The Hammurabi Code’s Influences and Impacts

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Introduction

A large portion of different societies is structured and administered according to a set of rules, ethics, morality, and laws. Interestingly, when ancient civilizations evolved, they depended on rules and codes to maintain order throughout the empire. The Code of Hammurabi, written on stole stele and clay tablets, was the earliest written system of laws, consisting of 282 enshrined rules. The set of legislation was coined by Hammurabi (r. 1795-1750 BCE), the Babylonian monarch who invaded and subsequently governed ancient Mesopotamia. The codes are considered to have had a significant impact on the lives of Babylonians, spanning from political significance, ensuring fairness, economic significance, as well family and criminal legislation.

Justice and Prosperity

The codes have acted as an inspiration for creating justice in various civilizations. Hammurabi had a broad view of justice for all people. In conclusion to The Code, he claimed, “The great gods have summoned me, and I am certainly a shepherd who is bringing peace and whose sceptre is righteous.” While attempting to address future leaders, The Code asserts in the epilogue: May the ruler selected in the land examine the just words I have carved on my monument for a long time to come. As an element of the idea of justice, Hammurabi also asserts that he would defend the vulnerable against injustice by the strong.

As a portion of his idea of equality and justice, prosperity is addressed. When Hammurabi asserts that he has provided “wealth to the population forever,” he is talking about welfare concerning economic prosperity and the well-being of his people. However, considering the focus dedicated to private ownership, contracts, salaries, and markets, it is possible to argue that Hammurabi was interested in the economic challenges of the Babylonians. Thus, Hammurabi sought to create an institutional framework appropriate for economic growth by prioritizing prosperity alongside justice.

Recognition of Economic Actors

Agriculture and international trading was the primary activity in Hammurabi’s domain. The Code relates to merchants acting via an agency in international commerce instead of themselves. The merchants fulfilled specific tasks of banking in the Babylonian economic system. One component of banking is receiving deposits and serving as custodians of these funds. For example, in order to deposit expensive items such as silver and gold, The Code requires that an agreement be written out in the company of witnesses. According to law 122 of The Code, if a man intends to offer gold or silver to a man for safe custody, he must present whatever he provides to witnesses. Similar to today’s legal system, The Code establishes the necessity of witnesses and unbiased judges. The law makes it apparent that there can be no viable claim without an agreement or a witness.

Recognition of Private Property

Accordingly, The Code recognizes private ownership in the sense of land and personal assets. In the absence of private property laws and their execution, the Babylonian economy, with its agents, merchants, and landowner-cultivators, could not operate. Violations of property rights carried severe punishments, including the death penalty. According to Law six, if a man steals something belonging to a deity or a kingdom, he should be sentenced to death, as shall everyone who receives the stolen stuff from his hands. The law makes no difference between an innocent recipient of stolen goods and a knowing recipient of stolen things. The death penalty is sentenced to both the offender and the recipients of stolen items.

Enslaved people were considered property under The Code, and enslavers’ privileges were vigorously enforced. Law 15 specifies that if a man allows an enslaved person or slave girl from a palace to escape, he should be sentenced to death. The Babylonian society considered robbery attempts as a grave offence. According to Law 21, if a man breaks into a house, he should be put to death and hanged. Additionally, firefighters who attempted to seize the assets of the fire victims were also sentenced to death. According to Law 25, if a fire breaks out in a man’s house and the individual who goes to extinguish takes an item from the house, that man should be flung into the flames. Thus, it is apparent that The Code regarded property rights breaches seriously and punished them with the death penalty in most cases. Hammurabi’s Code establishes particular punishments for various offences, as with modern laws.

Sanctity of Contracts

The Code and various clay tablets and stele from the Hammurabi period demonstrate that no transaction was deemed legal without a documented contract. Once the agreement was signed, all parties were obligated to abide by its provisions. Any infringement was subject to dire consequences or sanctioning. According to Law 36, a chieftain’s farm, garden, and residence cannot be sold. These are comparable to feudal estates in that they are bestowed by the monarch in exchange for royal service and are thus permanent in the sense that they cannot be auctioned. If someone purchases these properties, they will incur a financial loss. According to Law 37, if a man purchases the field, plantation, or home of a runner, his transaction is void, and he loses his money; the field and plantation. Strict conditions of agreement control the relationship between the landowner and the tenants.

Economic Value of Children

The Code places emphasis on the economic value of having children. The Code presumes that marriage is for the intent of childbearing. This is evident when The Code permits a man to wed another lady if his first wife is barren. It was also usual for a childless mother to acquire a slave-girl for the partner to conceive children. Law 145 states that if a man has married a woman and fails to supply him with boys, he should marry a slave-girl and accept her into his home. Law 147 is clear about the role of the slave-girl in giving birth to boys. The law reads that if she fails to give birth to boys, the man’s first wife may sell her.¹⁵ Children were meant to have economic worth, given the Babylonian economy’s agricultural predominance. For upper-class landowners, sons were likely sought not for their work but for their assistance in administering the estate and subsequently as successors to the inheritance.

Concept of Equity

The Code puts focus on equity as well as price fairness. Law 108 is an illustration of the equity principle. The law reads that if an alewife refuses to receive grain in exchange for liquor but takes silver by the heavyweight, they must condemn her and hurl her into the water. The Code anticipates that farmers would be cash-strapped between planting and harvesting but will have significant free time to spend at the pub. Additionally, as stated in the Preface, The Code ensures that the powerful do not abuse the weak. This is evident in how it establishes compensation responsibilities for people who suffer losses, orphans, and widows.

Upon the demise of her spouse, the widow is obliged to the dowry and any agreement he made for her. Law 171 specifies the first wife to retain her bride prize and the settlements her husband allocated to her in writing on a tablet and reside in her husband’s residence. Law 172 goes a step farther in protecting the widow against her sons’ plans. If her spouse does not form an agreement with her, they are required by law to make good on her dowry and give her a share of her husband’s assets equivalent to an heir. If her sons continue to persecute her to force her out of the dwelling, the judges shall arbitrate her case and impose a sanction on the sons; that lady shall not leave her husband’s home. Similar to today’s court system, Hammurabi’s Code establishes the procedure for conducting trials. Hammurabi ensured that widows and orphans were protected with this set of inheritance rules. What’s remarkable is that Hammurabi achieved his purpose of protecting the vulnerable through inheritance rules, not welfare state programs.

Control of Price

Given that The Code is a mirror of the Babylonian system, it is reasonable to conclude that the Babylonian economy operated under stringent control under Hammurabi. Law 215 establishes a fixed charge for doctors and surgeons. In it, it is stated that a surgeon who saves the life of a free man by making a deep incision in his body with a blade of bronze is entitled to ten shekels of silver. However, the charge is determined by the patient’s social hierarchy position. Five shekels are required of a free man, while an enslaver is required to pay two shekels for an enslaved person.

The Code, on the other hand, penalizes medical negligence severely. According to Law 218, if a surgeon makes a deep cut in a person’s body with a bronze blade and provokes the person’s death, they must amputate his forearm. As a result, a surgeon who has been found convicted of malpractice will be unable to continue with the profession. If the victim is enslaved, on the other hand, the punishment towards the surgeon is less harsh. It is not restitution but rather compensation for a discrepancy in type. Suppose an enslaved person dies while under the surgeon’s care; the slave will be replaced by the surgeon. If a surgeon accidentally removes the eye of an enslaved person, the physician is liable for half the slave’s purchase price in silver.

Reasons Why Hammurabi’s Code Can Be Viewed as Trivial

Despite The Code addressing a variety of economic themes, there are several conspicuous omissions. One of them is a flagrant disregard for supply and demand. As previously stated, wage and price regulations are fairly extensive. By inscribing these prices and wages in stone, Hammurabi established their permanence. Anyone who ventured to violate The Code’s rules was cursed, as described in the epilogue. Hammurabi’s pricing theory matched the ancient scholastic traditions of Thomas Aquinas in its stress on just price, as opposed to Adam Smith’s stress on the market system as a determinant of price. This accords with Hammurabi’s declaration of himself as the ruler of justice.

The financial duties to the state of the citizens are the other notable absence from the document. The Code does not refer to how the state raised income or how those revenues were apportioned, and this is a significant oversight. With its complex regulations and punishments, the Code indicates an intrusive state that, in order to maintain justice, most likely required a substantial amount of income. The Code itself is ineffective in the pursuit of a solution to this riddle.

Conclusion

The Hammurabi Code is neither an economic nor a philosophical book. It established a set of complete laws to govern Babylonian civilization. According to the impression given by The Code of a private property-driven economy, there was substantial economic liberty in Babylonia. The state’s economic function was to recognize and execute property rights. Additionally, The Code created the notion that the powerful cannot abuse the weak, thus ensuring economic fairness. Many of the components of contemporary capitalism are included in Hammurabi’s Code: private property, the use of product money and credit, and rule by a system of enforced laws. Therefore, The Code may be viewed as an institution-building effort. However, The Code is unclear on financial management by the public and does not acknowledge the principles of supply and demand. Ultimately, The Code incorporates other critical economic concepts such as efficiency, justice, and productivity.

Bibliography

Abulhab, Saad. The Law Code of Hammurabi: Transliterated and literally translated from its early classical Arabic language. Blautopf Publishing, 2017.

Barmash, Pamela. “Biblical and ancient Near Eastern law.” Religion Compass 12, no. 5-6 (2018): e12262. Web.

Constantin, Tita, and Tita Violeta. The Birth of The State and The Right: “The beginning for the protection of individual rights”. International Journal of Law and Public Administration, no. 5 (2019): 168. Web.

Eric, Alston et al. Institutional and Organizational Analysis: Concepts and Applications. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Khounani, Alireza. “Price Laws and Items of Convenience: An Inquiry Into the Question of” Ancient Middle Class”.” The Journal of Applied Business and Economics 23, no. 1 (2021): 236-247. Web.

Pyrcz, Andrew A. “Set in stone: The Ancient Babylonian Law Code of King Hammurabi.” agora 54, no. 1 (2019): 11-18. Web.

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