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.
He also claimed that multiple gods including Shamash gave him the right to rule. The laws were displayed all over the place on humongous stone steeles which is a pillar-like structure. The question now is, was Hammurababi’s code just or unjust? Hammurabi’s code was unjust because not everyone was treated equally, it couldn’t be changed, and it was written from one perspective. To start, Hammurabi’s code was unjust because it treated people of different social classes differently.
Hammurabi’s Code: Was it Just? If you travel 7000 miles to a new kingdom but once you get there, you walk into someone getting their fingers chopped off, what are you going to do? Back in the days of King Hammurabi, this is very likely to happen to anyone that broke one of this cruel King’s laws. King Hammurabi became the ruler of Babylon, a small city-state in Mesopotamia, in 1792 BCE.
Hammurabi’s code gives judgements and consequences for certain crimes. The punishment for a crime depended on one’s social rank. There were essentially three classes; the priests and noble landlords, the freemen, and slaves. Each law illustrated the division in the societies social status. As a particular law read; “If a man has destroyed the eye of another free man, his own eye shall be destroyed.
Many powerful empires have risen and fallen throughout history, and they must all have specific requirements to survive and thrive. Some of these empires include Rome, Mesopotamia, and Sparta. They are all powerful and formidable empires that have made their mark in history. However, for a kingdom to thrive, it needs food, resources, an organized government, and a strong military.
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
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?
Each type of code is meant to bring justice to all the parts of society so that there would be fairness to the accused, fairness to the victim and fairness for society. Some of Hammurabi’s codes were fair and others were not fair. The first law is Family Law and it states that If a son has struck his father, his hands shall
Hammurabi's code and the Ten Commandments have similar rules or laws to follow. In Chapter 20, Verse 12, The Ten Commandments say that one should, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days will be prolonged in the land your Lord your God gives you.” This is basically saying that if you respect your parents you shall be rewarded with the Promised land. The same goes for Hammurabi's code. Law 195 says, ”If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.”
My philosophy professor Dr. Fitzpatrick made a statement about ideas and inventions that has been resonating in my thought. He specified that, “Inventions are not created in a vacuum, they are imported”. This claim has deep implications on the way I listen to music, view art, and scroll through my Facebook feed.
The Code of Hammurabi was written by King Hammurabi and were the first set of laws to ever be created. Hammurabi created 282 laws, that set standards in his empire and in ancient Mesopotamia. Hammurabi made it clear that the laws were not only to equalize society but also establish fairness and also protect the weak from the strong. However, according to the laws, the punishment for men, women, rich, and the poor, were all different; leading that he made the laws unfair. The women of Mesopotamia had a series of laws where it clearly shows they were classified as property.
For example, the punishments depend on the crime. If a wife fights with her husband, leaves her husband, ruins her house, or neglects her husband, this woman shall be thrown into the river in the Hammurabi’s code. If someone murders someone in the modern law, they have a sentence in jail. Sentences in jail also depend on the crime and its severity. Another way that they are similar is the way that they both maintain order.
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.
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).
Laws are always the core of a society and they often indicate a variety of lifestyle decisions made by those people. Hammurabi’s famous set of laws and Moses’ laws could be viewed as two completely distinct documents, yet both set of laws aide historians in revealing insight to the Hebrew and Mesopotamian people. In both societies, enforcing strict consequences that are equivalent to the crime is common. Hammurabi’s well known law states that, “if a man has put out an eye of a free man, they shall put out his eye.” Whereas, in the Hebrew laws, it states, “...if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye...”
