Raunak Shah

09/16/2012

Global Studies
Period 3

Hammurabi wanted to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and evil, to
prevent the strong from oppressing the weak, and to further the welfare of the people, which would
only occur if a strong framework of laws and a strong government was put in place. Hammurabi
established just that, and formed a set of strong laws that revolutionized Babylon. However, many of
his laws were quite harsh. There was no concept of imprisonment in the laws, and only fines and being
put to death were the possible punishments. Some punishments became very harsh, as there was no
middle ground. Some even did not make any sense. For example, if people went to the elders to
accuse someone of a crime, but they could not prove it, they would be killed. The accuser has not done
a crime at all, and he was punished.
Despite the flaws in Hammurabi's law code, he did bring justice to the people and kept the
Babylonians civilized. Stealing items, holding others slaves, and stealing minors were only a few
examples of what was given punishments for. Burglary was also taken care of. This must have
discouraged people to commit such crimes, and must have created justice and fulfilled the goals of
Hammurabi. Also, there are laws for everyone: judges, free men, and slaves. If a judge makes an error
in his case, and if it was his own fault, he would have to pay 12 times the fine he set and shall be
removed from the position of the judge. The strong do not oppress the weak.
Along with justice, women had rights. This was a big concept in those times as after farming
took control, men became more important than women, and the latter's rights were significantly
reduced. For example, if the male figure in a family were lazy, and did not maintain the house, the
women could get another husband; however, if the husband came back to maintain the house, the wife
had to come back. As this example shows us, there were limitations on their rights. Still, the concept of
woman's rights exemplified a few of the great things about the laws of Hammurabi.
Hammurabi's laws have pros and cons, but our laws could be more like his in some ways. In

other ways, our laws are perfectly fine, and even better. Some crimes in our society are quite huge, but
only imprisonment is given for it. Meanwhile, the victim's life might be gone or they might have
suffered a lot. In such cases being harsh might be useful, and encourage not to commit such crimes.
Contrariwise, some of our laws are better than Hammurabi's ones. As said previously, sometimes his
laws are too harsh, and to fix that we have the imprisonment punishment at hand.
The Babylonians had many social classes, due to the laws addressing them all. They also valued
righteousness, due to their widespread laws, and Hammurabi's goal of having the strong not oppress the
weak. Babylonians also seemed to like everything given justice to, and the appropriate punishment or
reward given to everyone. The Babylonians also seemed to think slaves were inhuman, since there was
no law in favor of them at all, and they seemed to be below others in working class. People were even
considered thieves if they bought anything from a slave without a contract. Inequality still existed, even
though everyone had rightsif you destroy a patrician's eye, your eye get's destroyed; however, if you
destroy the eye of a plebeian, you pay a fine. This makes the richer part of society at a higher social
class and worth more. Therefore, Babylonians seemed to think that more wealth means more
importance and more power. They also had an eye for an eye mentality, or an attitude that calls for
getting revenge on someone if they have done something bad to you. This shows that the Babylonians
wanted complete equalityeven in the terms of doings and punishments. Overall, Hammurabi's laws
were good and bad, but they were a great advance for the time.