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Why Is The Code Of Hammurabi Unfair

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“An eye for an eye…” is a known paraphrase of one of Hammurabi’s Code. Dating from 1760 B.C, the Code of Hammurabi was set forth by King Hammurabi of Babylon, who ruled from 1792-1750 BC. Hailed as the first code in Western history, the Code of Hammurabi consisted of 282 laws preserved on a seven-foot-high black stone stele. Hammurabi’s Code was fair because it maintained order and justice for Mesopotamians. Thought some of punishment might seem unfair, they were just because there was a possibility that certain crimes were committed less frequently because of Hammurabi’s Code. There are three areas of law where Hammurabi’s Code can be shown as just: property laws, family laws, and personal injury laws. First, there is the justness of property laws. The code states, “If a seignior committed robbery and has been caught, that seignior shall be put to death.”(Code of Hammurabi 1). When a seignior chooses to rob another individual, that seignior has ultimately made the decision to take another’s property without the intention of returning it. Citizens of …show more content…

One law states, “If a son has struck his father, they shall cut his hand off” (Code of Hammurabi 4). Though the punishment for this law is extreme, it assured the father’s power over his son. This law was just because it set forth a level of respect for fathers in Mesopotamia. This law in place guaranteed that sons would not dare to hit their fathers because if they did, they would be handless. Moreover, the law also states, “If a seignior has had intercourse with his daughter, they shall make that seignior leave the city.” (Code of Hammurabi 3). One of the more reasonable laws, the punishment of the father leaving the city is appropriate because he should face consequences for taking advantage of his daughter in a sexual way. Thus, Hammurabi’s Code regarding family laws are both fair and just because it established guidelines for citizens’

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510 Words | 3 Pages

Hammurabi's Code is unjust for a number of reasons, starting with how overly-harsh the punishments were. Next, how many rules there were with such strict and unreasonable punishments, keeping up with following 282 rules can be very pressuring. First, how un-called for his punishments were. For example, reworded from law 218, when a doctor performed an unsuccessful surgery on a man, he could have got his hands cut off for punishment. This punishment and the majority of the rest in Hammurabi's Code is very unfair and cruel.

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394 Words | 2 Pages

Cutting off a son’s hands if they strike their father - that may seem harsh to us nowadays, but in Hammurabi’s time, this rules united the whole entire empire and maintained order throughout the kingdom. Hammurabi was a powerful ruler of the kingdom of Babylon. He ruled for 42 years and ruled over most of Mesopotamia. Hammurabi became the ruler in 1792 BCE and made many great advancements including: a postal system, an irrigation maintenance system, and most importantly, a code of laws. Hammurabi had a strict code of laws that every citizen of Babylon had to follow.

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Anna Paraschac World Religions IX - 3 Ms. Fillion 02/10/2023 Continuity Displayed in the Code of Hammurabi In 1901, an ancient stele written thousands of years ago was excavated from Susa, containing one of the earliest legal codes to ever be found. In the ancient world of Babylonia, the Code of Hammurabi was created around 1780 BCE (Editors of McGill), written by the Babylonian king Hammurabi.

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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.

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755 Words | 4 Pages

With the help of laws that had punishments like loosing a hand or an eyeball, looking back into Babylonian society was made a lot easier. These laws were created by the king of the city-state Babylon around 1792 BCE, Hammurabi. His reasoning for enforcing the laws, known as Hammurabi’s code, was to protect the weak and those who could not help themselves (doc B). He created 282 laws, and carved them onto a stele, a pillar-like stone. The multiple steles, he created and placed around the kingdom, consisted of a carving of him with Shamash, the god of justice, a prologue, the written laws and an epilogue (doc A).

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Was Hammurabi’s Code Just? (By Sofia Bradburn) Illustrate in your mind living during the 1750’s B.C.E and living in Babylon. The king and ruler, Hammurabi had multiple laws to rule this society, to make sure the widows and orphans were safe and that the weak were protected from the strong. Hammurabi ruled Babylon for about 32 years.

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The third code is family law. In law 195 it says, “If a son has struck his father, his hands shall be cut off.” The son should be punished however, cutting off his hands is very extreme. There is no age listed in this law and what if it was a child? In law 129 it also shows that the laws were unjust.

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875 Words | 4 Pages

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

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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Hammurabi's code and the modern laws have several similarities and differences. For example, they are both intended to maintain order in society. However, Hammurabi’s code is far more violent than modern law. Also, they have different ways of handling things, different punishments, and different social structure. One way that Hammurabi’s Code and the Modern Laws are different is because Hammurabi’s Code is strictly based on social structure.

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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.

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874 Words | 4 Pages

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).

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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...”

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