The code had unequal punishments and treated certain groups of people and women unequally. The punishments were harsh and unreasonable and included severe punishments like death penalties. It was a means to get rid of crimes in the state and keep the nation safe, but it was a terrible way of enforcing the law. It ensured that people obeyed the laws and that people got punishments according to their crimes. It was a fair system with strict, simple rules and helped keep crimes at bay because of the harsh punishments. The code helped maintain social order and have an organized society. He revised and expanded older collections of Sumerian and Akkadian laws while formulating the code. So with the help of his artisans, he codified the laws in the country intending to promote social cohesion and administration in the country and publicized it to show transparency in his governance. As his empire expanded, he found it difficult to administer a large and diverse group of people. The code was promulgated by King Hammurabi of Babylon, who ruled over much of Mesopotamia from 1792 to 1750 BC. But the codes were not based on equality there were stratification and differences in punishments based on class and gender. The code followed the principle of lex talionis, the law of retributive justice where the criminal gets punishment equal to the one they inflicted on the victim i.e., “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. It was looted and later rediscovered by a team of French archaeologists in Susa, Iraq. They were carved into massive, finger-shaped, black stone stele and dates back to 1754 BC. The code of Hammurabi containing 282 laws is one of the oldest written laws codes in the world.
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