Comparing the Code of Hammurabi and the United States Law

Comparing the Code of Hammurabi and the United States Law

The Code of Hammurabi is among the ancient and entirely written legal codes declared by Hammurabi, the Babylonian ruler (about 1772BC). It constituted 282 laws, and it established the standards for trade connections and set fines and punishment to reach the justice requirements. The Code of Hammurabi was imprinted onto a large, finger-like black pillar which was plundered by intruders and later discovered again at around 1901. In general, the Code of Hammurabi was the rule for the ancient Babylonians, just like today’s Americans who look for the Constitution for their regulations. Even though there are thousands of years between the Code of Hammurabi and the U.S laws, there exist similarities and also differences between them. This work examines the ancient Code of Hammurabi, relates it to the U.S. laws, and depicts how they are similar or dissimilar.

The Ancient Code of Hammurabi is recognized through its strictness. The first eight laws terminate with the declaration that the transgressor shall be killed. The death penalty is not something new in the United States, although it is not frequently used or applied in general terms. Hammurabi’s Code is carved onto a pillar and therefore does not undergo any change, but the U.S. laws are undergoing a transition from time to time. The laws are revised, and the degree of justice on punishments to culprits is left on the hands of judges to make a decision.

Hammurabi’s Code dealt with things that directly affected the people of Babylon, and therefore the ruler had the mandate to scrutinize them. These things include the Code of conduct, law, roles of workers, religion, trade, slavery, and military service.  The system can be viewed as divinely inspired laws as Hammurabi wrote the preface of the statutes that he was commanded by the gods to establish order in the kingdom. All these certainly make it different from the U.S. laws, which has no such declarations and therefore seen just as a product of the Age of Enlightenment.

The basis of the United States Law is the Constitution, which points out the limits of federal power, reserving all other powers to the states. Unlike Hammurabi’s Code, which is very precise, exact, and simple, the Constitution has several passages that today’s lawyers and judges interpret based on their understandings. The law of the U.S can be much tricky to define than the brief Hammurabi’s Code if it is interpreted differently. The U.S law complexity sharply contrasts with the Hammurabi’s code simplicity and with the Code of the Babylonian king in the subjects with which are dealt.

Approximately half of the Code of Hammurabi deals with social contracts; for instance, the issue of fair wages for workers. Another section of this Code deals with matters pertaining to family life like inheritance, sex, and proper maintenance of the home. There is another famous law in the Code of Hammurabi concerning “an eye for an eye,” a sense of justice that sums up a section of the Hammurabi’s laws, mainly from 195^th law and onwards. It implies that what somebody does to another individual shall be done to him or her.

The system of law in the Code of Hammurabi is quite different to the U.S law.  In the U.S, the system of law involves courts, defendants, witnesses, and prison time reserved for those who are found guilty of their acts. The difference between the two codes of law is that some actions in the U.S law are made a legal while to the Code of Hammurabi; they are illegal. For instance, abortion in the U.S is set to be legal, while for Hammurabi, it was unlawful to kill a fetus. The law of Hammurabi was majorly dealing with the violation of maternal rights since Babylon was a paternal community. America today is primarily concerned with the maternal characteristics of the society and the rights of women. The issues on the death of a fetus elaborated above may be a reason why these two codes of law are different.

The Code of Hammurabi is not precisely clear on all issues about the death of a child as the laws are not enough when considering the size of the population. It should have been used as a starting point for additional legal decisions, judgments, etc. Just like the statutory Code of the U.S in the Constitution, the assumption may be that the lower courts can provide decisions upon what was not clearly stated. Hammurabi’s Code was made to provide order, strengthen the government, and start legal rights of the Babylonians, among other purposes. The above objectives can be accredited to the U.S constitution as approved by its founders in 1787. It was the time when America wanted to assert authority as an independent power of the government, just like the Babylonian did over the city-states it had conquered.

The Code of Hammurabi was written to protect the poor. But it is not clear that the U.S constitution was framed on this spirit. The Constitution was approved based on the argument of centralism and devolution. However, if the critical players aimed at protecting the poor, it meant protecting the small states from the big states and rights of the states from state domination. Another difference between the two codes is that both tried to convey. Hammurabi attempted to convey the idea that he was only the source of justice in the Code, as the gods seemingly identified. The law system in the U.S was destined to convey a sense of liberty, fairness, and democracy, among other values. The Code of Hammurabi involved his attempts to reveal himself as the mere source of justice to the Babylonians. Therefore, the Code highlights its firm levels of justice, of which several of them are violent.