Code of Hammurabi
An inscription of the Code of Hamurabi
It shows rules and punishments if those rules are defied. It focuses on theft, farming (or shepherding), property damage, women's rights, marriage rights, children's rights, slave rights, and murder, death, and injury. 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. However, few people (mainly scribes) could read.
Hammurabi (1728 BC-1686 BC) felt he had to write the code to please his gods. Unlike many kings of the time and previous, 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.
There were 281 laws (number 13, 66-99, 110 and 111, are missing) on an 8 foot tall stela of black diorite. It was discovered in 1909 in Susa, Elam, what is now modern Khusistan. 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 and incapable of being changed. This concept lives on in most modern legal systems and has given rise to the term "written in stone".
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Some parts of the Mosaic law are similar to certain sections of Hammurabi's Code, and because of this certain scholars claimed that the Hebrews got their law from it. However, the book "Documents from Old Testament Times" states: "There is no ground for assuming any direct borrowing by the Hebrew from the Babylonian. Even where the two sets of laws differ little in the letter, they differ much in the spirit."
Here are some examples of the differences:
The differences from Mosaic Law
| Hammurabi's Code | Mosaic Law |
|---|---|
| Death penalty for theft of church or state property, or for receiving stolen goods.(Sect. 6) | Thief punished by making compensation to victim. (Ex. 22:1-9) |
| Death for helping a slave to escape or harboring a fugitive slave. (Sect. 15, 16) | "You must not hand over a slave to his master when he escapes from his master to you." (Deut. 23:15) |
| If a poorly built house causes the death of a son of the owner of the house, then the son of the builder is put to death. (Sect. 230) | "Fathers should not be put to death on account of children, and children should not be put to death on account of fathers." (Deut. 24:16) |
| Mere banishment for incest: "If a seignior [man of rank] has had intercourse with his daughter, they shall make that seignior leave the city." (Sect. 154) | Death penalty for incest.(Lev. 18:6, 29) |
| Class distinctions in judgment: Severe penalties for persons who harm others of a higher class. Mild penalties for harming members of a lower class. (Sect. 196-205) | You must not treat the lowly with partiality, and you must not prefer the person of a great one.(Lev. 19:15) |
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See also: Manusmriti