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Code of Hammurabi
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==Relation to other law collections== {{see also|List of ancient legal codes}} ===Other Mesopotamian=== [[File:Prologue code Lipit-Ishtar AO 5473.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph. A clay tablet containing the prologue to the Code of Lipit-Ishtar written in cuneiform|Prologue to the Code of [[Lipit-Ishtar]]]] The Code of Hammurabi bears strong similarities to earlier Mesopotamian law collections. Many purport to have been written by rulers, and this tradition was probably widespread.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=9}} Earlier law collections express their god-given legitimacy similarly.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=5}} Like the Code of Hammurabi, they feature prologues and epilogues: the Code of Ur-Nammu has a prologue, the [[Code of Lipit-Ishtar]] a prologue and an epilogue, and the Laws of Eshnunna an epilogue. Also, like the Code of Hammurabi, they uphold the "one crime, one punishment" principle.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=161}} The cases covered and language used are, overall, strikingly similar.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=9}} Scribes were still copying earlier law collections, such as the [[Code of Ur-Nammu]], when Hammurabi produced his own Code.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=144β145}} This suggests that earlier collections may have not only resembled the Code but influenced it. Raymond Westbrook maintained that there was a fairly consistent tradition of "ancient Near Eastern law" which included the Code of Hammurabi,{{sfnp|Westbrook|2003|pp=4ff.}} and that this was largely [[customary law]].{{sfnp|Westbrook|2003|p=21}} Nonetheless, there are differences: for example, Stephen Bertman has suggested that where earlier collections are concerned with compensating victims, the Code is concerned with physically punishing offenders.{{sfnp|Bertman|2003|p=71}} Additionally, the above conclusions of similarity and influence apply only to the law collections themselves. The actual legal practices from the context of each code are mysterious.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1pp=295β296|2a1=Roth|2y=1995b|2p=13}} The Code of Hammurabi also bears strong similarities to later Mesopotamian law collections: to the casuistic [[Middle Assyrian Empire|Middle Assyrian]] Laws and to the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Neo-Babylonian]] Laws,{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=145}} whose format is largely relative ("a man who{{nbsp}}..."). It is easier to posit direct influence for these later collections, given the Code's survival through the scribal curriculum.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=20}} Lastly, although influence is more difficult to trace, there is evidence that the [[Hittite laws]] may have been part of the same tradition of legal writing outside Mesopotamia proper.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=19}} ===Mosaic, Graeco-Roman, and modern=== [[File:Moses receives the Law, Leo Bible (Vatican, Biblioteca Vaticana MS. Reg. gr. 1), folio 155v, c. 930β940, 41 x 27 cm.jpg|thumb|alt=Illumination from the Byzantine Leo Bible of Moses on Mount Sinai, receiving the law from heaven|[[Moses]] receiving the law on [[Mount Sinai]], depicted in the Byzantine [[Leo Bible]]]] The relationship of the Code of Hammurabi to the [[Mosaic Law]], specifically the [[Covenant Code]] of [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 20:22β23:19, has been a subject of discussion since its discovery.{{sfnmp|1a1=Sampey|1y=1904a|2a1=Sampey|2y=1904b|3a1=Davies|3y=1905|4a1=Johns|4y=1914|5a1=Everts|5y=1920|6a1=Edwards|6y=1921}} [[Friedrich Delitzsch]] argued the case for strong influence in a 1902 lecture, in one episode of the "{{lang|de|Babel und Bibel}}" ("Babel and Bible", or "[[Panbabylonism]]") debate on the influence of ancient Mesopotamian cultures on [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|ancient Israel]]. However, he was met with strong resistance.{{sfnp|Ziolkowski|2012|p=25}} There was cultural contact between Mesopotamia and [[the Levant]], and [[Middle Bronze Age]] tablets of casuistic cuneiform law have been found at [[Tel Hazor|Hazor]].{{sfnp|Horowitz|Oshima|VukosavoviΔ|2012}} There are also similarities between the Code of Hamurabi and the Covenant Code: in the casuistic format, in principles such as {{lang|la|lex talionis}} ("eye for an eye"), and in the content of the provisions. Some similarities are striking, such as in the provisions concerning a man-goring ox (Code of Hammurabi laws 250β252,{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=128}} Exodus 21:28β32).{{sfnp|Wright|2009|loc=chapter 8}} Certain writers have posited direct influence: [[David P. Wright]], for example, asserts that the Covenant Code is "directly, primarily, and throughout dependent upon the Laws of Hammurabi", "a creative rewriting of Mesopotamian sources{{nbsp}}... to be viewed as an academic abstraction rather than a digest of laws".{{sfnp|Wright|2009|p=3}} Others{{who|date=March 2023}} posit indirect influence, such as via [[Arameans|Aramaic]] or [[Phoenicia]]n intermediaries.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=152}} The consensus, however, is that the similarities are a result of inheriting common traditions.{{sfnp|Wright|2009|p=vii}} In 1916, George A. Barton cited "a similarity of antecedents and of general intellectual outlook".{{sfnp|Barton|1916|p=340}} More recently, [[David Winton Thomas]] has stated: "There is no ground for assuming any direct borrowing by the Hebrew from the Babylonian. Even where the two sets of laws differ little in the letter, they differ much in the spirit".{{sfnp|Thomas|1958|p=28}} The influence of the Code of Hammurabi on later law collections is difficult to establish. Marc Van De Mieroop suggests that it may have influenced the Greek [[Gortyn Code]] and the Roman [[Twelve Tables]].{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=152β153}} However, even Van De Mieroop acknowledges that most [[Roman law]] is not similar to the Code, or likely to have been influenced by it.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=153β154}} Knowing the Code's influence on modern law requires knowing its influence on Mosaic and Graeco-Roman law. Since this is contentious, commentators have restricted themselves to observing similarities and differences between the Code and, e.g., [[United States law]] and [[medieval]] law.{{sfnmp|1a1=Equitable Trust Company|1y=1910|2a1=Jenkins|2y=1905|3a1=Driver|3a2=Miles|3y=1952|3p=57|4a1=Van De Mieroop|4y=2016|4p=154}} Some{{who|date=March 2023}} have remarked that the punishments found in the Code are no more severe, and, in some cases, less so.{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1903b|1p=258|2a1=Driver|2a2=Miles|2y=1952|2p=57}}{{update inline|date=March 2023}} Law 238 stipulates that a [[sea captain]], [[Technical management|ship-manager]], or [[Chartering (shipping)|ship charterer]] that saved a ship from [[Shipwreck|total loss]] was [[Pro rata|only required to pay one-half the value of the ship]] to the [[ship-owner]].<ref name="Sommer 1903 p. 86">{{cite journal |translator-last=Sommer |translator-first=Otto |author=Hammurabi |author-link=Hammurabi |title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon |year=1903 |journal=Records of the Past |place=[[Washington, D.C.|Washington, DC]] |publisher=[[Records of the Past Exploration Society]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/page/n27/mode/2up 86] |access-date=20 June 2021 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/mode/2up |quote=238. If a skipper wrecks ... money to its owner.}}</ref><ref name="Harper 1904 p. 85">{{cite web |translator-last=Harper |translator-first=Robert Francis |author=Hammurabi |author-link=Hammurabi |year=1904 |title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon |place=[[Chicago]] |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |edition=2nd |page=[https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/hammurabi-the-code-of-hammurabi#lf0762_label_461 85] |website=[[Liberty Fund]] |url=https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/1276/0762_Bk.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613091052/https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/1276/0762_Bk.pdf |archive-date=13 June 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=20 June 2021 |quote=Β§238. If a boatman sink ... one-half its value.}}</ref><ref name="King 1910">{{cite web |translator-last=King |translator-first=Leonard William |author=Hammurabi |author-link=Hammurabi |year=1910 |title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon |place=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven, CT]] |publisher=[[Yale Law School]] |website=[[Avalon Project]] |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp |access-date=20 June 2021 |quote=238. If a sailor wreck ... its value in money. |archive-date=10 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510072841/https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> In the ''[[Digest (Roman law)|Digesta seu Pandectae]]'' (533), the second volume of the [[Corpus Juris Civilis|codification of laws ordered]] by [[Justinian I]] (527β565) of the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]], a [[legal opinion]] written by the [[Roman law|Roman jurist]] [[Julius Paulus|Paulus]] at the beginning of the [[Crisis of the Third Century]] in 235 AD was included about the ''[[List of Roman laws|Lex Rhodia]]'' ("Rhodian law") that articulates the [[general average]] principle of [[marine insurance]] established on the island of [[Rhodes]] in approximately 1000 to 800 BC as a member of the [[Doric Hexapolis]], plausibly by the [[Phoenicia]]ns during the proposed [[Dorian invasion]] and emergence of the purported [[Sea Peoples]] during the [[Greek Dark Ages]] (c. 1100 β c. 750) that led to the proliferation of the [[Doric Greek]] [[Ancient Greek dialects|dialect]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Civil Law, Volume I, The Opinions of Julius Paulus, Book II |year=1932 |translator-first=S.P. |translator-last=Scott |publisher=Central Trust Company |website=[[Constitution Society|Constitution.org]] |url=https://constitution.org/2-Authors/sps/sps01_4-2.htm |quote=TITLE VII. ON THE LEX RHODIA. It is provided by the ''Lex Rhodia'' that if merchandise is thrown overboard for the purpose of lightening a ship, the loss is made good by the assessment of all which is made for the benefit of all. |access-date=16 June 2021 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195244/https://constitution.org/2-Authors/sps/sps01_4-2.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Prudential pp. 5β6">{{cite book |year=1915 |title=The Documentary History of Insurance, 1000 B.C. β 1875 A.D. |publisher=[[Prudential Financial|Prudential Press]] |place=[[Newark, New Jersey|Newark, NJ]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924030231736/page/n7/mode/2up 5β6] |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924030231736/mode/2up |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="Duhaime">{{cite web |url=http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-383/Lex-Rhodia-The-Ancient-Ancestor-of-Maritime-Law-800--BC.aspx |title=Duhaime's Timetable of World Legal History |work=Duhaime's Law Dictionary |access-date=9 April 2016 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195657/http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-383/Lex-Rhodia-The-Ancient-Ancestor-of-Maritime-Law-800--BC.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref> The law of general average constitutes the fundamental [[principle]] that underlies all [[insurance]].<ref name="Prudential pp. 5β6" />{{better source needed|date=March 2023}}
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