Essay on the Hammurabi Legislation

According to the Hammurabi legislation, the laws intended to regulate violence in the society by clearly outlining harsh punishments for the one with the offense If a free person puts out the eye of another free persons eye, that persons eye shall be put out. The laws also discouraged disrespectful behaviors towards one another especially in terms of age. The young in the society were expected to treat the elderly with respect especially between children and parents If a son strikes his father, his hand shall be cut off. Slaves in the community were also expected to treat their masters and any other free people with respect and harsh consequences were put in place to enforce this law If a slave says to the master, you are not my master, the master shall cut off the slaves ear.

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The laws also hard harsh restrictions against divorce thus discouraging the act by making the divorce demands difficult if the divorce request came from the man If a free man wishes to divorce his wife who has had no children, he must pay her a settlement equal to the value of the gifts he gave her father when they were married plus the dowry she brought from her fathers house; by paying this settlement he divorces her. There were also similar harsh consequences in case the request for divorce came from the woman If the man does not wish to divorce her, he may marry another woman and keep his first wife in his house as a slave. The laws also intended to regulate the social immoralities in the society. Harsh measures were employed to punish sexual offences such as adultery, incest and having sexual relations with the slaves. In case a woman commits adultery during marriage, the punishment would execution by drowning while in the case of a man, the woman was allowed to take back her dowry and returning to her fathers house.

The laws also included harsh punishments for incest cases whereby a man engaging in sexual activities faces exile from the community. The punishment is even harsher for the mother-son relationship If a free man has sexual relations with his mother after the death of his mother, both of them shall be executed by fire. The laws also regulate fraud in the business society by creating guidelines that must be followed when engaging in business with one another If a free person wishes to pawn anything, that person is responsible for drawing up a contract signed by witnesses before completing the transaction.

In the Mesopotamian society, the women mainly had the roles of being wives to the men and were expected to fulfill their wifely duties while for the women slaves; their role was serving their masters. Women in Mesopotamia came second after the men; receiving very harsh punishments if they did anything wrong to end their marriages. According to the laws, women receive worse punishments compared to men in case they commit adultery If she has committed adultery, then she shall be executed by being thrown into the water. The punishment on men however only involved withdrawal of the dowry. If she has not committed adultery but her husband has, she may take her dowry and return to her fathers house.

Women were also expected to bear children in their marriages and failure to do so granted the men a chance for divorce, although at a price. The man was required to generously compensate the divorced wife. However, women were not allowed to divorce their husbands because the men had the right to reject the divorce and keep them as slaves while marrying another wife.