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Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt
Hammurabi laws and modern laws
Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt
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Was it Just? “Cursed!” is what you'll hear if you decline the written rules of Hammurabi.400 years ago in 1754 Bce. A man named Hammurabi became king of a city called babylonia and made certain rules about family law, property law, and personal injury law and although they were laws, not all laws were fair. To begin with, Hammurabi made a decision to write rules for his land. But were they just?let's answer that.
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
Like the Egyptian pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom, Hammurabi was shepherd and patriarch of his people, responsible for proper preparation of the fields and irrigation canals and for his followers’
Hammurabi also known as Khammurabi and Ammurapi, assumed the throne of his father, Sin-Muballit, becoming the sixth king of the Amorite First Dyansty of Babylon, and reigned from 1792 to 1750 BCE. After taking the throne from his father, Hammurabi expanded his kingdom outwards, and continued to concquer all of ancient Mesopotamia, as the Babylonian Empire held minor cities before this time, such as Kish, Sippar and Borsippa. However, Hammurabi moved forward after coming into power, and pressed into the boarders of neighbouring empire through Militia means, and careful alliances that allowed him to reign over, and control all of anicent Mesopotamia before 1750 BCE.
Hammurabi was a ruler of Babylonia four thousand years ago. He ruled for 42 years and 30 of those years he only was in control of the city of Babylon. After quarrels with two neighboring places, which were Larsa in the south and Mari in the north. He had victories over the two and spread his empire over the two places and his land grew. During his rule, Hammurabi realized that he would need to change some things.
During the 18th century, Hammurabi conquered the four quarters of the world, made great the Kingdom of Babylon. After he conquered those lands, he wrote set of laws to bound every other citizen in his territory under that law where no other person would be under-represented. He wrote that code to bring righteousness to the land and planned to bring the well-being of the oppressed. It is even mentioned that Hammurabi feared gods and wrote that code to please them. However, Hammurabi Law Code dealt with different aspects of society ranging from the health care system to family life, from criminal justice to commercialization of businesses and rights of women; law structures were clarified and well designed.
The American Legal System The American legal system has been influenced by many historical rulers and laws. Three that have influenced the American legal system the most are Roman laws, moral laws and Hammurabi’s code in my opinion. One legal system that influenced the American legal system are Roman laws. I picked Roman law because it said that law has been defined as the “Art of social control”; a system of rules regulating the conduct of man.
The Judgments of Hammurabi are a set of laws that were written by a god. The laws were put in place “to promote the welfare of the people, to cause justice to prevail in the land, and so the strong might not oppress the weak.” The Tale of The Eloquent Peasant, depicts how a peasant has been robbed of his goods and how he eloquently appeals to the king for justice to be served. Both articles discuss; the division of a society’s social class, how gods/kings interpret justice and family relationships within the law. The Judgments of Hammurabi laid out the rules for Mesopotamian citizens.
Hammurabi claimed that his laws were both just and helpful to a wide range of people, but the majority of the laws don’t support either of his claims. In the instance of many laws, he appears to be very drastic with his consequences. In one of his codes, he says that if a women is caught in adultery with another man, both people must be tied up and thrown into the water (doc C, law 129). The act of binding the two people together and drowning them is a very specific and extreme repercussion for cheating. Another example of Hammurabi’s unnecessary harshness, was the law stating that if a man has broken into another’s house he shall be put to death by piercing him or hanging him in the hole which he made in the house (doc D, law 21).
Most of Hammurabi’s laws are not just to the people or society of Babylon. Now, picture in your mind, living in Babylon with Hammurabi as your ruler. Wasn’t as good as you
Visualize having a king who made 282 laws and if a person did not follow them they would get a really big punishment. That is how it was 4,000 years ago when a king named Hammurabi ruled in Babylon. He ruled Babylon for 42 years. King Hammurabi became king of Babylon in 1754 BCE. Were Hammurabi’s laws and codes fair and just?
Laws were as important in Hammurabi 's time as they are today because laws keep people safe and keeps everything fair. Hammurabi was a famous Babylonian king who ruled over Mesopotamia. He created the first set of written laws in his 38th year of his reign called the law code. He did this because he wanted to keep peace and order over Mesopotamia even if the laws were harsh. Many people are arguing over if Hammurabi 's code is just or unjust.
He looked at marriage in a way just to produce children, that’s all. Hammurabi didn't let women have a chance to proves themselves as someone valuable because of all these laws! I also see that Hammurabi look at women as weak when it came to working and money because men would bring home the food and work for money. Overall the women belonged to their husband, it was hard to achieve any gender equality because of so many restrictions when it came to money, marriage and work
Hammurabi once said, “The first duty of government is to protect the powerless from the powerful.” The weaker a person is, the stronger need of government protection is needed. Hammurabi became king of Babylon in 1792 BCE, he conquered most of southern Mesopotamia and attempted to protect the weak and form law and order. He did this by writing 282 laws in stone and enforcing the laws to the entire kingdom. Hammurabi's code was unjust.
He is known today for his law code that supported “an eye for a eye” and the civil rights he gave to members of the society other than men. Hammurabi set a strong foundation for our society today, with his rules and family relationship changes, he did it by making a set in stone law code, and giving the women of ancient Babylonia more civil rights in marriage. Hammurabi’s law code was the first of its kind that we base our legal system off of today. Hammurabi’s Code