Law Essay Example: The Code of Hammurabi

The ancient Babylonians were ruled by a set of rules and laws written on a stone stele. These laws were enacted by the ancient Babylonian king Hammurabi who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C. The code was primarily a collection of laws, guidelines for carrying out transactions and set penalties and the retribution to satisfy the requirements of justice. This code is one of the earliest examples of laws that helped in controlling the government. The code of Hammurabi is also one of the pioneers of the concept that a person is not guilty till he is proven to be. It also enshrines the idea that both parties in a case should adduce evidence in support of their claims and defenses. The code was used as a model of judicial conceptualization as it was copied and passed onto the next generation.

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The code of Hammurabi was very biased towards people of lower social status who faced very cruel mode of punishments. The significance of criminal sanctions was often pegged on either the identity and the femininity or masculinity of both the victim and the perpetrator. This code gave out justice following the categories that were in existence in the ancient Babylonian namely bond slave and freedmen. The retribution for a person striking another person from a lower social class was far minor than if they had struck a person of the social class or a higher social class. For instance, in the case a medical officer gets a rich patient killed then his limbs will be chopped off and if murders a bonded slave financial penalty will be the only thing required. The females in this ancient time also faced biasedness since they would be punished differently even though they commit the same crime as the males. For example, a woman who commits adultery faces far greater sanctions than a man who sleeps with his servants or slaves.

The code of Hammurabi covered several areas. It covered slander, which is a false and ill intent spoken statement. For instance, if anyone accuses a wife of any man falsely the consequence of this is that his skin will be cut or browed. ("The Internet Sacred Text Archive"). It covered trade where it was written that if a person to whom cattle are entrusted and then he makes false claims on the returns of the cattle then he is required to bequeath the owner ten times the loss incurred. It covered slavery and their standing as properties. ("The Internet Sacred Text Archive"). For example, it was prescribed that if anyone takes another person's slave outside the city gates then the penalty to be followed was death. It covered the roles of workers and that was to work on the land and deliver the returns to the property owner.

It covered theft and it stated that thieves were to be put to death. It also coves areas to deal with divorce and adultery. For example, if a woman is denied conjugal rights by the husband and the courts find no genuine reason from the husband then the woman is allowed to go back to her parents' house. Another example is that if a woman is caught in the act of adultery then both she and the man are to be thrown to the waters. The husband of the woman is the only person who can save her and the king is also the only one who can save the man. ("The Internet Sacred Text Archive")

The code of Hammurabi is not very different from the modern day laws in operation in the trial process. But there exist major differences between the two. Firstly the Hammurabi code required the victims to bring the perpetrators of the crime themselves to the court. In the modern laws the accused is required to appear to court. Secondly if a person loses his life the governor is required to pay money to his family this is different from modern law which does not recognize such a thing. In this instance the government is responsible for everything that happens in the society. For example if a thief commits a crime and he is not caught then the government will pay the victim of the crime. Thirdly the code of Hammurabi applies double standards in that men and women commit the same crime but hey are both punished differently

The penalties were much favorable to the men than the women. In the modern world the system does not care if you are a man or a woman and hence if you commit a crime you pay for it. The modern system is based on the principle of justice and it's not gender centered like the code of Hammurabi. Lastly the code of Hammurabi is founded on the principle of retaliation and punishment. This is the reverse of what modern day laws try to do which is to rehabilitate the guilty person. It advanced the concept an eye for an eye which basically means that you treat others the way you want them to treat you.

Work cited.

"The Internet Sacred Text Archive". Vol 40, no. 09, 2003, pp. 40-5172-40-5172. American Library Association, doi:10.5860/choice.40-5172.

Fudenberg, Drew, and David K. Levine. "Steady State Learning and the Code of Hammurabi". SSRN Electronic Journal, 2004. Elsevier BV, doi:10.2139/ssrn.564263.