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. Hammurabi's laws that were concerned with family, property, and injury were unfair.
Hammurabi's laws that dealt with family were cruel and harsh. In law 129, it states that if a married woman is caught cheating, the woman and the other man will be tied together and would be drowned. Although, the man who was
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In law 196, it says that if a free man knocks another free man’s eye out then, his eye too will be knocked out. In law 199, it says that if a man knocks a slave's eye out then, he only has to pay half of the slave value. These laws are unfair because all people are equal and should be treated equally, it should not matter what class the person is in, the consequences should be equal. In law 209, it states that if a man strikes a woman in her stomach and it causes her to lose her child, the man has to pay 10 shekels of silver. In law 213, it states that if a man strikes a slave-girl in the stomach and it causes her to lose her baby then the man only has to pay 2 shekels of silver. 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. Hammurabi's code is unjust. Hammurabi did try to do what was right by trying to have a community with justice, but the laws are very unequal and harsh. These laws would not last in today's