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Was Hammurabi's Laws Just Or Unjust?

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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. After close analysis, the law code of Hammurabi was just in the area of property law.

In the first place Hammurabi helped to protect peoples property by creating his property laws. A example of how Hammurabi protected his peoples property is law 23, "If the robber is not caught, the man who has been robbed shall formally declare whatever he has lost before a god, and the city and the mayor whose territory or district the robbery has been committed shall replace for him whatever he has lost." This shows that if the robber was not found the community was still to help out by replacing what was stolen. This law is helpful in protecting peoples property because if your house was robbed in Hammurabi 's time and the robber was never found then you wouldn’t be left with nothing and instead would get everything replaced. In today 's world it would still be just like it was back then because people today would still need help getting back important items and valuables so they don’t go bankrupt trying to get everything back. …show more content…

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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They were the first set of written laws. The purpose was to punish people for stealing ,murdering,and other things. Hammurabi’s codes were just because it is a punishment and they are fair to people. Hammurabi’s Code is just for two reasons family law and property law.

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Hammurabi’s Code DBQ King Hammurabi’s rule began in the city of Babylon. He later then extended his control by taking over Larsa and Mari a large part of Mesopotamia. After expanding his land, Shamash, the god of justice presented him with a code of 232 laws (Doc A). These laws were then influenced throughout the community and were considered a part of the communities culture. I disagree with Hammurabi’s code because most laws were to cruel and targeted certain people.

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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.

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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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So, he decided to make Hammurabi’s code with 282 laws organized by specific themes. Although a set of laws was needed, the severity of punishments in property and family laws sure outweighed any of the good laws he made. Hammurabi’s code was not just because of his family law. In law 129 it states “if a married lady is caught in adultery with another man, they shall bind them and cast them into the water” (Doc C) and that isn’t just because That’s not fair

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