Daily Times

The oldest deciphered law writings of significant length in the world are the Codes of Hammurabi, proclaimed by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who ruled from 1790 to 1750 BCE. The code consists of 282 laws, and is based on the principles of ‘lex talionis’ or laws of retribution, better known as ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. For a time, people thought that this law of retributive justice originated from the Hebrew laws and Moses, but, upon the discovery of the Codes of Hammurabi, that theory lost its significance.

Stories of kings of the ancient times bring to mind power hungry, greedy, ruthless, spineless rulers, who were always ready to put someone to death on a whim, or those who would readily partake in rape and murder of innocent lives. But Hammurabi was God-fearing, and was on a mission to bring rule of righteousness in the land to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers. He wished to have the weak to have a standing in front of the rich, and he wished to enlighten the land so that his subjects could be provided with a written code to consult.

The stele on which the laws are carved was unearthed in 1901 by a team led by Jaques de Morgan, a French mining engineer, on his expedition to Persia to excavate the Elamite capital of Susa. The stele holds the most comprehensive list of ancient laws in existence. The inscription is in the Akkadian language, and has 16 columns of text on the front and 28 on the back.

A closer inspection of the laws gives an understanding into the Babylonian ways of life, ranging from agriculture to bustling urban centres. The laws were meant to give a sense of security and stability to its residents, and that they managed to provide to a very far reaching extent. Many historians even have gone to label it as much more advanced than the medieval period in Europe, which was around 500 AD.

Stories of kings of the ancient times bring to mind power hungry, greedy, ruthless, spineless rulers

About 100 laws concern matters of family, marriage, incest, inheritance and adultery. Another 100 laws concern matters of property and commerce. For instance, marriages were often a business arrangement between the prospective husband and the father of the desired wife. Divorce was attainable, though more easily for the man than the woman. Divorce often carried a fee, and sometimes, required the husband to return the dowry. Incest and a wife’s adultery were punishable by exile or death. The code sees the father, as you might expect, as the head of the household. Until the child was married, the father had legal rights to use children for labour for himself or his debtors. Fathers could even choose to sell their children off. Not only that, but were a child to strike a father, the child’s hands were cut off.

About 100 of these laws concern matters of property and commerce, including debt, interest and collateral. For instance, if a dam broke and the subsequent flooding destroyed crops, the laws chalked it up to the negligence of the dam’s owner, who had to compensate the farmers who lost crops. Because Babylonia’s economy functioned partly on metal currency and partly on barter, the laws also established certain standards and limits for loan agreements to control an abuse of usury. The code stipulates that a lender could charge, at most, 20 percent for a silver-based loan and 33.3 percent for a grain loan. Lenders also had to finalise the contract in front of witnesses and wait for harvest time before demanding repayment. The code addresses the idea of a secured loan,one backed by valuable collateral, as well. Property in the form of land and houses, or even wives and children, could serve as collateral, too. Those in severe debt could enter indentured servitude to pay it off.

Though Hammurabi was way ahead of his time and his intentions were to make sure to bring justice to the masses at large, his laws were mostly based on perpetrators’ social status. Members of the elite could get away with crimes against a person of a lower status by making a payment, whereas a person of the lower class might receive a much harsher punishment. Law number 196 stipulated: “If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one breaks a man’s bone, they shall break his bones. If one destroys the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shall pay one gold mina. If one destroys the eye of a man’s slave or break a bone of a man’s slave he shall pay one-half his price.”

Historians were baffled to see the resemblance between the Code of Hammurabi and the Mosaic Laws, the laws of Moses and the Hebrews. Some were even of the view that the Mosaic Laws somewhat evolved from the Code of Hammurabi, but later, on further inspection, it was found that the Mosaic Laws were more humane as they didn’t take into consideration the perpetrator’s social class.

Over time, scholars have continued to debate and speculate as to how the ancient Babylonians interpreted and used the code. The code is so well thought out and so pertinent in the issues it addresses that scholars think that it was a list of amendments to an existing law that got lost to history.

The writer is an advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan, a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn and the International Bar Association