Events | Number 5, June 2004 | Hammurabi’s Law

Hammurabi’s Law

Dr P Shahsavand,
Professor of Sociology at Islamic Azad University

In 1901 a team of archeologists, headed by Jaque Demorgan, excavating in the remains of Shush Castle, found one of the most remarkable items of archeology ever discovered: a stone tablet with the laws of Hammurabi inscribed on it. The tablet is of black diorite stone, 2.45 m high and more or less polished. It is presently kept in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Hammurabi’s Laws are the oldest laws set by human beings, that are at hand. It is probably based on or has benefited from the earlier Sumerian laws but of the latter nothing has so far been found. Hammurabi’s laws are of great significance not only because of the age but because they reflect a highly civilized nation living on earth 4000 years ago.

On one side of the stone slab the Sun God Shemash is depicted granting the written laws to Hammurabi and below the picture the laws are inscribed and continue on the other side.

A part of the inscriptions has been erased, perhaps with the aim of replacing that part with words in praise of a conqueror. However, since the entire text has been found elsewhere on clay tablets almost the entire text is now known.

Hammurabi’s laws consist of 272 articles with an introduction at the beginning in which Hammurabi gives his purpose for setting out these laws. He seeks justices, he says, justice to prevail over evil and corruption, so that the strong cannot oppress the weak, thus to allow people to live in comfort and peace.

These laws deal with such subjects as perjury, bribery, paying witnesses to lie, injustice by judges, correct relations between master and servant, commercial rights, family rights, physicians’ fees, architects fees, shipbuilders fees, boat and ship hire, mule hire, injuries to hired mules, the master’s rights and duties before slaves…

In Hammurabi’s law all free people are equal and enjoy equal benefits, that is to say a Babylonian is not superior to a foreign free person. There are four classes of people: the clergy, government employees, soldiers and tradesmen. Slaves can own property of any kind. Slaves can be sold but cannot be killed without trial.

These laws give considerable rights to women: a man can marry one wife only officially, but if the wife cannot bear a child he can have an unofficial wife. If a freeman marries a slave woman, the woman becomes free. What the woman brings to her husband’s home is her own but the husband can use them. Should a woman betray her husband she will be sent away or becomes the husband’s slave.

If a man becomes captive somewhere, the wife can marry another. But if the man returns she must go back to his home. Women can manage their own properties, enter into trade and business, or give away any part of their properties. A woman can marry when the husband dies and the children cannot

prevent her from doing so unless the court decides otherwise.

Girls who receive dowries are denied any part of the inheritance but those who have not received dowries have rights to the inheritance in equal proportion to sons. Those sons who are not born of official wives will have an equal right to the inheritance if the father has officially accepted them.

Hammurabi’s laws are very advanced even in comparison with laws set out later, as in Rome for example.
Hammurabi’s law allows a creditor to demand the imprisonment of the debtor who cannot pay his debt, but cannot hurt him whereas Roman law lets the creditor cut such a debtor into two.

These laws indicate that at the time of Hammurabi there must have been large trading houses that had agents in or sent agents to other towns or parts of the world; and many banks that accepted deposits and gave out loans. One significant characteristic of Hammurabi’s laws as compared to other laws of the East is that it ignores religion and common traditions.

Another interesting feature of Hammurabi’s law is that it does not allow direct vengeance: crimes had to be judged in courts, not settled directly.

At the end of these laws Hammurabi adds that he is the king of Babylon who has never neglected his people. He then curses anyone who does not respect his law.