Hammurabi's Laws Dbq Essay

About 4,000 years ago, lived a man named Hammurabi, who became ruler over the small city-state called Babylon. Hammurabi ruled for about 42 years but, the first 30 years he only had control over Babylon. The population of people he ruled over was about 1,000,000 people. On the 38th year of his rule he had 282 laws carved into a tower like structure called a Stele. I believe that it is clear, Hammurabi’s laws in property, family, and personal injury were unjust. In the information packet document C, I believe laws 129 and 195 of family laws are not fair. Law 129 states “if a married lady is caught with another man, she shall be blinded and cast into the water”. This law is not just because the lady could have been abused, by her or she did not belong in a long-term relationship. Another law I find unjust is law 195 because it states “if a son has struck his father, his hands shall be cut off”. This law is unjust because the son could be too young to understand, or the father could have hit first and the son was just acting in self -defense, therefor Hammurabi’s family laws are unjust.

Hammurabi’s laws, in property laws were unjust because of laws like law 21 and 23 in document D. Law 21 states “if a man has broken through a wall to rob a house, he shall be hung in the hole in which he has made and …show more content…
Law 199 states “if a man has knocked out the eye of a slave, he shall pay half their value. Two reasons this law is not just because the man is disrespecting those who do the most work and a slave is still human and should be treated equal. Law 209 states “if a man strikes the daughter of a free man and causes here to lose the fruit of her womb he shall pay 10 shekels of silver”. Two reasons this law is not just is that losing a baby is priceless aspect of life or the baby could have grown up and became a leader. These reasons state that Hammurabi’s personal injury laws were