An Eye for an Eye

The Major Facts About Hammurabi’s Code

     Law is one of societies most basic institutions, and one of the most necessary. While it establishes a person's rights and obligations, law also sets penalties for those who violate its rules. And although specific laws change over time, most people agree that justice is one of law's most guiding principals.

     Life without law would be chaotic, ordinary people wouldn't have protection from their rulers, and righteousness and order would be lost in the community. Being that, order must be kept, and a uniform set of laws is necessary with the rise of cities. For instance, one of the earliest known attempts to institutionalize law occurred in ancient Mesopotamia, a region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which is where Iraq is today.

     Being that very few legal texts from the Sumerian period have been found, most of what we know comes from what archaeologists have discovered in the Persian city of Susa, in the early 20th century. And according to chronology, an ancient king, Hammurabi, who was the sixth leader to rule over Babylon from 1792 B.C. to 1750 B.C, was the first person to ever write down a set of rules, that are well preserved, on a human-sized stone stele. At the beginning of his reign, Mesopotamia was divided into many city-states, all with their own pattern of shifting rules, but Hammurabi eventually brought the entire region under his control. He collected laws from the various city- states, and wrote down a set of codes, which are organized laws, that soon governed the entire area. And in that way all people became accustomed with rules consequences.

     Hammurabi's written codes are considered to be one of the oldest deciphered ancient Sumerian writings of significant length in the world. They had the most important role in allowing law to become a matter of public knowledge, and so they helped advance the rule of law in society. His code dealt with issues of taxes and trade, marriage and divorce, and theft and murder. They also settled complex conflicts about labor, property, family and adopting children, practicing medicine, hiring wagons or boats, and even controlling dangerous wild animals. To emphasize, the code says " if a sergeant preforms a major operation with a knife on a citizen, and it causes the death of that citizen, the sergeant's hand should be cut off". Additionally, Hammurabi assigned specific punishments to fit specific crimes. Each and every one of these 282 laws or articles was based on being "fair".

     The old testament's first law is meant to reflex Hammurabi's approach; an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Hence, he believed that the punishment should fit the crime. So, if one steals, one's hand shall be cut off, if one mistakenly waters one's neighbor's crops, resulting in said crops being ruined, one must pay for compensation, and of course, if one kidnap's another's son, one is sentenced to execution. Even if one commits a crime without realizing, or without meaning too as in by accident, it didn't matter to Hammurabi; you do the crime, you do the time.

     Sadly, the code wasn't equal for everyone, and thepunishments related to social classes. Therefore, richer and more powerful people were able to get away with a lot more. And if one commits a crime against a rich or powerful person, one's punishment would be much harsher. In other words, the higher the class of the victim, the harsher the punishment is.

     Hammurabi's empire eventually fell apart, but he's credited with establishing justice in the land. Amazingly, the idea of codified law was just beginning. Thus, the codification movement reached its peak under the French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte, after he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Napoleon wanted to bring a new order to France by establishing a new constitution; he restricted France's legal systems into a new unified collection of laws, known as the Napoleonic Code. Like any other great military leader, Napoleon soon conquered most of Europe. Just as Hammurabi unified laws across Mesopotamia, Napoleon's ideas and reforms spread across Europe. He established new constitutions in the counties he conquered, and so the Napoleonic code helped modernize an entire continent.

     All in all, as civilizations evolve, they leave behind specific rules and laws that are established by past leaders and governments, what survives is the quest for law, order, and justice.

References

* Boston: Prentice Hall (2008, p 44-45). History of Our World: The Early Ages.
* All Histories (Sep 29, 2009). Turning Points in History - Hammurabi's Code of Laws.
* CCMS Cougar cast (Nov 22, 2010). Hammurabi's Code.
* Crash Course (Feb 09, 2012). Mesopotamia: Crash Course World History #3
* Ashraf Ezzat (Jul 30, 2012). Hammurabi's code of law & the Israelite connection.