Hammurabi’s Code: Justice for Survival
“Justice is the maintenance or administration of what is just, especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments” (Merriam). Any civilization or community needs a judicial system that keeps it from becoming a bestial or barbaric state. “Might makes right” is the old barbaric concept that the stronger people will dominate the weaker. This can not be the only governing concept in a civil community. If a civilization wishes to be successful, there must be a judicial system that upholds equality and promotes the good of all, not one specific individual or group. Hammurabi was a great Babylonian king who ruled from about 1792-1750 BC. Hammurabi believed that he was chosen by the gods to deliver the law to his people. In fact, Mesopotamian cities were modeled to be earthly copies of the divine, each to its own god. In the preface to the law code, he states, "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land” (King). He built a grand province that spread from the Persian Gulf, through the great river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, to the Mediterranean Sea. This large empire was in dire need of a judicial system that would keep its population in line. There was no unifying factor, religion, or cause that served to keep his empire together. Hammurabi was not the first king to make laws, but his extensive record remains in tact and preserved as one of the best historical records of the Babylonian Era. Hammurabi’s answer to the internal conflict and turmoil in his kingdom was a primitive but effective set of 282 laws. He needed an efficient way to create a peaceful and ordered society. He created a military state that was completely governed by his harsh set of laws. The Code of Hammurabi was a crude but effective judicial system that relied on fear to maintain structure among the general population. The
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