DAY 6 (Feb 9) Hammurabi's Code

Today we're looking at the history of law in the world.  It is important to note that law is constantly evolving.  Each of the records of Law that you will cover (list is below) had an impact on laws written hundreds or even thousands of years later.  For example, the Napoleonic Code was based heavily on the Justinian Code, and civil law in Quebec is based on the Napoleonic Code, and there are many many more examples.

The first set of ancient laws that we will look at is the Code of Hammurabi (this is a complete text of it).  In 1,800 B.C. the Amorite king, Hammurabi, took the throne of the new Babylonian dynasty in what is today modern Iraq. He was the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylon. Immediatley he began to expand his new empire to eventually include Assyria and northern Syria. Hammurabi was a great military leader and lawgiver. In the first year of his reign Hammurabi fulfilled a promise to the Babylonian god Marduk and established an extensive law system which encompassed nearly every area of ancient life. The document was over 300 paragraphs long and included sections on social, moral, religious, commercial and civil law.
 

Kings of the day often posted large monuments listing their laws with an accompanying statue carving of themselves to identify the law with the king. Hammurabi was no different in this practice. There were many copies of this law erected throughout the kingdom usually in temples dedicated to local gods. One of the original pillars now resides in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.

Mosaic Law (c. 1240 BC) and the 10 Commandments