The code of Hammurabi and law:
· The Babylonian king Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.) produced the Code of Hammurabi, the oldest surviving set of laws. Ascribed with initiating the eye for an eye justice, it was incorporated of 282 case laws with legal procedures and penalties. Many of the laws had been around for a while. Hammurabi codified them into a fixed and standardized set of laws. He also commenced a highly developed government system that included courts and a complex structure for the enforcement of laws.
· The Laws of Hammurabi are the most prolonged and structured of the law collections that survive from ancient Mesopotamia.
· King Hammurabi, had the laws engraved on stone stelae which he placed in various temples throughout his kingdom.
· The legal code of Hammurabi is listed on an 8-foot-high black diorite stele from the 18th century B.C. On the top of the stele Hammurabi is shown standing before Shamash, the god of justice, receiving the laws. The stele is believed to be one of many that were set up throughout the Babylonian domain to inform people of the laws of the land. The Code of Hammurabi slab that exists today was moved to Susa in Iran in 1200 B.C. and discovered in 1901. It is currently at the Louvre.
· The legal code of Hammurabi dealt with larceny, marriage, arrears, bondage, trade. One of the central tenets of the laws was to protect the weak against the strong. The "an for an eye" saying reads: "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye...If a son strike his father, they shall cut of his fingers...if one break's a man's bone, they shall break his bone." It came from list of penalties for surgeons. If a surgeon caused someone to lose an eye through negligence the surgeon could lose his eyes.
Mesopotamian justice system:
· The Mesopotamians arguably invented the centralized state and the developed kingship. Cities were political focal points as well as urban center and leadership was passed down by kingly dynasties. As Mesopotamian culture developed it city-states merged into kingdoms.
· Mesopotamians are said to have expand imperialism. The late second millennium B.C. has been called “the first international age.” It was a time when there was enlarged interactions between kingdoms. The Assyrians created a kingdom that espoused many smaller kingdoms that made up a variation of different ethnic groups.
· The Mesopotamians are also ascribed with inventing government bureaucracy. Taxes were in the form of tithes paid by farmers. The day-to-day affairs of government were handled by scribes and palace officials. They made records of the tithes and transactions of farmers.
· In Mesopotamia there were legal codes but no lawyers. Parties involved in any conflicts had to plead their cases directly to government authorities, often people close to the king or the king himself. All legal decisions and agreements were validated by an oath taken before the gods and subject to their displeasure or punishment if the agreement was broken.
· The Babylonian king Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.) produced the Code of Hammurabi, the oldest surviving set of laws. Ascribed with initiating the eye for an eye justice, it was incorporated of 282 case laws with legal procedures and penalties. Many of the laws had been around for a while. Hammurabi codified them into a fixed and standardized set of laws. He also commenced a highly developed government system that included courts and a complex structure for the enforcement of laws.
· The Laws of Hammurabi are the most prolonged and structured of the law collections that survive from ancient Mesopotamia.
· King Hammurabi, had the laws engraved on stone stelae which he placed in various temples throughout his kingdom.
· The legal code of Hammurabi is listed on an 8-foot-high black diorite stele from the 18th century B.C. On the top of the stele Hammurabi is shown standing before Shamash, the god of justice, receiving the laws. The stele is believed to be one of many that were set up throughout the Babylonian domain to inform people of the laws of the land. The Code of Hammurabi slab that exists today was moved to Susa in Iran in 1200 B.C. and discovered in 1901. It is currently at the Louvre.
· The legal code of Hammurabi dealt with larceny, marriage, arrears, bondage, trade. One of the central tenets of the laws was to protect the weak against the strong. The "an for an eye" saying reads: "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye...If a son strike his father, they shall cut of his fingers...if one break's a man's bone, they shall break his bone." It came from list of penalties for surgeons. If a surgeon caused someone to lose an eye through negligence the surgeon could lose his eyes.
Mesopotamian justice system:
· The Mesopotamians arguably invented the centralized state and the developed kingship. Cities were political focal points as well as urban center and leadership was passed down by kingly dynasties. As Mesopotamian culture developed it city-states merged into kingdoms.
· Mesopotamians are said to have expand imperialism. The late second millennium B.C. has been called “the first international age.” It was a time when there was enlarged interactions between kingdoms. The Assyrians created a kingdom that espoused many smaller kingdoms that made up a variation of different ethnic groups.
· The Mesopotamians are also ascribed with inventing government bureaucracy. Taxes were in the form of tithes paid by farmers. The day-to-day affairs of government were handled by scribes and palace officials. They made records of the tithes and transactions of farmers.
· In Mesopotamia there were legal codes but no lawyers. Parties involved in any conflicts had to plead their cases directly to government authorities, often people close to the king or the king himself. All legal decisions and agreements were validated by an oath taken before the gods and subject to their displeasure or punishment if the agreement was broken.