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Code of Hammurabi

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   An inscription of the Code of Hammurabi
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   An inscription of the Code of Hammurabi
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   The Code of Hammurabi (also known as the Codex Hammurabi and
   Hammurabi's Code), created ca. 1780 BC ( short chronology), is one of
   the earliest extant sets of laws and one of the best preserved examples
   of this type of document from ancient Mesopotamia. Still earlier
   collections of laws include the codex of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (ca. 2050
   BC), the Codex of Eshnunna (ca. 1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar
   of Isin (ca. 1870 BC).

   It shows rules and punishments if those rules are broken, the
   punishments could be as little as a fine or as big as sentencing to
   death. It focuses on theft, agriculture (or shepherding), property
   damage, women's rights, marriage rights, children's rights, slave
   rights, murder, death, and injury. The punishment varies depending on
   the class of offenders and victims. For a comprehensive summary, see
   Babylonian law.

   The laws do not accept excuses or explanations for mistakes or fault:
   the Code was openly displayed for all to see, so no man could plead
   ignorance of the law as an excuse. Few people, however, could read in
   that era (literacy mainly being the domain of scribes).

   Hammurabi (1728 BC–1686 BC) felt he had to write the code to please his
   gods. Unlike many earlier and contemporary kings, he did not consider
   himself related to any god, although he did call himself "the favorite
   of the gods." In the upper part of the stela, Hammurabi is shown in
   front of the throne of the sun god Shamash.

   The laws (numbered from 1 to 282, but numbers 13 and 66-99 are missing)
   are inscribed in Old Babylonian on an eight foot tall stela of black
   basalt . It was discovered in December 1901 in Susa, Elam, which is now
   Khuzestan, Iran, where it had been taken as plunder by the Elamite king
   Shutruk-Nahhunte in the 12th century BC. It is currently on display at
   the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

   The code is often pointed to as the first example of the legal concept
   that some laws are so basic as to be beyond the ability of even a king
   to change. By writing the laws on stone they were immutable. This
   concept lives on in most modern legal systems and has given rise to the
   term written in stone.

   The Code of Hammurabi was one of many sets of laws in the Ancient Near
   East. Most of these law codes, coming from similar cultures and racial
   groups in a relatively small geographical area, necessarily have
   passages that resemble each other. For example, the laws found in the
   later Hittite code of laws (ca. 1300 BC) have some individual laws that
   bear a passing resemblance to those in the Code of Hammurabi, as well
   as other codices from the same geographic area. The earlier Ur-Nammu,
   of the written literature prolific Ur-III dynasty (21st century BC),
   also produced a code of laws, some of which bear resemblance to certain
   specific laws in the Code of Hammurabi. The later Mosaic Law (according
   to the modern documentary hypothesis ca. 700-500 BC - under Hezekiah/
   Josiah; traditionally ca. 1200 BC - under Moses) also has some laws
   that resemble the Code of Hammurabi, as well as other law codes of the
   region.

Examples

   There were 248 laws, which were quite strict. Some of these were:
     * If one accuses another with a capital offence, but cannot prove the
       charges, the accuser will be killed.

     * If one accuses another, and can prove it, he shall be rewarded with
       money.

     * If a judge decides in a case, and later it turns out that he was
       wrong, he will have to pay twelve times as much as he set for the
       accused, and will never be allowed to judge anymore.

     * If one steals the son of another, he will be killed, and buried at
       the breach.

     * If one finds a slave who has run away, and he brings the slave back
       to his owner, the owner will pay two shekels.

     * If a robber is caught while stealing, he will be killed.

     * If one does not take good enough care of a dam, and the dam breaks,
       he shall be sold for money, which will replace the corn ruined due
       to the over-flooding of the crops.

     * If one over-floods a neighbour’s crops, then he shall pay the loss.

     * If one gives his garden to a gardener to take care of, and the
       gardener has done his job well for four years, on the fifth year
       the owner will have to take part in the gardening.

     * If the gardener did not do his job well, and the plants go bad, he
       shall pay the loss of the bad years according to the neighbour's
       plant product.

     * If one is in debt, and cannot pay, he can sell himself, his wife,
       his son and his daughter to work; after three years they shall be
       set free.

     * If the one in debt sells a slave to pay his debt, and the slave is
       good enough, there can be no objection.

     * If one marries a woman, but has no relationship with her, it is not
       considered as a marriage.

     * If a wife has a relationship with another man, both shall be tied
       and thrown into water, but the wife can be pardoned by her husband
       given to the king as a slave.

     * If a man uses violence on another man’s wife to sleep with her, the
       man shall be killed, but the wife shall be blameless.

     * If a man is captured in war, and the wife leaves the house, even
       though there is enough food, she shall be thrown into water.

     * If a man is captured in war, and there is no food, the wife is
       blameless if she goes to another house.

     * If a husband runs away from home, the wife goes to another house,
       and the husband subsequently returns, the wife does not have to go
       back.

     * If a man wants to separate from a woman who has given birth to his
       children, a part of land and money has to be given to her by the
       husband. When the children grow up, the wife can remarry.

     * If a man wants to separate from a woman, with no children, he shall
       have to give back her dowry and the money she has brought from her
       father’s house.

     * If a man adopts a son and he grows up in the adopter’s house, the
       original parents cannot demand his return.

     * If anyone strikes a man whose rank is higher than his, the man
       shall be whipped sixty times with an ox-whip in public.

     * If someone strikes another man equally ranked, he shall pay one
       gold mina.

     * If a slave strikes its owner, his ear will be cut off.

     * If a man strikes a pregnant woman, and she therefore loses her
       child, he shall pay ten shekels for her.

     * If anyone strikes anyone of lower rank, the victim shall commit the
       same injury as was done to him- or herself upon the offender.

     * If a builder builds a house, and constructs it well, the owner will
       pay two shekels for each surface of the house.

     * If, however, he does not succeed, and the house falls in, killing
       the owner, the builder will be killed.

     * If the son of the owner dies, the son of the builder shall be
       killed.

     * If a man breaks down a wall of a house in an attempt to rob it
       (quite literally "breaking into") and is caught, his punishment
       will be to become sealed up inside the wall as a patch.
     * If a son strikes his mother his hands shall be cut off.
     * If a son says that his mother is not his mother or his father is
       not his father his tongue shall be cut off.

     * If a man strikes another man, his hand shall be cut off.

     * If a man is committed robbery, but can not prove it, his hand shall
       be cut off.

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