Hammurabi's Code and Laws

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HAMMURABI'S CODE AS AN INNOVATION

The Ancient Babylonian's lived under the assumption that the gods could do anything to humans that they wanted. Basically, if they felt like torturing a person for their amusement, they would do it, get bored and then move onto something else. The people also believed that if they were good and did what the gods wanted, they would be rewarded.

The Hammurabi Code of Law allowed swift, cut and dry justice. It was created to help keep everyone in line as well as give a quick judgment in cases of dispute or wrongful doing. Hammurabi took every common issue, wrote it down to specific details and listed the consequences for each action. It was a simple system that achieved positive and negative results. Either everyone conformed to this law or they would be executed.

This Code of Law seems very straightforward and quite innovative. Since there were no lawyers back then, people had to bring there cases to a court by themselves. If they had enough evidence to prove they had been wronged, the Code would reveal the exact punishment and the sentence would be carried out immediately.

Since each law is so specific, the listed crimes must have been very common. I feel that Hammurabi got tired of hearing grievances for the same things over and over again and decided to create the Code of Laws to help pass judgment easier. The Code could be copied and displayed publicly anywhere in his kingdom. If the people were aware of the law, they were less likely to break it or plead innocent when they knew they were guilty.

The fact that these laws are written down in a common language so that every literate citizen can read and understand them, gives my vote for it being an innovation among th...

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Ancient History Sourcebook:

Code of Hammurabi, c. 1780 BCE

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hamcode.html

Hammurabi

http://home.echo-on.net/~smithda/hammurabi.html

The Avalon Project at Yale Law School: The Code of Hammurabi

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hammenu.htm

The Code of Hammurabi [18th Century BCE]

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/hammurabi.html

LAW RESEARCH

http://www.lawresearch.com/v2/codeham.htm

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