It’s not everyday that you see a robber being hung, a son’s limbs being cut off, or a set of human beings being drowned in water together. A small city-state that went by the name of Babylon was ruled by a king named Hammurabi around 4,000 years ago. During the 38th year that Hammurabi ruled, he decided to create a set of laws to control his new empire. What influenced his decision on making the 282 laws were the victories at Larsa and Mari. It lead him to think about peace, which soon evolved to be about harsh justice. The laws soon brought up a valuable question in their society. Hammurabi’s Code: Was It Just? If you look into the code you will soon find out that his code was in fact fair for the time. Hammurabi’s Code was just because of …show more content…
One of the main reasons that Hammurabi decided to write these laws were to protect the widows and the orphans (Document B). This proves that Hammurabi did have a soft spot in his heart for the people who had lost the ones they have loved. It shows that he cares for the ones who have no control over what tragic event happened in their life. In Law 168, it states that if a man is determined to disinherit his son and the son has not done anything wrong, the judge can declare that the man shall not disinherit his son. (Document C). This proves that Hammurabi’s Code was just, because it protects the son from being disowned by his own father. The judge declares the final decision by the present evidence if he has committed a misdemeanor. This law on his code, saves the son from punishment he wouldn’t deserve. One of the family laws that is included in Hammurabi’s Code is Law 195. The law claims to cut off the hands of a son who has struck his father (Document C). This laws show fairness in his code, because it protects the society as a whole. If the son’s hands are cut off, then he knows to not show violence to any man. If the punishment was not as harsh, the son wouldn’t care if he struck his father another time. Hammurabi’s Code proves justice in the family laws that have been written, by displaying the fairness that relationships …show more content…
One of the laws that show this is Law 196. This law directly states, “If a man has knocked out the eye of a free man, his eye shall be knocked out (Document E).” Justice can be proven in this piece of evidence because the law tells us that if one man causes another man to hurt, then the same thing will be done to them. It’s the golden rule of treating others the way you want to be treated. In Law 209, if a man causes a woman to lose her child, he shall pay 10 shekels of silver (Document E). This shows that Hammurabi’s Code was just because he has to pay a certain amount for killing what could have been a brand new life. The fruit of her womb is now dead, and there isn’t anything you can do about it anymore. The law requires the man to pay 10 shekels of silver, which is punishment for ending a life. Law 218 tells us that if a surgeon caused the death of a patient, his hands must be cut off. I believe that this is fair because if they are trained on how to save someone, they shouldn’t even get close to letting a person die. They should lose their hands because it conveys the lack of good work they
At the time, it was cruel to give harsh punishments to the accused if he/she cause a minor problem and they don’t do anything to help the victim. The property laws are unnecessary to the accused and even if the accused did something on accident, they still maybe end up killing him/her. The personal injury laws don’t even help because the laws punishments are basically killing the accused or chopping off a body part. In that time, the people thought that these laws were fair, But all in all, this is why the laws in Hammurabi’s code were unjust to not only the victim and the accused, but to society as
Hammurabi’s code is believed to be the first form of written law. It consists of a set of 282 laws written by Hammurabi, the king of Babylon circa 1792 BCE, that established a written social contract amongst the people of Babylonia. It was written on a stone stele that stands more than eight feet tall and weighs over 4 tons (doc A). According to the stele, Hammurabi was instructed to create the code by Shamash, the god of justice (doc B). However, it introduces conflicting ideas about justice that are arguable to this day. Were his rules unethical or his punishments too severe? Hammurabi’s code may be seen as unfair by today’s standards, but in solving matters that involve family, property, and health issues of his time, Hammurabi’s code was just because it utilizes negative reinforcement to implement positive results in society.
In the Hammurabi Code of Laws, there are laws in which a body part of the suspect’s body is severed or decapitated from their body as a result of their wrongdoings. These laws are usually related to the limbs used to commit the wrongdoings. For example, law 195 “If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be
Hammurabi’s codes were just and sometimes unjust. They would have harsh punishments and sometimes not as harsh punishments. For example, Hammurabi would have harsh punishments like, blinding someone and throwing them in the water, or if someone were to rob some ones house and put a hole through the wall to get in they would whether get killed and pierced or hung in the hole in the wall that they created. Also he would have not as harsh punishments like, giving people money or cutting off their hands. Hammurabi had a lot harsher punishments for woman that did not obey the codes and not as harsh punishments for men that did not obey the laws.
Hammurabi’s code was just because of its personal injury laws. In law 209 it states, “If a man strikes the daughter of a free man and causes her to lose the fruit of her womb, he shall pay 10 shekels of silver.” (Doc E). This law is just because the free man is taking care of his daughter by making sure the man pays for what he caused. In law 213 it states, “If he has struck the slave-girl of a free man and causes her to lose the fruit of her womb,
Hammurabi’s code dealing with personal injury laws are fair. In law 199, it declares “If he has knocked out the eye of a slave… he shall pay half his value.” I believe that law is just, because if a man knocks someone's eye out then they should pay half of his value. In law 215, it declares “If a surgeon has operated with a bronze lancet on the body of a free man… and saves the man’s life, he shall receive 10 shekels of silver.” I believe that law 215 is just because he took time and used is knowledge to work on the guy and he saved his life, then he should get something in
Hammurabi’s code protected the weak. In law 148, it says that if man’s wife becomes ill, he can marry a new wife, but has to take care of the ill wife too. This protects the ill wife from being abandoned. In law 168, it says that if a man wants to disinherit his son it must go before a judge, and if a judge says that he can’t disinherit his son than he can’t disinherit him. This law protects the son. Hammurabi’s code
Around 4,000 years ago Hammurabi’s code was created by Hammurabi the king of Babylonia with the goal of bringing justice to his kingdom. He even claimed that Shamash the god of justice commanded him to make these laws. Then his laws were carved into large stone’s called steles, written in the ancient cuneiform written, and then put up throughout all major communities of Babylonia. However, these ancient laws were not fair for everyone in his kingdom. Hammurabi’s Code was unjust because the laws pertaining to family life, property law, and personal injury were unfair.
The “Code of Hammurabi” is considered to be one of the most valuable finds of human existence. In fact its very existence created the basis for the justice system we have come to rely on today. The creation of “the Code” was a tremendous achievement for not only Babylonian society but for the entire Mesopotamian region as King Hammurabi was ruler over all of that area. Its conception can be considered to be the first culmination of the laws of different regions into a single, logical text. Hammurabi wanted to be an efficient ruler and realized that this could be achieved through the use of a common set of laws which applied to all territories and all citizens who fell under his rule. This paper will discuss the Hammurabi Code and the
The Code of Hammurabi was a strict, harsh, and unequal way of punishment that focused on current attainable penalties for Mesopotamian society. The society wasn’t religious, they did not have any affiliations with spiritual beings, which is why punishments were needed for the specific moment
Hammurabi's code was just, because it protected people and was fair. For most of the 282 laws in hammurabi's code they were in the best interest of helping and protecting the week, sick, poor, and the vast majority of babylonia. The laws were mostly fair to the people because usually the punishment was something of equal or greater harm than which the crime was committed. The only concern of mine is how harsh some laws were, because the punishment was way worse than the crime, but it was in a good cause so if the punishment was not death that the criminal was taught a good lesson, and if it was death the people didn't have to worry about the criminal that was killed because the criminal would be dead.
But King Hammurabi has decided that if the surgeon has already caused one death, his hands shall be cut off so he cannot cause another death. Think about the best doctors in the world- even they may not have been able to save some patients lives, but their hands are never cut off- they improve their medicines and processes and help more people. Another law that proves Hammurabi’s Code is unjust partially because of laws under Personal Injury is Law 196. Law 196 states,”If a man has knocked out the eye of a free man, his eye shall be knocked out.” This is a one for one situation in which the man will get his eye knocked out if he ever knocks out the eye of a free man. The free man whose eye first got knocked out should receive money for medical bills, not the other man’s eye knocked out. He has no use for the offenders knocked out eye, even though the punishment is fair enough for the act. Alternatively, Law 199,” If he
Hammurabi’s Code shows that when Hammurabi ruled the Empire of Babylon justice was typically just doing what had been done to the victim to the wrong doer. Passages 196 and 197 are perfect examples of this. Passage 196 says if a man destroys another man’s eye,
LIving in modern 2017 we live in a society where we often take many things for granted such as social standards, Equal rights and freedoms that many in early mesopotamia were denied. Hammurabi was a rule of mesmatampia who created a set amount of laws for the people to abide by. WHile this seems reasonable and fair this would be the exact opposite. Hammurabi laws were sexist and discriminatory, they were too harsh and all these laws were build on a lie to delude and trick his people into abiding by his rules. So the question is was Hammurabis code just or unjust.
Hammurabi’s rules were meant to protect the people like the sick, the widowed, and the poor. For an example Law 168 states that if a father decides to disinherit his son, he must have legitimate reason to do so or he can't give him up. This law prevents single mothers or children with no parents. In Law 148 it says if a man has a wife and she caught a disease he is allowed to have another chance in love after she passes. On Law 48 it states that if a farmer borrows money from a creditor and his crops or field gets damaged by a storm that farmer does not have to pay the creditor back.