Editing Eye for an eye (section)

{{Short description|Expression for proportional punishment}}
{{Redirect|Lex talionis|other uses|Eye for an eye (disambiguation)|and|Lex talionis (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

"'''An eye for an eye'''" ({{langx|hbo|עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן}}, {{Transliteration|he|''ʿayīn taḥaṯ ʿayīn''}}){{efn|From [[Exodus 21]]: ''22'' If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. ''23'' And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, ''24'' '''Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,''' hand for hand, foot for foot, ''25'' Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. <br> See also: {{bulleted list|[[Leviticus 24]]: ''19'' And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; ''20'' Breach for breach, '''eye for eye, tooth for tooth:''' as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.|[[Deuteronomy 19]]:21: And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, '''eye for eye, tooth for tooth,''' hand for hand, foot for foot.}}}} is a commandment found in the [[Book of Exodus]] 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The earliest known use of the principle appears in the [[Code of Hammurabi]], which predates the writing of the Hebrew Bible but not necessarily oral traditions.<ref name="white">{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Mark D. |chapter=Lex Talionis |title=Encyclopedia of Law and Economics |year=2014 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_18-1|isbn=978-1-4614-7883-6 }}</ref>

{{anchor|Lex talionis}}The '''law of exact retaliation''' ({{langx|la|lex talionis}}),{{Sfn | Plaut | 1981 | pp = 571ff}} or '''reciprocal justice''', bears the same principle that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree by the injured party. In softer interpretations, it means the victim receives the [estimated] value of the injury in compensation.{{Sfn | Plaut | 1981 | p = 572}} The intent behind the principle was to ''restrict'' compensation to the value of the loss.{{Sfn | Plaut | 1981 | pp = 571ff}}