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Hammurabi Code Dbq Essay

798 Words4 Pages

Lauren Soule
Pd:1
10/31/22

Hammurabi’s Code: Was it Just? Just about 4000 years ago in 1750 B.C, Hammurabi became the ruler of Babylon, the capital city-state of the Kingdom of Babylonia. Under the guidance of the god Shamash, Hammurabi created 282 laws to protect the people. His rules are just in the name of the gods and society. They are of complete fairness and help protect the security and welfare of the people. These laws concerning property, personal injury, and family would soon shape the way of the Mesopotamian culture. Hammurabi's code concerning family law for example was highly proficient. It brought order and civilian rights regarding family affairs. For instance in Law 195, (Doc C), if a son is to hit his father he shall have his hands cut off. Also in Law …show more content…

These laws were helpful in creating a safe and robust economy which made sense as Hammurabi is known as one if not the most powerful ruler of the Mesopotamian area. Law 21 for example (Doc D) states if a man robs someone's home by breaking through it he should be hung in the hole he made. This may seem cruel or intemperate, but it prevents future thievery among others. A more relatable law is Law 48 (Doc D) stating if a man gets loaned money to farm, and rain flooded the field or specifically harmed crops he does not have to repay the loan borrowed. This is general fairness as it is even reflected today when natural disaster strikes and we are insured of our loss if maintaining the requirements. This further proves the fairness of the law and property laws generally. Laws 53 and 54 (Doc D) even further direct this statement by stating if a man floods his neighbor's field he must compensate for the crops ruined by opened trenches and irrigation. Property rights defined Hammurabi's culture and proved to be successful. It was fair not only to society but caused the accuser to learn a lesson and the victim to recover from whatever

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In the epilogue of his laws he stated, “If this ruler does not esteem my words, … if he destroys the law which I have given, … may the great gods of heaven and earth … inflict a curse … upon his family, his land, his warriors, his subjects, and his troops” (Doc B). As we can see, it’s all about power to Hammurabi. Even in his grave he wants to have control over the people of the Babylonian empire. The epilogue also says, “through all coming generations, let the king, who may be in the land, observe the words of righteousness which I have written on my monument; let him not alter the law of the land which I have given…” (Doc B).

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Hammurabi supposedly made the laws to defend the ‘weak’ from the strong. An example of this could be Law 213 in Hammurabi’s code. “If he has struck the slave-girl of a free man and causes her to lose the fruit of her womb, he shall pay 2 shekels of silver.” “Excerpts from Hammurabi’s Code, circa 1754 BCE” Document E. When using the phrasing “the fruit of her womb” Hammurabi means the unborn baby of a pregnant woman.

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My evidence is the law 's 23, 48, 53, and 54 from document d. Law 23 is : If the robber is not caught, the man who has been robbed shall formally declared whatever he has lost before a god, and the city and the mayor in whose territory or district the robbery has been committed shall replace for him whatever he has lost. This law is fair because nobody is willing to confess to what they did so they will all in a way be paying for the object (through taxes) it teaches the society that you are all one not an individual that controls the entire thing. Law 48 also proves that Hammurabi 's code was just. Law 48 is: 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. If you were to put the law into perspective such as that you lost all your money but you owed someone thousands of dollars, but how you lost the money couldn’t be controlled by you would you think it was fair if you had to pay the money back to the other person that year?

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Babylonians of Hammurabi 's empire faced problems in protecting their property and growing farms. With the start of King Hammurabi 's establishment of code, problems were harder to solve and created chaos and unfairness. Laws 21,23,48,53 - 56, caused an increase in problems of the everyday lives of Babylonians. These laws caused creditors and governors to lose lots of money and caused many problems. The laws #53 to 56 are [53]"If anyone is too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred "[56]" If a man let in the water, and the water overflow the plantation of his neighbor, he shall pay ten gur of corn for every ten gan of land."

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Reason one why his code is just, document D law 21 states if a man has broken into a house to rob he shall be put to death by piercing or hung inside the hole he has created. This law is just because the homeowner should get justice and you shouldn't break into a house. More evidence to Hammurabi’s code is just is laws 53 and 54. This states that if a man has flooded his neighbors crops he shall replace them. This is just because if you damage someone's property you should replace it, it’s the right thing to do

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In law 48 it states that if a man loans money to someone for crops and a storm comes and ruins them, the person that borrowed the money doesn’t have to pay it back for another year. This is fair because the loaner is taking the chance, knowing that something may happen, and that’s his decision. In Law 53 and 54 it states that if a man opens his trench to water his crops and floods the neighbors crops on accident, he must replace all the crops he has destroyed. This is fair because he destroyed the crops and the other farmer may have been depending on those crops to feed his family. Hammurabi’s Property Laws were fair much like his Personal-Injury

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Was Hammurabi’s code fair to all the people in Babylon? The three areas of law are property law, family law, and personal injury law. Examples of injustice can first be found in the area of family law. First, Law 129 if a woman who is married is with a man they will be thrown in the water tied together. Second

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The legal code consisted of 282 rules that set fines and punishments according to the requirements of Justice. The code was especially infamous for having punishments vary based on your social class. Before the Babylonians, the Sumerians inhabited Mesopotamia. Much of Babylonian culture was influenced by the Sumerians and their great achievements. Although the Code of Hammurabi was somewhat innovative in that it introduced the idea of lex talionis, the notion of a law of retaliation in which punishment matches the crime, it primarily represented continuity from previous legal systems and religious concepts that had been in place since the

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It states, “If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgement in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge’s bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgement.” This law shows us that the Mesopotamians cared about fairness and wanted everyone to receive their fair rights. This shows us that they were humane and did not want for anyone to suffer if they were not supposed

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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. Looking at the evidence from the Personal Injury Laws states that punishments towards slaves are

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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.

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This example shows that Hammurabi’s code was just because the a citizen should not be punished for things that are out of their control. This law does not say that the man does not need to repay the money, it just gives them time to recover from disaster. The last law in Property Law is “If a man has opened his trench for irrigation and the waters have flooded his neighbor 's field, than the man must restore the crop he has caused to be lost.” This example shows that Hammurabi’s code was unjust because This citizen cannot control the weather that made his irrigation trench flood into his neighbors

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Thus this proves that Hammurabi 's law is important in keeping people and their possessions safe. Hammurabi 's laws were helpful and fair to the people. Laws like that helped the society become even stronger by keeping people who were done wrong out of the streets. Laws in our time and Hammurabi 's time were important and in the future laws will still help protect people and their property just like they did in Hammurabi

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These laws should both have the same consequences because all women should be treated equal. These laws on injury show that Hammurabi's code is very unjust. Hammurabi’s code may have been written to protect everyone, but the laws ended up being excessive and harmful. The laws about family, property, and injury are cruelly excessive and are unequal towards different classes.

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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).

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