The code of hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the Ancient Near East. These codes come from similar cultures in a relatively small geographical area, and they have passages which resemble each other. The code is often pointed to be a primary example of even a king not being able to change fundamental laws concerning the governing of a country which was the primitive form of what is now known as a constitution.

The Babylonians and their neighbors developed the earliest system of economics that was fixed in a legal code, using a metric of various commodities. The early law codes from Sumer could be considered the first (written) economic formula, and had many attributes still in use in the current price system today... such as codified amounts of money for business deals (interest rates), fines in money for 'wrong doing', inheritance rules, laws concerning how private property is to be taxed or divided, etc.

These are seven example laws, in their entirety, of the Code of Hammurabi, translated into English:

1. If any one ensnares another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

2. If any one brings an accusation against a man, and the accused goes to the river and leaps into the river, if he sinks in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river proves that the accused is not guilty, and he escapes unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

3. If any one brings an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if a capital offense is charged, be put to death.

4. If a Builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.

5. If a man give his child to a nurse and the child dies in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and mother nurses another child, then they shall convict her of having nursed another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off.

6. If any one steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

7. If a man takes a woman to wife, but has no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him.

There are 281 such laws in the Code of Hammurabi, each no more than a sentence or two. The 282 laws are bracketed by a Prologue in which Hammurabi introduces himself, and an Epilogue in which he affirms his authority and sets forth his hopes and prayers for his code of laws.

Mosaic law

Another code of early law is the Code of Hebraic, or Mosaic Law¹ of about 1400 BC. The Mosaic Law or Law of Moses is the law given through Moses to the Israelite people (the original Jewish people) per the Mosaic Covenant and consigned in the Torah (or Five Books of Moses, the Pentateuch). In the Torah and the Christian Testaments, it is simply called "the Law".

Depending on context and in widening order, Mosaic law may refer to the observance of:

• The Ten Commandments, basis for the 613 Commandments

• The 613 Commandments (613 Mitzvot), basis for the Biblical law

• The Biblical law, the legal aspects of the Torah

• The Torah, the founding texts of Judaism, first part of the Tanakh

Less commonly, Mosaic law may also refer to the observance of:

• The Tanakh, the Bible used in Judaism

• The Halakha, collective body of Jewish religious law, the Jewish law

Task 9. Match the synonyms.

a code	a hand-book
to set up	to compile
to undergo changes	thriving
highly developed	to reveal
to show	to establish
a reference book	to be influenced by
to draw up	a set of laws
to fulfill	to write a code

Task 10. Insert the prepositions if necessary.

1. These legal principles are still … use.

2. These codes are based … Roman law principles.

3. Roman law developed … the Law of the Twelve Tables.

4. … this way local rules became a part of Roman law.

5. These laws deal ... commerce.

Task 11. Read & comprehend the text.