protect woman and young children.
Funk and Wagnall New World Encyclopedia wrote, “The basis of criminal law is that of equal retaliation, comparable to the Semitic law of ‘an eye for an eye’”(“Hammurabi, Code of” 1). Hammurabi was the first to make the law code meaning he was the first to start the foundation for our law system today. He was the father of law and today his justice code is still apparent today. The code of Hammurabi was designed to protect the weak, which includes: women, children and slaves. Funk and Wagnall wrote, “It seeks to protect the weak and the poor, including women, children, and slaves, against injustice at the hands of the rich and powerful”(Hammurabi, Code of” 1). It helps protect the people that cannot or do not know how to protect
“Cursed!” is what you'll hear if you decline the written rules of Hammurabi.400 years ago in 1754 Bce. A man named Hammurabi became king of a city called babylonia and made certain rules about family law, property law, and personal injury law and although they were laws, not all laws were fair.
Did you know Hammurabi created the first set of laws.Hammurabi was a king of Mesopotamia.Hammurabi’s codes were laws.They were the first set of written laws. The purpose was to punish people for stealing ,murdering,and other things.Hammurabi’s codes were just because it is a punishment and they are fair to people.Hammurabi’s Code is just for two reasons family law and property law.
Cutting off a son’s hands if they strike their father - that may seem harsh to us nowadays, but in Hammurabi’s time, this rules united the whole entire empire and maintained order throughout the kingdom. Hammurabi was a powerful ruler of the kingdom of Babylon. He ruled for 42 years and ruled over most of Mesopotamia. Hammurabi became the ruler in 1792 BCE and made many great advancements including: a postal system, an irrigation maintenance system, and most importantly, a code of laws. Hammurabi had a strict code of laws that every citizen of Babylon had to follow. The code of laws were written on a stele and were divided into three parts: the Prologue, Laws, and Epilogue. Hammurabi claimed that the “gods” told him to write these 282
In 1750 BCE,Mesopotamians of Babylon faced a land of harsh and dry years or a sudden flood and the code of King Hammurabi. Justice is the process of using laws to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals. Hammurabi 's code is not just. They grew up to die at an average age of 30 years, death was an everyday problem especially when King Hammurabi started his rule. He expanded his empire of Babylon. He wrote his famous code that only rich priest upper and middle class people could read and abide to. His code was written with a sense of power,claiming he was commanded by the almighty God of Justice,Shamash. In Doc B he repeated words "I" and "my" continuously throughout the code, showing that he only made the decisions without any help other
King Hammurabi’s rule began in the city of Babylon. He later then extended his control by taking over Larsa and Mari a large part of Mesopotamia. After expanding his land, Shamash, the god of justice presented him with a code of 232 laws (Doc A). These laws were then influenced throughout the community and were considered a part of the communities culture. I disagree with Hammurabi’s code because most laws were to cruel and targeted certain people. Although the code sculpted the culture in 1797 BC, the code would have no chance of surviving in any modern country to this day due to the harsh punishments received from breaking the laws.
Hammurabi once said, “The first duty of government is to protect the powerless from the powerful.” The weaker a person is, the stronger need of government protection is needed. Hammurabi became king of Babylon in 1792 BCE, he conquered most of southern Mesopotamia and attempted to protect the weak and form law and order. He did this by writing 282 laws in stone and enforcing the laws to the entire kingdom. Hammurabi's code was unjust. Hammurabi's laws that were concerned with family, property, and injury were unfair.
The Code of Hammurabi was written by King Hammurabi and were the first set of laws to ever be created. Hammurabi created 282 laws, that set standards in his empire and in ancient Mesopotamia. Hammurabi made it clear that the laws were not only to equalize society but also establish fairness and also protect the weak from the strong. However, according to the laws, the punishment for men, women, rich, and the poor, were all different; leading that he made the laws unfair. The women of Mesopotamia had a series of laws where it clearly shows they were classified as property. Some laws had harsh punishments and other laws you just had to pay for what you did. Hammurabi clearly showed the opposite of equal among the social classes, by favoring the rich and making it harder for the poor. With the different social classes,