An Eye for an Eye Did you know the famous saying “an eye for an eye” is actually 4,000 years old! Approximately 4 millennia ago, a great king known as Hammurabi conquered the land of Mesopotamia. He then established a very famous set of laws to run his newly-formed empire. However, these laws had extremely harsh and cruel punishments for many criminal acts, such as dismemberment and death. Hammurabi’s code was mostly an unjust system, but he did create some revolutionary new laws. Hammurabi’s codes were mostly unfair laws (for today’s standards). First, “If a son has struck his father, his hands shall be cut off.” Law 195 declares that if a boy hits his father, his hands will be cut off. This quote demonstrates that Hammurabi’s Codes
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To start with, according to Law Code 108, “If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of a drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.” This law is actually quite advanced, saying that if a tavern keeper takes money (worth more than corn) but does not take the corn (worth less, but still pays for drink), then she is stealing from the man who gave the money’s currency, and then will be punished. Additionally, this law protects people from being cheated of their money and corn. Therefore, even though the punishment is “judgment by the river”, it is quite an interesting and complicated law that is well made. Next, according to Law Code 209, “If a man strike a freeborn woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay 10 shekels for her loss.” This law basically says there is a fine for causing a pregnant woman to lose her child, which is decently fair. Additionally, this is a great example of a law that is the foundation for modern laws concerning fines. Therefore, this law was an advanced and fair law that was essential to his system of law. As you can see, Hammurabi did invent a few very fair and modern laws.
Hammurabi may have been a crazy maniacal wacko with his punishments, but he clearly did lay some good foundations for
To start with, according to Law Code 108, “If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of a drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.” This law is actually quite advanced, saying that if a tavern keeper takes money (worth more than corn) but does not take the corn (worth less, but still pays for drink), then she is stealing from the man who gave the money’s currency, and then will be punished. Additionally, this law protects people from being cheated of their money and corn. Therefore, even though the punishment is “judgment by the river”, it is quite an interesting and complicated law that is well made. Next, according to Law Code 209, “If a man strike a freeborn woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay 10 shekels for her loss.” This law basically says there is a fine for causing a pregnant woman to lose her child, which is decently fair. Additionally, this is a great example of a law that is the foundation for modern laws concerning fines. Therefore, this law was an advanced and fair law that was essential to his system of law. As you can see, Hammurabi did invent a few very fair and modern laws.
Hammurabi may have been a crazy maniacal wacko with his punishments, but he clearly did lay some good foundations for