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How Did The Code Of Hammurabi Change Over Time

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Hammurabi, King of Babylon was the first person to create laws that would unite his empire. He created two-hundred and eighty-two laws that dealt with private matters/rights and criminal activity. The majority of the laws for private matters was put in place to protect the slaves and women, people that did not have a sufficient amount of power. The law for criminal activity covered offenses against others that included murder, assault, robbery and etc.There were specific punishments for crimes, this law prevented wrath towards one another. Hammurabi's Code set the standards for justice and social order throughout Mesopotamia. His code taught us about how life in Babylon and Mesopotamia changed from what is was like before the laws got set in …show more content…

"If a man's wife be surprised (in flagrante delicto) with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves." Women were taken for granted during this period of time, they had less power than the man. Today, it is stated that the man is the head of the household which can relate back to the time of Hammurabi's code but, the difference is that woman have more authority now compared to the women in Mesopotamia. Slaves were treated poorly related to a person of the free class, the slaves would be treated as property just like the woman. People would be labeled as prostitues, paramours and etc. "If he give a male or female slave away for forced labor, and the merchant sublease them, or sell them for money, no objection can be raised." I don’t feel their system was more effective than ours because today we try to make sure that everyone has equal rights, the only thing we have in common is that we define people by their "social …show more content…

The code helped provide principles for the people in Mesopotamia. Historians valued the code of Hammurabi so highly because he was the first to create laws that would help with rights and punishments. His laws also created social order, something that the people was lacking. Hammurabi's Code gave the Babylonians something to follow they were able to go back and reference each law. I believe this helped Mesopotamians remember the laws and punishments that were set in

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