Hammurabi- Hammurabi was the King and founder of the

Babylonian empire

- code contained 282 laws

- settled conflict in ALL

areas of life

Reign of Hammurabi of Babylon, 1792-1750

B.C.

Hammurabi’s Code of Law

I. Babylonian Empire [2000 BC – 1680

BC]1. Nomadic warriors overtook the Sumerians.

II. Hammurabi’s Code1. In 1790 BC, king wrote the world’s first large collection of laws.

III.Legal Principles of Hammurabi1. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

A. 282 specific laws.

2. Punishments would be based upon social class of lawbreaker.

A. Wealthy citizens would pay fines, commoners would face

physical punishment.

B. Government had a responsibility for what occurred in society.

• Hammurabi was a Mesopotamian kingwho recorded a system of laws calledthe Code of Hammurabi. His 282 lawswere engraved in stone and placed in apublic location for everyone to see.Some of Hammurabi's laws werebased on the principle "An eye for aneye, a tooth for a tooth." This meansthat whoever commits an injury shouldbe punished in the same manner asthat injury. If someone puts outanother person's eye, their eye wouldbe put out in return.

• Hammurabi's code included what wetoday call both criminal and civil law.Criminal law is composed of rules thatdefine conduct. One law said, "if a sonstrikes his father, his hands shall behewn off." Civil law settles disputesamong individuals. Hammurabi's Codestates, "if a man builds a house badly,and it falls and kills the owner, thebuilder is to be killed. If the owner'sson was killed, then the builder's son isto be killed."

•What should be done if a son

is adopted and then the birth-

parents want him back?

• If a man takes in his own home a

young boy as a son and rears

him, one may not bring claim for

that adopted son.

• What should

happen to a boy

who slaps his

father?

•If a son strikes his

father, they shall cut

off his hand.

•How is the truth

determined when one man

brings an accusation

against another?

• If any one brings an accusation against a man, both men go to the river and the accused person leaps into the river. If he sinks in the river, his

accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river proves that the accused is not guilty, and he escapes unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who

leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

The End