Hammurabi's Code Case Study

Register to read the introduction… Hammurabi was the sixth king of Babylon who, during the beginning of his reign, invaded and took over neighboring cities. After several years, the population of Babylon had become dense. With so many civilians a written law needed to be created if the king was going to be able to expand and rule over the population. The Code of Hammurabi contains almost 300 clauses, and was written so that there would be a set standard of justice throughout the region. The laws had specific punishments that were to be given if the laws were broken. While Hammurabi’s Code set forth ideally with an “eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”, it also give higher punishments to the crimes against those considered important, verses crimes against those seemingly less significant. It did, however make provisions for the poor and the weak, providing protection for women and slaves. This written law gave King Hammurabi rule over a greater population and allowed his government to influence not only the professional, but also the personal lives of its population. Written law demanded an order that, if broken, had set punishments for its citizens and gave enforcement privileges to those enforcing law and order. Not only did it allow for the expansion of a centralized government, it gave the citizens a responsibility to know the law, and to know it they had to be able to read …show more content…
The Hammurabi Code gave different punishments for the same crimes, according to class and gender of the victim/perpetrator. In doing so, Hammurabi not only set forth social order, but also laid out class distinctions for his citizens. Biblically, the law was said to be ascribed to Moses through the first five books of the bible, called the Torah (Law). The Torah set the ancient Israelites as “Chosen People” and exalted them as decedents of Abraham and heirs to the promise of God to be a great nation. This ancient writing has set a historical precedent that has allowed the Jews to maintain their identity through millennia of