Imagine you are living in 1742 B.C, and you borrowed money from a friend, with the goal of growing wheat for your family. You promise the man that you will pay him back with some of the wheat that you will grow, since the man also needs some wheat to sustain his wife and 2 sons. While growing the wheat, a storm unexpectedly destroys about half of the wheat you were growing. Although you have enough wheat to keep both of the families from starving to death, the man says he was supposed to get more wheat. Luckily, someone named Hammurabi is there to help you out. Hammurabi made a set of 282 laws, called the Hammurabi’s Code. Law 48, (Doc D) one of the laws in Hammurabi’s Code, states that if a man has borrowed money to plant his fields from another …show more content…
It protects people with Family Laws (Doc C), Property Laws (Doc D), which is what protected you in the beginning, and Personal Injury Laws (Doc E). Family Laws protect you in situations that involve a family, usually your own. This includes family fights and divorces. It can help prevent a son from getting disowned by his father for no absolute reason, other than that you father doesn’t like you. (Law 168, Doc C) This may mean that you don’t get your inheritance, which is really bad for your future life. Hammurabi’s Code also punishes men and women who are caught in adultery (Law 148, Doc C). The punishment is for the man and woman who are caught in adultery to be binded together, and for them to be thrown into a river, which makes them drown to death. Some people may think that this punishment was way too hardcore, but think about it. At that time, adultery was one of the worst crimes you can do. You break two families apart, and causes massive amounts of heartbreak. Also, at that time, the people under Hammurabi‘s rule was very religious, and to them, this act was unholy. This punishment also prevents other people to commit …show more content…
For example, in law 23 (Doc D), it says that if a man has robbed valuables in someone’s house, and is not caught, after the victim swears to the gods, the government will pay the victim whatever he has lost. But if the robber is caught, he shall be hanged of pierced to death (Law 21, Doc D). This punishment was this harsh, because at that time, Hammurabi’s kingdom was always under the constant threat of being attacked. For a man in his own kingdom to go against his kingdom was outrageous, so the robber needs to be taken out. This also repels other people to become
Ancient laws were brutal. Babylonian laws, like Hammurabi's Code, included physical torture and death as punishments. The rule behind these punishments was "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."Hammurabi was the name of the king in the city-state of Babylon who ruled for nearly 4,000 years ago.This code was a set of 282 laws that maintained order. Hammurabi's Code was unjust because accidents were punished, punishments for intentional damage was extreme, and it focused on revenge instead of preventing future crime.
I think Hammurabi’s Code was just because, one of his laws was. If a free man was to know out the other man’s eye was to be knocked out as well. Therefore, it’s protecting the victim’s eye. That was law 196. In my opinion, I don’t think this law was bad, it’s protecting the free man but if a slave’s eye was to be knocked out. The other person would have to pay have of the slave’s owner ship to his master.
First there is the justness of the family laws. This justess is displayed throughout the many documents however it is most clearly represented in Document C where one law requires a man taking a second to keep his sick first wife where “ shall dwall in the house they have built together, and he shall maintain her as long as she lives.” (doc C, law 148) as seen in this law it is clear that Hammurabi’s code was made to protect those who can’t
Hammurabi’s code was based on the saying ‘an eye for an eye’. This means that the retribution for the crime would roughly fit the severity of the crime. For example, if someone poked someone’s eye out, someone would poke that someone’s eye out. I think this is fair because it doesn’t make sense any other way. For instance, if one was jailed ten years for a minor theft (a purse, a bike, etc.) and someone else was jailed ten years for a major theft (robbing the bank, stealing a valuable painting, etc.), that wouldn’t be reasonable. In Hammurabi’s ‘an eye for an eye’ theory, all the punishments are equal to the crime, which is very practical. Most of his laws are based on this.
The justice of Hammurabi's laws can be justified in several ways.In the family laws, 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.” , And in law 148 It talks about how “ if a man has a married wife and a disease has seized her….he shall not divorce the wife …. She shall dwell in the house they have built together,and he shall maintain her as long as she shall live.”, as you can see Hammurabi is fair he doesn't think that neither the husband nor the wife shall use one another, simply because that wouldn't be
Before he died, Hammurabi was a person who created many laws. He created a code of 282 fair laws (BGE). He created his law on a stone seal. He made the laws to control the city-state of Babylonia. He was a ruler of a huge city-state in Mesopotamia for 42 years. He made laws for 1,000,000 people that each person had to follow or they would be punished on what they did. The way they were punished depended on what they did. There were 3 categories Family law, Property law, and Personal-Injury law. Was Hammurabi’s code just? Hammurabi’s laws were just because of 3 categories, Family Laws, Property Laws, and Personal-Injury Laws.
Hammurabi understood that, to achieve this goal, he needed one universal set of laws for all of the diverse peoples he conquered. His punishments were harsh, for example if someone stabs you in the eye and you lose that eye, then you take their eye to be fair. Both Hammurabi and Shi Huangdi were harsh and carried some totalitarian aspects in their ruling.
The Code of Hammurabi has a slightly different way of describing the way a society should maintain stability and avoid chaos. In this code of conduct it is more on the lines of something similar to the Bill of Rights where each idea is stated in form of a law. For example, in the 15th amendment of The Code it staes “15: If any one take a male or female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city gates [to escape], he shall be put to death.” It is a listed set of laws followed by a consequence whether it is minor or as harsh as the death penalty. If such harsh punishments were informed, I believe the law makers or theorists saw it as a type of scare which would prevent people from committing the crime. There are those people who do break the law and make stupid decisions, but it would keep the amount of people making stupid decisions and breaking the law to a
Hammurabi’s Code provides evidence for early documents that signify law and order. For instance, Hammurabi’s says in his code if a man wrongs another with his false accusations, he shall be subjected to death (1, 3). His laws illustrate a judicial system in which someone has to pay someone that they wronged in either the same way that they wronged him or through money depending on the person’s social status. It is also said in his code of law that there were penalties for those who disobeyed his laws. For example, Hammurabi says, “If that man do not pay attention to my words…may the great god, the father of the gods, ...
In order for a verdict to be justifiable, one must of put everyone involved in the conflict in mind. Compensations for victims were not unfair to the victim himself, but to other people involved. “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,” is stated in Document D. A creditor, or one who lets you borrow their money for a crop, does not have to fund the less wealthy, he chooses to, under the conditions he will be repaid. The funded will gain profit from his crop, and the creditor will be repaid his money with interest. If something happens and the farmer can not repay his debts, the creditor should not be at a loss for this. This law should be modified in a way that the farmer has to still repay the creditor, but have a longer period of time to do so, such as a few years or so. That way, the creditor is still fairly reimbursed, and the farmer is not indebted for the rest of his life for something he could not of predictable or prevented. Compromising like this can heighten the sense of peace Hammurabi sought after, because there will be no cold feelings between people of communities that can hinder his goal. Laws like this between a farmer and his creditor can be improved with direct compromise, but the ultimate flexibility of law is rooted in its ability to be interpreted in a very multifaceted manner.“By the command of Shamash, the great god and judge of heaven and earth… let him read my inscription and understand my precious words.” This excerpt from Document B leads one to infer the most major flaw of Hammurabi’s code: there was no room for interpretation. Hammurabi states that his words are precious and approved by the gods. Meaning, one can not construe them, as they are irrefutable. If some
The Code of Hammurabi was written by King Hammurabi, who began ruling the Babylonian Empire in about 1800 BC. Hammurabi came to power using his strengths as a military leader, conquering many smaller city-states to create his Empire. Hammurabi believed that the gods appointed him to bring justice and order to his people, and he took this duty very seriously. Not long after his ascent to power, he created his Code, 282 laws written to define all relationships and aspects of life in the kingdom. The laws were displayed in a public place so that all the people could have the opportunity to study them. The laws applied to everyone, though application of the laws and punishment differed according to social class. The punishments for disobeying the laws were swift and harsh, further encouraging compliance.
Hi everyone! My name is Tom and today I'll be talking about the Code of Hammurabi. Imagine what it would be like if we didn't have any laws. If people did just as they pleased without any regard for others, life would probably get pretty chaotic. Law is one of society's most basic and necessary institutions. It establishes a person’s duties and obligations. The law also sets penalties for those who violate the rules. It helps teach us right from wrong. One of the earliest known written set of laws was composed by Hammurabi. Today my speech will cover who Hammurabi was, what his codes were, examine some of his most important and influential laws, and finally I'll discuss the significance it had moving forward.
The laws gave men more freedom over their lives, unlike women. Lastly, if a woman killed another woman, her daughter would be put to death! However, if a man killed another man, he would be killed. The person who killed someone should have been put to death, because the kids were innocent. Overall, women were considered their “husband’s property,” and they were not considered a true wife until they had kids. The Hammurabi Code allowed more freedom for men.
The Hammurabi Code of Law was the original father of our “penal and civil laws” of today. It provided guidance on creating a general code that sought to be just and applicable to all classes of citizens. Hammurabi can be considered as the forefather of the modern justice system; we should be very thankful to past societies and rulers for their contributions.
After the Commercial Law came the Penal Law. This had to do with the issue of crime. The laws were unusually harsh do to their ineducation. Despite this the wealthy class usually enjoyed more freedom from the law than the lower classes. There was no jury in the court back in the times of Babylon. The code of Hammurabi was like an eye for an eye punishment. If you killed someone than you would be killed.