Hammurabis Code
Then vs. Now
Imagine a society without rules and regulations. Everyone can do exactly what they want and there is no difference between what is right and wrong. This is the world that the people of Babylon lived in before King Hammurabi took reign. Hammurabi ruled the city-state of Babylon in the early 1800’s BCE, during the 38th year of his rule, Hammurabi created a set of laws supposedly given to him directly from the god of justice himself, Shamash. According to Document A, the 282 laws, promoting justice to the weak, were carved into large pillar shaped stones called stele. They later became known as Hammurabi’s Code. Today we are going to analyze these laws in order to determine whether or not they were fair to the victim, the accused, and society. Personally I believe that these laws were indeed fair in his ancient era , although we don’t know much about life in this century, by studying these laws we can find out.
Over the years, things change. And laws are definitely a good example of change. What was fair many years ago might not make sense to people of today. In document C. 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.” In the US government today, if a woman commits adultery, she is not breaking the law. Another example is in document D. Law 21, it states: “if a man has broken through the wall [to rob] a house, they shall put him to death and pierce him, or hang him in the hole in the wall which he has made.” In modern day America, the punishment of hanging someone would be the crime itself. Obviously we now know that hanging people is not the right thing to do because times have changed.
One thing that I have noticed about Hammurabi’s code is that some of these laws lack basic logic. They were just simply not thought out very well. In document E. law 218, it states: “If a surgeon has operated with a bronze lancet on a free man for a serious injury, and has caused
Imagine a society without rules and regulations. Everyone can do exactly what they want and there is no difference between what is right and wrong. This is the world that the people of Babylon lived in before King Hammurabi took reign. Hammurabi ruled the city-state of Babylon in the early 1800’s BCE, during the 38th year of his rule, Hammurabi created a set of laws supposedly given to him directly from the god of justice himself, Shamash. According to Document A, the 282 laws, promoting justice to the weak, were carved into large pillar shaped stones called stele. They later became known as Hammurabi’s Code. Today we are going to analyze these laws in order to determine whether or not they were fair to the victim, the accused, and society. Personally I believe that these laws were indeed fair in his ancient era , although we don’t know much about life in this century, by studying these laws we can find out.
Over the years, things change. And laws are definitely a good example of change. What was fair many years ago might not make sense to people of today. In document C. 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.” In the US government today, if a woman commits adultery, she is not breaking the law. Another example is in document D. Law 21, it states: “if a man has broken through the wall [to rob] a house, they shall put him to death and pierce him, or hang him in the hole in the wall which he has made.” In modern day America, the punishment of hanging someone would be the crime itself. Obviously we now know that hanging people is not the right thing to do because times have changed.
One thing that I have noticed about Hammurabi’s code is that some of these laws lack basic logic. They were just simply not thought out very well. In document E. law 218, it states: “If a surgeon has operated with a bronze lancet on a free man for a serious injury, and has caused