Analyzing the Code of Hammurabi: Exploring Ancient Legal Principles and Their Relevance in Modern Law

Authors

  • Beny Saputra Central European University (CEU), VIenna, Austria
  • Olivér Bene University of Szeged, Hungary, Hungary
  • David Aprizon Putra Lecturer, FSEI IAIN Curup, Bengkulu, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29240/negrei.v4i1.9965

Keywords:

Code of Hammurabi, Contemporary law, Historical law

Abstract

This study examines the Code of Hammurabi, an ancient legal code that dates to early human history, to investigate its old legal ideas and evaluate their ongoing significance in contemporary legal systems. This study seeks to clarify the fundamental concepts that underlie Hammurabi's rules and their lasting influence on modern legal thinking by conducting a thorough investigation of the Code's provisions and historical background. This research aims to provide significant insights into the development of legal norms and their application in addressing current legal difficulties by analyzing important elements such as justice, equity, and societal order as outlined in the Code. This study examines the degree to which Hammurabi's legal ideas align with contemporary legal frameworks. It provides insightful analysis on the lasting significance and flexibility of ancient legal precedents in creating modern legal jurisprudence. This research enhances our comprehension of the historical origins of law and its enduring importance in contemporary legal discussions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Beny Saputra, Central European University (CEU), VIenna

Doktoral of Jurisdical Science, Legal Theory

Olivér Bene, University of Szeged, Hungary

Doktoral school of Humanities and social science

References

Aryamov, Andrei, and Vladimir Kulakov. ‘Legal Acts of the Galicia-Volhynia Principality of the 12th—13th Centuries as Historical Heritage of Domestic Medieval Law’. OOO "Zhurnal ‘Voprosy Istorii’ 2022, no. 3–2 (1 March 2022): 77–83. https://doi.org/10.31166/VoprosyIstorii202203Statyi34.

Ascaso, F. J., A. D. Singh, and H. S. Dua. ‘Decoding Eyes in the Code of Hammurabi’. British Journal of Ophthalmology 95, no. 6 (1 June 2011): 760–760. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2011-300368.

B., G., and M. E. J. Richardson. ‘Hammurabi’s Laws: Text, Translation and Glossary’. Journal of the American Oriental Society 122, no. 1 (January 2002): 178. https://doi.org/10.2307/3087720.

Barmash, Pamela. The Laws of Hammurabi. Oxford University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197525401.001.0001.

BOAHENG, ISAAC. ‘Exploring the Relationship between the Mosaic Code and the Hammurabi Code’. All Nations University Journal of Applied Thought, 30 November 2020, 77–89. https://doi.org/10.47987/CEFD7600.

Byrne, Philippa. ‘Medieval Violence, the Making of Law and the Historical Present’. Journal of the British Academy 8s3 (2020): 133–54. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/008s3.133.

Cohen, Felix. ‘The Ethical Basis of Legal Criticism’. The Yale Law Journal 41, no. 2 (December 1931): 201. https://doi.org/10.2307/791552.

Cook, R. M. ‘Carl W. Blegen, Hazel Palmer, Rodney S. Young: Corinth. Volume Xiii: The North Cemetery. Pp. Xv + 344; 130 Plates, 3 Plans, 25 Figs. Princeton, N.J.: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1964. Cloth, $35.’ The Classical Review 15, no. 03 (27 December 1965): 367–68. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009840X00261891.

Davies, John. ‘The Gortyn Laws’. In The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law, 305–27. Cambridge University Press, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521818400.017.

Duncan, George S. ‘The Code of Moses and the Code of Hammurabi’. The Biblical World 23, no. 3 (March 1904): 188–93. https://doi.org/10.1086/473361.

Godbey, A. H. ‘The Chirography of the Hammurabi Code’. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 20, no. 2 (January 1904): 137–48. https://doi.org/10.1086/369506.

Graef, Katrien De, and Anne Goddeeris. ‘Law and (Dis)Order in the Ancient Near East’, 2021. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:236698513.

Harper, Robert Francis. ‘Notes on the Code of Hammurabi’. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 22, no. 1 (October 1905): 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1086/369552.

Harper, Robert Francis, and A. H. Godbey. ‘Text of the Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon (About 2250 B. C.)’. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 20, no. 1 (October 1903): 1–84. https://doi.org/10.1086/369501.

Hu, Hu. ‘Codes as Constitution: The Development of the Biblical Law-Codes from Monarchy to Theocracy’, 2009. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:159144972.

Jones, Daniel. ‘Magna Carta: The Making and Legacy of the Great Charter’, 2014. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:127163952.

Kallet-Marx, Lisa, Josiah Ober, Mogens Herman Hansen, David Stockton, Chistian Meier, Charles W. Fornara, Loren J. Samons II, and Orlando Patterson. ‘Institutions, Ideology, and Political Consciousness in Ancient Greece: Some Recent Books on Athenian Democracy’. Journal of the History of Ideas 55, no. 2 (April 1994): 307. https://doi.org/10.2307/2709902.

Kenna, V. E. G. ‘Ancient Crete and the Use of the Cylinder Seal’. American Journal of Archaeology 72, no. 4 (1 October 1968): 321–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/503826.

Kett, W. G. ‘The Code Of Hammurabi’. Clinical and Experimental Optometry 24, no. 2 (1 February 1941): 51–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1444-0938.1941.tb03375.x.

KovaÄević, Danijela. ‘A Historical-Legal Review of Hammurabi’s Code’. Pravo - Teorija i Praksa 39, no. 1 (2022): 71–82. https://doi.org/10.5937/ptp2201071K.

Kuhrt, Amélie. The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330 Bc. Routledge, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203436257.

Laessøe, Jørgen. ‘On the Fragments of the Hammurabi Code’. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 4, no. 3 (June 1950): 173–87. https://doi.org/10.2307/1359190.

Langdon, S. ‘The Sumerian Law Code Compared with the Code of Hammurabi’. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 52, no. 4 (15 October 1920): 489–515. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00148543.

Lloyd, G. E. R. ‘(M. C.) Stokes One and Many in Presocratic Philosophy. Washington D.C.: Center for Hellenic Studies; London: Oxford University Press. 1972. Pp. Ix + 355. £5·75.’ The Journal of Hellenic Studies 93 (18 November 1973): 244–48. https://doi.org/10.2307/631487.

Loewenstein, Karl. ‘The Administration of Justice’. In The Governance of ROME, 293–300. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 1973. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2400-6_14.

Lyon, David G. ‘The Structure of the Hammurabi Code’. Journal of the American Oriental Society 25 (1904): 248. https://doi.org/10.2307/592564.

Madden, M. Stuart. ‘Paths of Western Law after Justinian’. SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2313801.

Meek, Theophile J. ‘A New Interpretation of Code of Hammurabi §§ 117-19’. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 7, no. 3 (July 1948): 180–83. https://doi.org/10.1086/370876.

Nagarajan, K V. ‘The Code of Hammurabi: An Economic Interpretation’, 2011. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:35595593.

O, B. ‘A’. Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology, 31 August 2022, 30–44. https://doi.org/10.38159/10.38159/motbit.2022422.

Özek, Ceren, and M. Memet Özek. ‘“Code of Law†of Hammurabi’. Child’s Nervous System 24, no. 5 (26 May 2008): 537–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-007-0510-7.

Pearn, John. ‘Hammurabi’s Code: A Primary Datum in the Conjoined Professions of Medicine and Law’. Medico-Legal Journal 84, no. 3 (9 September 2016): 125–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0025817216646038.

Pfeiffer, R H. ‘An Analysis of the Hammurabi Code’. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 36, no. 4 (1920): 310–15. http://www.jstor.org/stable/528333.

Price, Ira M. ‘The Relation of Certain Gods to Equity and Justice in Early Babylonia’. Journal of the American Oriental Society 52, no. 2 (June 1932): 174. https://doi.org/10.2307/593172.

Prince, J Dyneley. ‘The Code of Hammurabi’. Edited by Robert Francis Harper, King of Babylon Hammurabi, L W King, D H Müller, and Hugo Winckler. The American Journal of Theology 8, no. 3 (1904): 601–9. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3153895.

Sachs, Stephen E. ‘From St. Ives to Cyberspace: The Modern Distortion of the Medieval “Law Merchantâ€â€™, 2005. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:110856582.

Savaget Nascimento, Pedro. ‘Philosophy and Law in Ancient Rome’. Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy 48, no. 1 (July 2019): 29–47. https://doi.org/10.5553/NJLP/221307132017046010001.

Schmidhuber, Christoph. ‘The Language of Filiation in the Code of Hammurapi’. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 79, no. 2 (1 October 2020): 197–208. https://doi.org/10.1086/710310.

Srdarev, Mirta. ‘Kanonska Slika Staroindijskoga Drutva u Manuovu Zakoniku’, 2013. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:135135352.

Steele, Francis Rue. ‘The Code of Lipit-Ishtar’. American Journal of Archaeology 52, no. 3 (1 July 1948): 425–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/500438.

The Laws of the Salian Franks. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812200508.

Varga, Csaba. ‘Legal Traditions?’ Acta Juridica Hungarica 46, no. 3–4 (December 2005): 177–98. https://doi.org/10.1556/AJur.46.2005.3-4.2.

Vincent, George E. ‘The Laws of Hammurabi’. American Journal of Sociology 9, no. 6 (1904): 737–54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2762088.

Witte, John. ‘Introduction to “Christianity and Law: An Introductionâ€â€™, 2008. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:159843876.

Wright, David P. ‘The Laws of Hammurabi and the Covenant Code: A Response to Bruce Wells’. Maarav 13, no. 2 (1 December 2006): 211–60. https://doi.org/10.1086/MAR200613205.

Yong, Lei. ‘The Self-Governance of Mediaeval Cities in Western Europe:A Sociological Analysis on the Tradition of Government in Accordance with a System of Law in Western Society’, 2006. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:148208921.

Zohair Husain, Mir, and Stephen E. Costanza. ‘Code of H Ammurabi’. In The Encyclopedia of Corrections, 1–4. Wiley, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118845387.wbeoc034.

Downloads

Published

2024-06-28

How to Cite

Saputra, B., Bene, O., & Putra, D. A. (2024). Analyzing the Code of Hammurabi: Exploring Ancient Legal Principles and Their Relevance in Modern Law. NEGREI: Academic Journal of Law and Governance, 4(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.29240/negrei.v4i1.9965

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2024)

Section

Articles

Citation Check

License

Authors who publish with NEGREI: Academic Journal of Law and Governance agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).