Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi was a legal code of Babylonia written about 1700 BC.

It was written on a stele (a large stone monument), and put in a public place where everyone could see it. The stele was later captured by the Elamites and taken to their capital, Susa. It was found there again in 1901, and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The code of Hammurabi had 282 laws written by scribes on 12 tablets.^[1] Unlike earlier laws, it was written in Akkadian, the daily language of Babylonia.

The Code of Hammurabi is the longest-surviving text from the Old Babylonian period.^[2] The code is an early example of a law regulating a government: a kind of primitive constitution.^[3][4] The code is also one of the earliest examples of the "presumption of innocence" (innocent until proven otherwise). It suggests that both the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence.^[5]

1. ↑ "Hammurabi's Code". Think Quest. Archived from the original on 21 November 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
2. ↑ "The Code of Hammurabi". The History Guide. 3 August 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
3. ↑ William David Thomas, Gareth Stevens (2008). What is a constitution?. Gareth Stevens Pub. p. 8. ISBN 9780836888638.
4. ↑ Flach, Jacques (1907). "Le Code de Hammourabi et la constitution originaire de la propriete dans l'ancienne Chaldee". Revue historique. 94 (8). Paris: 272–289.
5. ↑ Burgess A.W.; et al. (2009). Victimology: theories and applications. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 103.