Hammurabi's Code Dbq Analysis

Hammurabi’s code was a just law system that used the influence of gods and harsh punishments to scare people away from crime to maintain the order of his society. Hammurabi was an 18th century BCE king in Babylonia, in addition to his big title he was famous for the creation of a 282 law code. His laws were very exact in that there was a law for any situation. These laws are famous for the harsh punishments Hammurabi allotted for crimes committed by people living under his rule. The question asked when looking at his laws are were they just? But if you look at the categories of family, property and injury it is clear that they are.
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

protect themselves like widows and orphans (doc B), in addition he states the strong must not injure the weak (doc B). He protects those orphans through Law 168, which states that if a man is determined to disinherit his son, if the child has not committed a misdemeanor the father shall not disinherit son. Again showing through Document B and C that Hammurabi's laws were created to protect the weak.
Another area in Hammurabi’s code is his property laws.

His property laws are basically insurance for those who are taken advantage of. Such as in Hammurabi’s code it states “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.” (doc D, law 23) This is an example of how Hammurabi protected those who couldn't help themselves. There is also evidence that he supports the poor through the property laws was through a law that stated that” if a man has borrowed money to plant crops and a natural disaster destroys his crops he is not in debt to his creditor” (doc D, Law 48) Both of these laws as well as documents A,B, and C are a testimony that Hammurabi’s code was a just system that protects the weak and the

poor.
Finally, there is personal injury law. The evidence that these laws are just is that, “if a man has knocked out the eye of a freeman, his eye shall be knocked out” (doc E, law 196) This law shows that the punishments that came from hammurabi's code were an eye for an eye in all cases, and that even the smallest acts of violence won't go unseen or unpunished keeping everyone safer. One argument had is, how can his laws be just when he doesn't treat everyone similar such as in Law 199 it states If a man has knocked out the eye of a slave he shall pay half his worth.(doc E, law 199) Even though it treats slaves differently at that time people had different values and slaves were just lower on the ladder. Hammurabi wasn't being unfair.
In conclusion, after all this evidence has been presented it is clear to see that the family,property, and personal injury laws under Hammurabi’s code were fair. Even thogh some laws may seem very extreme and have unique punishments this code was written to protect the weak and that is exactly what those punishments do. One also has to keep in mind that this was 4000 years ago during a time of war and growing cities, there had to be a way to keep everyone in order and this code of 282 laws at the time was the way to do it.