Hammurabi Dbq Research Paper

"If a man has knocked out the eye of a free man, his eye shall be knocked out." This is one of the most well-known laws of Hammurabi. Hammurabi's code was made in Babylon, Iraq in the 18th century B.C. His code contained 282 written laws that he wrote by the command of Shamash, to protect his people. So even though a god commanded him to create the law, Was Hammurabi's code just? There are three areas of law where Hammurabi's code can be shown to be unjust. These are Personal Law, Family Law, and Property Law.

Examples of injustice can first be found in the area of Personal Law. The laws are: Law 199: " If he has knocked out the eye of a slave, he shall pay half his value" (Document E) andLaw 213: If he has struck the slave-girl of a free man and causes her to lose the fruit of her womb, he shall pay 2 shekels of silver. These examples show that Hammurabi's code was unjust because they showed discrimination between free men and slaves. If a free man was struck, the offender would

receive the same treatment. But if a slave was struck, the offender would only have to pay money to correct his crime. The second law showed discrimination as well, with the offenders getting different punishment depending on who was hurt.

Examples of injustice can secondly be found in the area of Family Law. These laws are Law 129: "If a married lady is caught [in adultery] with another man, they shall bind them and cast them into the water." and Law 195: If a son has struck his father, his hands shall be cut off. These show that Hammurabi's code was unjust because law 129 and Law 195 are too extreme. If a woman is caught in adultery, killing her is a bit too much. If a son struck his father, he should receive punishment, but getting your son's hands cut off crosses the line.

Examples of injustice can thirdly be found in the area of Property Law.

Law 48: "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." and 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 in whose territory or district the robbery has been committed shall replace for him whatever he has lost. These examples show that Hammurabi's code is unjust because the people who had nothing to do with the inconvenience are having to pay the price. In Law 48, the creditor is not getting his money back even though the storm was not his fault. If the man borrowed money, he should pay his creditor back no matter what. In law 23, if the robber is not caught, the mayor has to give/buy the victim replacements.That shouldn't be his responsibility because the mayor has nothing to do with the

robbery.

There are laws in the code that may seem just, for example, Laws 53 and 54: If a man has opened his trench for irrigation and the waters have flooded his neighbor’s field, the man must restore the crop he has caused to be lost. The repercussions in this law are extremely fair. The man caused his neighbor's crops to be ruined, so he shall fix them. Although that law was just, the three examples presented above show that Hammurabi's code was unjust.