Essay - History Law in Ancient Times: Comparison of the Laws of...

History

***** in Ancient Times:

***** of the Laws of Moses and Hammurabi

***** earliest times, societies have struggled with questions ***** law ***** order. At first decisions as to ***** permissibility or illegality of this or that act relied almost wholly on notions of custom or tradition. It was only ***** the dawn of civilization that rulers first attempted to codify what was right and what was wrong. Early law codes, such as those of the Babylonian Hammurabi, and the Biblical Moses, represent the values of their time and place. They lay down the penalties for the commission of specific crimes. Their legislation speaks to ***** structure ***** nature ***** ***** respective cultures and indeed they share much in their approach ***** judicial procedure and punishment. Both note that they were inspired by the will of the gods, or of ***** One God. Both make right action a matter of sacred m*****al choices. Both concern themselves with a similar variety of offense ***** range from *****saults against persons, to those ***** property, ***** on to the violation of general social norms. Their pronouncements are all-embracing, and serve as virtual guidebooks ***** the ideal construction of their respective *****s. As well, each derives ***** the *****s of Mesopotamian civilization. The earliest known law codes of all were those of ***** Sumer, the civilization from which that of Ba*****lonia ***** derived, and also ***** original home of Abraham, the ***** patriarch. Thus, ***** laws of Hammurabi and Moses possess a common origin and similar set of precepts ***** *****s. Down to the present day, the principles behind these ancient law ***** continue ***** inform much of Western legal and moral thinking.

The laws of Ancient Mesopotamia represent the oldest known collections of codified law -a tradition ***** predates by many centuries the earliest written laws of other ***** civilizations, such as those of India ***** China.

***** civilization; therefore, was unique in committing to writing an entire system ***** legal *****. Enacted during the Eighteenth Century before Christ, Hammurabi's famous code was preceded ***** numerous ***** written compilations of the law, the earliest yet found being that ***** the Sumerian king Uruinimgina, or Urukagina, a ruler of city of Lagash in the 24th Century B.C.

The "Ref*****ms ***** Uru*****imgina" already reveal a resort to tradition and to divine sanction as necessary underpinnings of the legal enactments ***** human beings.

Hammurabi likewise attributed his code to the gods,

Anum and Enlil had named him, the pious ruler, to proclaim justice in the land, '***** eliminate ***** evil and the wicked, so ***** the strong should not oppress the weak... to give ***** to the orphan and the widow'. He ***** stated that 'the wronged man sh***** st***** before the inscribed stela and read its precious ordinances'.

As ***** the later Mosaic Law, the code's purpose is conceived as a divine attempt to bring justice to the affairs of humankind. The ***** serves ***** ***** guarantor of the rights ***** the weak and