Code of Hammurabi

“Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase […] [W]ho conquered the four quarters of the world, made great the name of Babylon, rejoiced the heart of Marduk.”

Similarly to the quote above, this passage establishes Hammurabi’s divine patronage. It also emphasizes his accomplishments and virtues, pointing to his successful economic policies, his expansive conquests adding to Babylon’s empire, and his sense of loyal piety to his patron-deity Marduk (See: Key Figures).

“When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to give the protection of right to the land, I did right and righteousness […] and brought about the well-being of the oppressed.”

This quote, also from the Prologue, attributes Hammurabi’s right to reign as coming from Marduk himself, but with a particular mission in view: To protect righteousness. Hammurabi interprets this mission as including not only an idea of justice in the abstract, but as specifically ordered toward assisting the oppressed in the land.

“If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.”

This quote comes from the first section of the case laws, and it immediately establishes one of the Code’s main contributions to the history of jurisprudence: The Presumption of Innocence and the Importance of Intention. Here we see that accusers were required to provide evidence that proved the accusation, and if they could not, the penalty would fall on themselves. The burden of evidence thus lay on the accuser, while the accused person was presumed innocence until the guilt of the matter was established.

“If any one loses an article, and find it in the possession of another: if the person in whose possession the thing is found say, ‘A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses’ […] the judge shall examine their testimony.”

Like the preceding quote, this passage underscores The Presumption of Innocence and the Importance of Intention as a guiding principle of Babylonian jurisprudence. In this instance, the focus is on the accused person rather than the accuser, and the defendant had the right to call witnesses that could offer testimony to support their case.

“If any one receive into his house a runaway male or female slave of the court, or of a freedman, and does not bring it out at the public proclamation of the major domus, the master of the house shall be put to death.”

Since enslaved persons constituted a large subset of the Babylonian population, many of the laws in the Code deal with the circumstances of institutional enslavement. This quote implies that it was a common occurrence for enslaved persons to seek self-emancipation by fleeing to freedom, but that Babylonian law curtailed that possibility by enacting brutal punishments against anyone who would assist an enslaved person in their attempt, reflecting Social Position as a Measure of Legal Rights.

“If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.”

Both this quote and the previous one show the frequent use of capital punishment as a legal recourse in the Code. The severity of the penalty likely led to the effectiveness of the law, though more as a deterrent to crime than a law that was regularly put into practice.

“If a chieftain or a man be caught in the misfortune of a king, and if his fields and garden be given to another and he take possession, if he return and reaches his place, his field and garden shall be given to him, he shall take it over again.”

Here we see two key features of Babylonian culture: Its concern for permanence and stability in property law, and the pervasive effects of military imperialism on daily life. The idiom “the misfortune of a king” refers to a defeat in battle (See: Index of Terms), so this law addresses the situation of someone captured as a prisoner of war and later returning to retake possession of his land.

“If any one take over a field to till it, and obtain no harvest therefrom, it must be proved that he did no work on the field, and he must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to the owner of the field.”

This quote underscores the importance of productivity to the idea of land ownership in Babylon. Land was held to be sacred, a possession of Marduk himself, who distributed the use of the land to the Babylonian people. To undertake the farming of a piece of land, then, and not to make the best use of its productivity, was considered a criminal offense.

“If a ‘sister of a god’ open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.”

The idiom “sister of a god” refers to a Babylonian woman who has devoted herself (or been devoted by her father) to the service of a god or goddess in their temple (See: Index of Terms). Many such women lived as nun-priestesses, and their lives were ruled by strict laws governing their abstention from alcohol and sexual unions, among other things.

“If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and sell himself, his wife, his son, and daughter for money, or given them away to forced labor: they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them […] and in the fourth year they shall be set free.”

This law provides an interesting insight into a middle category of servitude in Babylonian society—an indentured debt-service, which was neither full freedom nor enslavement. Similar accommodations for limited periods of servitude can be found in other historical texts of the ancient Near East, suggesting that it was a widespread practice for dealing with problems of indebtedness.

“If a man bring a charge against one’s wife, but she is not surprised with another man, she must take an oath and then may return to her house.”

The idiom “surprised with another man” refers to being caught in the act of adultery. In this case, a woman is being accused of adultery, but without any evidence to back up the claim. In the absence of proof, the woman has protection under the law, and may return to her normal life without facing a serious penalty.

“If a man wish to separate from […] his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she can rear her children.”

One of the things Hammurabi took pride in was his provision for those in circumstances that would otherwise have left them exposed to misfortune, and the status of divorced women in the ancient Near East was one of those cases. This law shows that the Code provides robust protections for a divorced wife, particularly in regard to property law. Not only does she retain possession of her own dowry (See: Index of Terms), but her ex-husband must also provide her with the usufruct of some of the family’s agricultural assets (See: Index of Terms).

“If a man take a wife, and she bear him no children, and he intend to take another wife: if he take this second wife, and bring her into the house, this second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife.”

Monogamy was the standard form of marriage in ancient Babylon, but as this law shows, there were provisions that could be made for a limited form of polygamy in certain circumstances. Even in such cases, though, the Code provided protections for the status of the first wife, not allowing her to be cast aside or neglected in favor of another woman.

“If a man adopt a child and to his name as a son, and rear him, this grown son cannot be demanded back again.”

While most of the family laws in the Code relate to marriage and property, a few direct their attention to other matters, such as adoption. In general, as shown here, the Code supports the parental rights of the adoptive parents, a rule that is only voided in cases of neglect.

“If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.”

This is the Code’s famous prescription of The Legal Principle of Lex Talionis (“Eye for an Eye”): The principle of reciprocal justice. Hammurabi’s formulation came in the 1700s BCE, anticipating by at least several hundred years the even more well-known expression of the same principle in the biblical law code of Moses: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:24; cf. Matthew 5:38).

“If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.”

This law, following shortly after the lex talionis law above, shows that the imposition of reciprocal justice did not apply to every case. If a higher-class person wounded a lower-class person, as in this instance, the penalties of a reciprocal punishment would not be levied against the perpetrator; rather, the court would resolve the case with a simple fine. This underscores the theme of Social Position as a Measure of Legal Rights.

“If during a quarrel one man strike another and wound him, then he shall swear, ‘I did not injure him wittingly,’ and pay the physicians.”

This quote shows The Presumption of Innocence and the Importance of Intention in judging the severity of a criminal act. Babylonian law differentiated between malicious, willful acts and those which were undertaken unwittingly, thus setting an important precedent for the entire history of jurisprudence thereafter.

“If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.”

This quote offers another instance of The Legal Principle of Lex Talionis (“Eye for an Eye”), in this case as applied to a professional trade. Since the injury imparted was a death, the cause of the injury (the builder himself) would also receive death. This case also shows, however, that there were certain cases in which intention was not an important consideration: In this instance, it was the builder’s unintentional negligence that led to the injury and which merits the punishment.

“If any one buy a male or female slave, and a third party claim it, the seller is liable for the claim.”

The final few laws in the Code have to do with enslavement, and as this law shows, it was a straightforward matter of the ownership rights of the enslavers. Enslaved persons were considered property, and thus this law only regards the rights of enslavers, buyers, and sellers, without any consideration given to the rights or desires of the enslaved. The general lack of legal protections for enslaved persons reflects Social Position as a Measure of Legal Rights.

“If a slave say to his master: ‘You are not my master,’ if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.”

This is the final law in the Code’s main body of case laws. Rather ironically, it shows no sympathy at all for the most oppressed class in Babylon—the enslaved—even though Hammurabi presents himself as a champion for the oppressed in both the Prologue and the Epilogue. Despite certain opportunities and protections afforded to enslaved persons in Babylonian society, the fundamental brutality of the institution and Social Position as a Measure of Legal Rights are amply demonstrated in this quote.

“Hammurabi, the protecting king am I. I have not withdrawn myself from the men, whom Bel gave to me, the rule over whom Marduk gave to me, I was not negligent, but I made them a peaceful abiding-place. I expounded all great difficulties, I made the light shine upon them.”

This passage comes from the opening lines of the Epilogue, in which Hammurabi reflects on the accomplishment represented in his Code of laws. Once again, his piety is emphasized, with references to Bel and Marduk, and an allusion to the sun-god Shamash in describing his vocation as shining a light on his people.

“The great gods have called me, I am the salvation-bearing shepherd, whose staff is straight, the good shadow that is spread over my city; on my breast I cherish the inhabitants of the land of Sumer and Akkad; in my shelter I have let them repose in peace; in my deep wisdom have I enclosed them.”

The images Hammurabi draws on here—that of the shepherd and the tender father-figure—were common symbols in royal propaganda. Both images relate a sense of gentle compassion and affinity for one’s people. Hammurabi’s self-aggrandizing reflections are meant to convey a sense of deep connection between the Babylonian people and himself.

“My words are well considered; there is no wisdom like unto mine. By the command of Shamash, the great judge of heaven and earth, let righteousness go forth in the land: by the order of Marduk, my lord, let no destruction befall my monument.”

Here again we see Hammurabi invoking the two gods whose roles lay nearest to Hammurabi’s aims for his reign and for the implementation of his Code: Marduk, the patron of Babylon and the main focus of Hammurabi’s devotion, and Shamash, the god of the sun and of justice (See: Key Figures). While Hammurabi also calls on many other gods in the course of the Epilogue, the text affords special honor to Marduk and Shamash.