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Meso's Law and Justice

Sumerians and the Babylonians developed law codes. Basically, the codes were an attempt to collect, organize, and recors all existing laws so that there would be one common code for all citizens of the empire.

The ruler of Ur, Ur-Nammu, developed an early code based on Sumerian tradition. It gave legal protection to peasents and commoners as well as to nobles, but the laws were applied differently to different classes of people. Nobles found guilty of commiting a crime were treated more harshly since better behaviour was expected from them than from a commoner. Penalties usually took the form of fines or phosical punishment.

Mesopotamia's most important legal legacy is the law code established by Hammurabi, king of Babylonia. Hammurabi's code listed 282 different laws, organized under headings such as trade, family, labour, real estate, and personal property. The code distingushed between a minor crime and a major crimeand it established some important legal principles.

The Hammurabi's code was declared positively that the state is the authority responsible for obedience of the law, and it confirmed that social justice shouls be guranteed to all citizens. It also promoted the idea that the punishment should fit the crime. The basic prinicple behind the code was "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". For example, if a house in Babylonia collapsed and killed the owner, the builder of the house would be put to death.

Hammurabi's Law Code: Hammurabi's law code was inscribed on an upright stone, or stela, that orignally stood in babylon's temple of Marduk, the chief god. At the top of the stone, we see King Hammurabi receving the symbols of authority, a rod and ring, from the god Marduk. Below the portrayal, cuneiform writing outlines the code. The following are some of Hammurabi's 282 laws.

- If a noble has stolen the young son of another noble, he shall be put to death.

- If a noble has commited robbery and has been caught, the noble shall be put to death.

- If a noble has come forward with false testimony concerning grain or money, he shall bear the penalty of the case.

- If a robber is not caught, the man who has been robbed should make claim to the city and the governor in whose territory and district the crime was commited , and they shall make good to him his lost property.

- If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand.

Revenge

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