Hammurabi's code
Ancient Mesopotamian legislation
Hammurabi's code is an ancient Babylonian set of laws, one of the earliest written legal codes in human history.
Dating to around 1750 BCE, it established rules governing commerce, property, family, and criminal punishment.
The phrase appears in discussions of legal history and early civilization: Hammurabi's code included the famous "eye for an eye" principle.
Sometimes invoked to suggest harsh but systematic justice.
- BabylonAncient Mesopotamian capital
- cuneiform scriptWedge-shaped ancient writing
- MesopotamiaTigris-Euphrates river region
- Fertile CrescentMideast arc where civilization began
- equityImpartial treatment or ownership value
tablets · jurisprudence · punishment · criminal law · eye for an eye · trade · land ownership · inscriptions · deterrence · inheritance · king's justice · restitution · retribution · stele · slavery · legislation · civil law · scribes
Hammurabi's coderestorative justice
Conflict resolution through mutual healing
mercy · forgiveness · clemency · grace · abolitionism
Hammurabi's codecommon law
Jurisprudence from judicial decisions
constitutional law · case law · judicial review · unwritten law · oral tradition
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