History Of Hammurabi's Code Dbq

Spare the rod and spoil the kingdom. Hammurabi became king of Babylon in 1792 BCE. He conquered numerous surrounding city-states. Hammurabi is most famous for creating 282 laws. Hammurabi’s Code: Was it just? Was the ancient Babylonian monarch’s set of laws fair? Hammurabi’s Code was unjust because of its family laws, property laws, and personal injury laws. One way that Hammurabi’s Code is unjust is that it has unfair family laws. According to Law 148, if a wife is diseased, her husband may marry a second wife. The husband has to live in the same house as his first wife, and he has to take care of her. This law is unfair because the second wife will suffer seeing her old husband with a second wife. Also, Law 168 mentions that if a

According to Law 21, on Document D, if a man tries to rob a house, that man would be pierced. The owner of the house would hang the man on the house’s wall. This code is unjust because it is too extreme. The man who tries to rob the house dies just for robbing. He should be sent to prison instead. Law 23 mentions that if a robber is not caught, the owner of the property that was robbed could tell “god” in the local temple that his property was robbed. Then, the community would replace the items robbed. This civil code is unfair because it wastes the money of the community. The community should not have to pay for somebody’s lost property. In fact, the owner should have found a way to protect his property, so it would have not been stolen. Another law that is unfair is Law 48. Law 48 states that if a farmer borrows money from a creditor for planting crops and those crops were destroyed by a natural disaster, the farmer doesn’t have to pay his creditor. This legal process is unfair because the creditor doesn’t get his money back. The creditor didn’t cause the disaster, so the creditor should get paid. The last property law in Document D was Law 53 and Law 54: “If a man has opened his trench for irrigation and the waters have flooded his neighbor’s field, the man must restore the crop he has caused to be lost.” These rules are unjust because the man accidentally flooded his neighbor’s field.

Law 196 states that if a man knocks out the eye of another man, his eyes would be knocked out. Basically, it means that if somebody does something to another person, the other person does the same to the somebody. (It is like revenge.) This law is unfair because it is too extreme. The first man could just apologize to the second person and there wouldn’t be a problem. “If he has knocked out the eye of a slave… he shall pay half his value.” (Law 199) Law 199 is unjust because the slave is not treated like a real man. (Law 196) According to Document B, the weak should be protected. Also, the value that is paid is given to the slave owner, so the slave doesn’t get anything. Law 209 mentions that if a free man kills the baby of a pregnant women, he pays ten shekels of silver to her. This civil code is unjust because money is not equal to a life. The baby isn’t worth ten shekels of silver in the mother’s perspective. This consequence is unequal. Law 123 states that if a man kills the baby of a pregnant slave women, he pays two shekels of silver to her slave owner. Referring from the previous law, money is not equal to a life. Also, the money that is given should be given to the slave women not the owner. The last law of the personal injury laws is Law 218. (“If a surgeon has operated with a bronze lancet on a free man for a serious injury, and has caused his death,... his hands shall be cut off”) This civil code