The Code of Hammurabi: Laws, Justice, and Ancient Society

Introduction: Law, Order, and the Ancient World

In the United States, the penal code is driven by the U.S. Constitution, and it continues expanding to account for modern times. The U.S. Constitution is not exhaustive, but its tenets are comprehensive (Cornell, 2009). The penal code rests on the principle that no individual — and in general, no government — may violate another individual's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with "pursuit" being the operative word: a person is not entitled to happiness itself, but should be unencumbered in seeking it. When such a violation occurs, the penal system responds through an adversarial process of checks and balances that affords every accused person due process under the law. In modern times, laws have evolved to encompass the technological world, including computer fraud and cyber-terrorism — instances of penal law that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. Yet at its root, a code of laws is about one individual infringing upon the rights of another.

The U.S. Constitution borrowed heavily from Great Britain's unwritten constitution, and both serve as beacons for most democratic nations. These systems are, however, not without precedent. The need for a judicial system appears to have evolved alongside humanity and the recognition that human beings are social animals. In today's autocracies, a cabal or a single all-powerful individual makes decisions that affect the lives of everyone in that country — kingdoms of the Middle East and certain dictatorships in Africa come to mind. It is therefore striking to realize that a formal code of laws governing behavior existed nearly 2,000 years before the Common Era (BCE, previously known as Before Christ). That codification is known as the famous Code of Hammurabi.

Origins and Discovery of the Hammurabi Code

The Code of Hammurabi was created around 1760 BCE (Hammurabi and Johns, 2000). Hammurabi was a ruler and priest who governed the kingdom of Babylon and was the architect of the unification of all of Mesopotamia — the region that is modern-day Iraq. He came from the Amorite dynasty and was its sixth monarch (Bartleby, 2009). The code was inscribed in cuneiform on a stone pillar called a stela. Cuneiform was only deciphered as a proper language after considerable scholarly effort (LawBuzz, 2009). Just as the laws of God — the Ten Commandments — were said to have been delivered to Moses, this code was depicted as having been handed down to Hammurabi by Shamash, the god of justice (Cook, 1903).

The stela was discovered in 1901 in what is now Turkey, not in Mesopotamia itself. Scholars speculate that it may have been carried off as spoils of war in the intervening centuries, raising questions about whether this was the original or a copy. The stela currently resides at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, where it is a much-visited exhibit. Interestingly, scholars maintain that the Hammurabi code does not represent the invention of these laws. Variants of these rules had existed for several generations and centuries before Hammurabi's reign. In recorded history, however, Hammurabi's code represents the first formal codification of such a set of rules. Why Hammurabi felt the need to formalize them remains open to speculation, but since he was responsible for making Babylon what may be considered the world's first true metropolis, he apparently found it fitting that a formal body of rules should govern a complex, society-driven urban community.

Structure and Scope of the 282 Laws

Hammurabi's code is comprehensive without being exhaustive. It accounts for nearly all conceivable human failings and prescribes appropriate penalties. Though the code was not rediscovered until modern times, it is possible that its provisions, in whole or in part, were transmitted through the ages in spoken or written form. The concept of "an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth," which became the hallmark of early Judaic jurisprudence, appears very strongly in Hammurabi's code. One might recognize that such a precise system governing behavior would be preferable to today's era of legal complexity. These laws were not purely punitive, nor did they address only society at large — they also dealt with family matters. Hammurabi's code can thus be understood as combining what we would today call criminal, civil, and family courts, covering everything from capital punishment to financial restitution.

The code contains 282 laws. Translations confirm that the laws are comprehensive, though not exhaustive. Because the stela was buried for more than two millennia, approximately 35 laws — from law 66 to law 99 — are too damaged and defaced to be effectively translated.

Before examining the individual laws, it is worth noting an interesting feature of how the code treats the accused. The very first law cautions against bringing a false accusation against another person, with death prescribed as the penalty for doing so. In cases where the level of the crime is unclear or the status of the accuser is in doubt, the river served as an oracle — a medium upon which the determination of guilt rested. This appears in law three: if one party accused another, the accused had to throw himself into the river. If he drowned, he was deemed guilty. If he survived and was carried safely to shore, the accuser was put to death. This procedure placed the burden of proof — much as in modern times — on the accuser. Interestingly, some indigenous tribes of South America employ a comparable practice, using a chicken as an oracle: if the chicken consumes a special feed and does not die, one party is favored over the other (Chagnon, 1989).

The principle that an accuser should be cautious before bringing a charge can be compared to a modern legal proposal debated in various jurisdictions: that the losing party pays all legal costs in a lawsuit. This is designed to reduce frivolous litigation. The severity of the accusation also matters under Hammurabi's code: if an accuser demands the full penalty on the basis of a false charge, the same harsh punishment applies to the accuser; if the demands are more tempered, the accuser stands a greater chance of receiving some compensation. These are intrinsic checks and balances that Hammurabi believed were beneficial for society.

Judges, too, were not above the law. A false judgment meant a fine many times more severe than the one the judge had imposed, as well as removal from the bench. Hammurabi's code left no room for the miscarriage of justice.

Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy of Hammurabi's Code

What is astounding about the Hammurabi code is that it is very precise and comprehensive. It takes into account so many scenarios, and one is amazed at the effort that went into creating these laws. The fact that these laws mirror so many principles found in today's legal systems demonstrates that laws are, and always have been, made for people.

References

Bartleby. The Amorite Kingdoms. 2009. Available: April 6, 2009.

Chagnon, N.A. "Yanomamo Survival." Science 244.4900 (1989): 11.

Cook, Stanley Arthur. The Laws of Moses and the Code of Hammurabi. London: A. and C. Black, 1903.

Cornell. The Constitution of the United States of America. 2009. Cornell University Law School. Available: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html. April 6, 2009.

Edlund, Lena. "A Theory of Prostitution." Journal of Political Economy 110 (2002): 181–214.

Hammurabi, and C.H.W. Johns. The Oldest Code of Laws in the World: The Code of Laws Promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, B.C. 2285–2242. Union, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange, 2000.

LawBuzz. The Code of Hammurabi: Cuneiform Is Deciphered. 2009. Available: http://www.lawbuzz.com/ourlaws/hammurabi/cuneiform.htm. April 7, 2009.