The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest complete code of laws that have been discovered. This code of 282 acts provides a deep insight into the society that produced the statutes. When studying the code it is made clear what the society sought to stop and protect. The Code of Hammurabi could effortlessly be put into categories, ranging from agriculture to the relationships between the people. Not only were their beliefs of morality made unequivocal, but their stances on their punishments were undeniable as well. Their punishments, harsh as they may have been, disclosed many aspects of their society. The ancient society that mandated these charters undoubtedly placed value on honor. Code five discusses that if a judge were to come to a wrong …show more content…
A notable division would be agriculture. Agriculture was the way these people survived; there are countless laws that mandate how the industry was to be run. Codes thirty-six through forty-eight give clear regulations on agriculture. They are very unambiguous on the punishments for breaking these mandates. Relationships were a very evident category in this enactment. They speak of how marriage, home life, and children should look like. There was an act that stated that if a woman were to die while married, the father could not receive the dowry back. This act, 162, is an evident example of the laws that could be grouped as laws that affect relationships. Another category that is evident would be laws that explicitly define what should be done in many scenarios concerning the estate of a deceased person. Laws 165 through 185 explain an abounding number of scenarios ranging from step-sons to disowning a son and who the money should …show more content…
The Code of Hammurabi exposes the people’s intolerance towards the breaking of their laws. The vast majority of their punishments revolve around execution, heavy fines, and public humiliation. The penalty for stealing during a fire was to be thrown into the fire. It is also made clear that using fear was a device they used to get what they wanted. They chose to scare their citizens into submission. The retribution for the civilizations actions was especially strident. Execution, in various ways, was the preeminent penalty for most wrong doing. Amputation was also a penalty for breaking laws that occurred often. Some of the laws punished people for things they could not control. If a person were to die while being operated on, then the doctor who did the operation would have their hand cut off. The death of his patient could have been out of his hands, and yet he would lose his hands for the patient’s
Hammurabi’s Code Was It Just? Hammurabi’s code was just because of his personal injury laws. My first piece of evidence that his personal injury laws were just is that he says in doc B that he will protect the weak. He says Hammurabi the protecting king am I.
So, he decided to make Hammurabi’s code with 282 laws organized by specific themes. Although a set of laws was needed, the severity of punishments in property and family laws sure outweighed any of the good laws he made. Hammurabi’s code was not just because of his family law. In law 129 it states “if a married lady is caught in adultery with another man, they shall bind them and cast them into the water” (Doc C) and that isn’t just because That’s not fair
This quote includes an example of, his father dies he get to keep it and take care of it as long as he lives and if he loses it he get to died or something like that. Both deal with the child getting punished if he does not respect his
Was Hammurabi’s Code Just? (By Sofia Bradburn) 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.
Hammurabi’s code was just because of its family law, property law, and personal injury law. Hammurabi is just with his fair and justifiable code for order and justice to Hammurabi’s
The code of Hammurabi was based on an ideal justice, which include “an-eye-for-an-eye” principal, where punishments were carried out based on the type of crimes committed. According to the book, the code punished fraudulent prosecutions by imposing death penalty. It also relied on “nature-decided justice” where the accused person is being leaped into the river to decide their faith; if they sink they are guilty and if they float they are innocent. According to some code provided in the article, it is clear that there were gender base discrimination; social status discrimination and men had more power than women in the society.
About 4,000 years ago, Hammurabi, the King of Babylon, made 282 laws to gain peace. In my opinion, I think that Hammurabi’s Code wasn’t just because it shows that is hurt family, it made people lose some kind of property, and it depended who you were in order to come up with a consequence for personal injury. First of all, it demonstrated that it hurt family. For instance, in Law 129, if a married lady is caught cheating, she will have her hands tied up and she will be drowned in water. Also, in Law 168, it states that if a son hits his father, his hands shall be cut off.
This can be seen by Hammurabi’s words, “If a men destroyed of a gentlemen, they shall destroy their eye… if he has the eye of a commoner, he shall pay one mina of silver… if he has destroyed the eye of a gentlemen’s slave, he shall pay one half the slave’s price.” This shows how the punishments depend on the social class of the victim and the criminal in Hammurabi's code. However, the modern law does NOT. Also, in the Modern Law, the criminals have a democracy. In Hammurabi’s Code, they punish you immediately.
Law 21 tells that if someone has broken into a house, they will be put to death, pierced or hung. Also, in law 48 it states that "If a man has borrowed money to plant his fields, and a storm has flooded his field or carried away the crop,... In that year he does not have to pay his creditor." (Doc D). No Hammurabi's Property code of law was not just.
Laws are always the core of a society and they often indicate a variety of lifestyle decisions made by those people. Hammurabi’s famous set of laws and Moses’ laws could be viewed as two completely distinct documents, yet both set of laws aide historians in revealing insight to the Hebrew and Mesopotamian people. In both societies, enforcing strict consequences that are equivalent to the crime is common. Hammurabi’s well known law states that, “if a man has put out an eye of a free man, they shall put out his eye.” Whereas, in the Hebrew laws, it states, “...if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye...”
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).
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. First, there is evidence that the codes were unjust. The first, code was personal injury law.
His laws would be considered very harsh if they were used today. “An eye for an eye” was the phrase his code could be given. He believed that whatever one human being did to the other should be returned equally. This meant that if a man cut out another man’s eye, the deed should be returned.
Hammurabi’s code gives judgements and consequences for certain crimes. The punishment for a crime depended on one’s social rank. There were essentially three classes; the priests and noble landlords, the freemen, and slaves. Each law illustrated the division in the societies social status. As a particular law read; “If a man has destroyed the eye of another free man, his own eye shall be destroyed.
The Hammurabi Code had a total of 282 laws. There were many harsh punishments whenever you committed a crime during his reign, such as getting your hands, limbs, eye, and breast removed. Hammurabi was born in Babylon which is now modern day Iraq, his father was a king with a lot of power before him. Hammurabi was first only a ruler of a city until he was able to be the king of the Babylonian Empire. Hammurabi divided society to three different classes there were Nobles and rich landowners, Middle and poor social class, and then there were slaves which most of the slaves were P.O.W (Prisoners of War).