Hammurabi Code

Amrou Fudl Mr. Titor

9-20-06 American Gov/Civics

Hammurabi's Code

The Hammurabi code, we all know it was a set of laws but what is it exactly? Well here you will see what the Hammurabi code was exactly. The Hammurabi code is one of the oldest set of laws from old times Mesopotamia. These set of laws go into deep detail about is to happen in certain situations if certain things were to occur. Here you will see how it developed, people involved in the creation, how it functioned, fairness and how it compares to our democracy today.

The Hammurabi code was created in 1780 BC. The laws did not accept excuses or explanations for faults. Only Hammurabi himself wrote these laws or codes. It was discovered in 1901 in Susa, Elam, which is now current day Khuzestan, Iran. It was written on an eight foot tall Stella of black basalt and is now in display at the Louvre Museum in Paris France. The king of Mesopotamia created the laws to please the gods that he felt entrusted him with the powers to make laws over his people. "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak..." He did not consider himself a god like many others kings that came before him, but he felt as though he was in their favor. There are 282 laws numbered in his code but numbers 13 and 66-99 are missing.

These laws functioned like any other laws set up to regulate peace. The Laws went into function about deep details concerning certain things to occur in society. It focuses on theft, agriculture (or shepherding), property damage, women's rights, marriage rights, children's rights, slave rights, murder, death, and injury. The punishment varies depending on the class of offenders and victims. The laws had a very strong sense of the "eye for and eye tooth for a tooth" philosophy. If some one does something to you, you do the same to him but 10 times worse. Example: Excerpt From The Code of Hammurabi:

Ð'* If a builder builds a house, and constructs it well, the owner will pay two shekels for each surface of the house.

Ð'* If, however, he does not succeed, and the house falls in, killing the owner, the builder will be killed.

Ð'* If the son of the owner dies, the son of the builder shall be killed

Which is where fairness comes into play, the punishments and consequences of every action depends on your social class. For example if a slave struck a free man he has his ear cut off, but if a son strikes his father he gets his left hand cut off. It is not necessarily fair but that is how Hammurabi ran his self-government. There were not really any fair trials and it was more liked guilty until proven innocent instead of innocent