Throughout history, societies have pursued justice as a virtue and a means of protecting themselves from internal conflicts and collapse. Humanity has experienced many trials in this pursuit, sometimes succeeding and at other times failing. Among the legal codes that emerged was the Code of Hammurabi.
The Code of Hammurabi is a crucial foundation for understanding the evolution of law in ancient civilizations. This code was an attempt to organize society in a way that met the needs of the time from their perspective. Despite the harshness of some of its rulings, the Code of Hammurabi significantly contributed to the development of legal thought and established principles that have endured over time. The code reflects how law can be a powerful tool for achieving order and stability. Still, it also reminds us of balancing deterrence, fairness, and compassion in pursuing justice.
Hammurabi
Hammurabi was the sixth king of Babylon, ruling between 1792 BC and 1750 BC. His name is composed of two parts: “Hammu,” meaning heat, and “Rabi,” meaning abundant, so he is the one with abundant heat or the source of energy.
He inherited a small kingdom in Babylon from his father and was a brilliant military leader, uniting Mesopotamia and consolidating his rule.
He then enacted laws and regulations to maintain security and order in his kingdom.
Hammurabi held both legislative and executive powers, eliminating the influence of the priests and consolidating both religious and civil authority in his hands.
In addition to this, he did not overlook the role of communication and information dissemination. He established a fast postal system to connect the kingdom’s various parts and enforce his decisions, orders, and laws as quickly as possible. He introduced a relay postal system, employing runners to carry messages like relay races in the Olympic Games.
At the end of his reign, Hammurabi inscribed his code on a cylindrical stele made of black volcanic stone known as diorite, measuring 2.25 meters in height. This stele, now housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris, is known as the Code of Hammurabi. It consists of 282 legal articles written in Akkadian, a language closely related to Arabic.
Laws That Preceded Hammurabi
The Sumerian legal documents are among the oldest texts that included laws and regulations, representing significant milestones in human history. In his book The Code of Hammurabi: A Comparative Study with Ancient and Modern Legislations (2001), Dr. Abbas Al-Aboudi lists the laws that preceded the Code of Hammurabi.
One of the most prominent of these documents is the Reforms of Urukagina, formulated by the Sumerian king Urukagina, who ruled the city of Lagash around 2355 BC. This document predates the Stele of Hammurabi by about five centuries.
Alongside this document is the “Code of Ur-Nammu,” which predates Hammurabi’s Code by three centuries. Fragments of this code, written in the Sumerian language and dating back to the period between 2100 and 2050 BC, were found in the cities of Nippur and Ur.
Another Sumerian law is the Code of Lipit-Ishtar, which predates the Code of Hammurabi by about 140 years and consists of one hundred legal articles.
In the same context, the “Code of Eshnunna” or the “Law of King Bilalama” is one of the oldest legal documents, preceding the Code of Hammurabi by about half a century. It is notable for addressing specific social issues, such as setting minimum wages for workers, pricing certain goods, and dividing society into three classes: the free, the “mushkenum” (poor), and the slaves.
A clear difference in punitive concepts emerges when comparing the ancient laws, particularly the Codes of Eshnunna and Ur-Nammu, with the Code of Hammurabi. The laws preceding Hammurabi’s Code did not adopt the principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Instead, these laws relied on the principle of financial compensation for physical injuries.
The Code of Hammurabi
The Stele of Hammurabi differs from clay tablet documents in that it is not dated. Therefore, from Hammurabi’s military victories mentioned in the code’s preamble, it is inferred that it was written in the later years of his reign.
At the top right of the stele is a depiction of the sun god, Shamash, sitting on his throne, handing the symbols of justice to King Hammurabi, who stands before him in reverence.
Two beams of sunlight emanate from the god’s shoulders, symbolizing the light that dispels darkness and illuminates the universe. This indicates the role of justice in lighting the path for humanity and removing the ambiguity surrounding the laws and codes governing society.
The 282 articles of the Code of Hammurabi predominantly characterize harsh punishments, including many instances of the death penalty. No constitution is above it, nor does it derive legitimacy from another source; according to this code, the king is personally the source of legislation based on a divine grant bestowed specifically upon Hammurabi. Anyone who fails to implement one of these articles is subject to a curse.
Hammurabi concludes his code with the words, “I am Hammurabi, the perfect king, who was granted the rule of the black-headed people (referring to the populace) by the god Enlil, and to whom the god Marduk entrusted the reins of governance over the subjects. I did not waste time in vain, nor did I hesitate to fulfil the governance duties to the fullest extent.”
Social Classes
Al-Aboudi adds that the Code of Hammurabi classified society into four classes: the free citizens, the priestly class, the dependents, and the slaves.
The free citizens had the right to own property, engage in trade, and join the council of elders, but they were also required to pay taxes. The priestly class had privileges akin to those of the nobility, took charge of guarding the temples, and provided counsel to the king. The dependent class included workers and artisans, while the slave class comprised war captives and those enslaved due to their inability to repay debts.
Women
In the Code of Hammurabi, women were granted legal capacity and several rights. Dr Yassin Muhammad Hussein, in his study titled Women’s Rights in the Civilization of Mesopotamia (2015), observes that the Code of Hammurabi “included rights for women, as they acquired an independent legal personality that allowed them to manage their own property legally, separate from their husband’s assets. They also had the right to litigate, engage in commercial activities, and hold administrative positions. The code addressed legal matters such as marriage, divorce, the care of a sick wife, marriage gifts after the wife’s death, inheritance and disinheritance, acknowledgement of paternity and adoption, the property of widows and their husbands, issues related to nursing, the status of slave women, and the division of society into free citizens, peasants, and slaves. It also specified that slaves had no right to divorce their wives, whereas peasants did.”
However, the Code of Hammurabi also had negative aspects that affected women. As Dr. Abbas Al-Aboudi mentions in his book “The Code of Hammurabi: A Comparative Study with Ancient and Modern Legislations,” “Under his marital authority, a husband could pawn his wife to his creditor until the debt was paid.”
Agriculture
Southern Iraq has been known for barley cultivation up to the present day. Horst Klengel, in the Arabic edition of his book Hammurabi of Babylon and His Era (1990), states that “it was indeed proven through necessary tests that saline soils significantly affected agricultural production in the Old Babylonian era. Therefore, farmers then expanded barley cultivation because it was more resistant.”
In contrast, the fields and orchards in northern Iraq flourished. Klengel notes, “The situation was entirely different in the north, in the region of Assyria. The sky rained generously there, and heavy snowfall could occur in some winter months. As a result, farmers did not pay much attention to technical irrigation methods and relied on river water only in rare cases… Even today, Iraqi farmers in the north continue to place great importance on wheat cultivation.”
Economy
During Hammurabi’s reign, the economy relied heavily on loans, with debts and their usurious interest rates being a source of slavery. Those unable to repay their debts would become slaves to their creditors or pawn their wives. Hammurabi attempted to regulate debts to prevent the widespread phenomenon of debtors turning into slaves. Klengel notes that Hammurabi’s laws set a maximum interest rate, stating that “the interest rate on silver was set at 20% and on barley at 33%. Anyone demanding a higher rate than these could be prosecuted, resulting in the forfeiture of the entire amount.”
Hammurabi also tried to curb the practice of enslavement resulting from falling into debt traps through legislation. He issued “Law No. 117 to limit the greed of moneylenders. This law was enacted several decades after the time of Belmunushe. Article 117 states: ‘If a man falls into debt and is forced to sell his wife, son, or daughter for a sum of silver, or give them into service, they shall serve in the house of their buyer or master for three years, and in the fourth year, they shall be released.”
Punishments in the Code of Hammurabi
Al-Aboudi considers the Code of Hammurabi one of the most important legal documents in ancient civilizations, serving as a fundamental source for understanding the development of the concept of crime and punishment in Babylonian society. This code marked a significant turning point in the evolution of the judicial system of that time, encompassing laws that covered various aspects of life, including punishments for crimes and the definition of responsibilities and rights. The Code of Hammurabi was the foundational framework that organized societal life and aimed to achieve justice. However, I believe that Hammurabi’s main priorities were security, discipline, and deterrence, rather than justice in the sense of fulfilling duties, equality, resolution, and knowledge—as defined by Judge Abu Al-Hasan Al-Mawardi, who described justice as ruling with fairness, without leaning towards either side. Moreover, the concept of rehabilitating criminals was not considered at all.
The Code of Hammurabi took into account the principle of criminal intent, distinguishing between actions committed intentionally and those that occurred unintentionally. For example, Article 206 of the Code of Hammurabi states, “If a man strikes another man in a fight and causes him injury, the man must swear that he did not strike him intentionally, and he must pay the physician’s fee for treating the injured person.” This text reflects the importance of intent in determining the type of punishment and mitigating it in the absence of deliberate intent.
Despite the advancements made by the Code of Hammurabi in organizing punishments, it did not include specific penalties that later became part of the judicial system in other civilizations, such as imprisonment and hard labour. During that period, imprisonment was not known in the Code of Hammurabi, partly due to economic and social conditions, as food resources were scarce, and there was no surplus to allocate for feeding prisoners.
Instead of imprisonment, the Code of Hammurabi relied on physical punishments, fines, and compensations, with the severity of the sentence varying depending on the victim’s social status, indicating the lack of equality in the application of punishments. For example, Article 196 states, “If a person causes harm to another man’s eye, they shall suffer the same injury in return.” In contrast, Article 199 refers to less severe financial penalties if the victim was of a lower social class, showing that an individual’s status significantly influenced the type of justice they received.
The Code of Hammurabi did not neglect the principle of retribution; instead, it was a central part of the code. However, it also developed the concept of financial compensation, where, in some cases, physical punishment could be replaced with monetary compensation. For instance, Article 207 states that “If a man dies from a blow by the perpetrator, the perpetrator must swear that he did not strike him intentionally. If the victim was the son of a free man, the perpetrator must pay half a mina of silver.”
The Code of Hammurabi also distinguished itself by addressing crimes of omission, which are crimes committed due to the failure to perform a specific duty, similar to modern laws. For example, Article 109 states, “If criminals gather in a wine seller’s house and she does not arrest these criminals or bring them to the palace, the wine seller shall be put to death.”
Although the Code of Hammurabi made significant progress in organizing and regulating society, it was not without cruelty in the application of punishments. The principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” was strictly applied, leading to harsh penalties by today’s standards. For instance, Article 229 states that “If a builder constructs a house for a man and does not make his work strong, and the house collapses and causes the death of the owner, they shall kill the builder’s son.”
In agreement with Al-Aboudi’s view that a large number of the provisions in the Code of Hammurabi were marked by excessive harshness aimed at deterrence and the consolidation of security, it is essential to note that this extremity does not descend into the cruelty and barbarism characteristic of European laws during the Middle Ages. Those laws involved torturing the accused and mutilating them. At the same time, they were still alive, or dismembering their bodies and throwing them to wild animals, as was recorded in the laws of England more than 3,000 years after Hammurabi’s code was enacted.
