Hammurabi was the king of a city-state called Babylon (in the kingdom of Babylonia) over 4,000 years ago. His reign lasted for 42 years. He was highly known for his code of 282 laws he created to protect his people and land. (BGE) However the question remains, Hammurabi's code: was it just? It was indeed just because of its family laws, property laws, and personal injury laws. The family law in Hammurabi’s code was just. It was just because it protects the people from unfairness. In law 168 it states “If a man is determined to disinherit his son and has declared before the judge, ‘I cut off my son,’ the judge shall inquire into the son’s past, and, if the son had not committed a grave misdemeanor…, the father shall not disinherit his son.” (Doc C). This is fair to the son because he has the right to
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In law 196 it says “If a man has knocked out the eye of a free man, his eye shall be knocked out.” (Doc E). This was a reasonable punishment during this time because if the punishment of the crime was to pay something to make up for the loss of the man’s eye, people with higher wealth could perform the crime multiple times and just pay their way out of a more severe punishment. To reduce the amount of violence in cities that were already unorderly, they made sure to have harsher punishments so that people would be less likely to commit these crimes. Another example of a just personal injury law would be law 215 which says “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.” (Doc E). This is fair to both the surgeon and the community that he lives in. This is fair because the surgeon should be rewarded in the act of saving someone’s life so that it gives them another reason to continue saving lives of the people in their community. These laws were made with the good intentions of restoring order and keeping people safe from
In law 196 it says “If a man has knocked out the eye of a free man, his eye shall be knocked out.” (Doc E). This was a reasonable punishment during this time because if the punishment of the crime was to pay something to make up for the loss of the man’s eye, people with higher wealth could perform the crime multiple times and just pay their way out of a more severe punishment. To reduce the amount of violence in cities that were already unorderly, they made sure to have harsher punishments so that people would be less likely to commit these crimes. Another example of a just personal injury law would be law 215 which says “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.” (Doc E). This is fair to both the surgeon and the community that he lives in. This is fair because the surgeon should be rewarded in the act of saving someone’s life so that it gives them another reason to continue saving lives of the people in their community. These laws were made with the good intentions of restoring order and keeping people safe from