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Code of Hammurabi & Hebrew Law

There is a clear evolution of law from the Code of Hammurabi to Hebrew law to the Institutes of Justinian. The Code of Hammurabi is primarily a technical, detailed set of laws based on property and punishment and penalties. The Hebrew law does have technical, detailed laws based on property and punishment, but there are also more general laws (The Ten Commandments) and there are many more references to the God who is the authority behind the laws. The Hammurabi laws begin with a prologue and end with an epilogue which are full of claims for the Babylonian king's right to make and enforce such laws based on his relationship with the gods Anunnaki and Enlil. The Code of Hammurabi itself, however, makes barely any mention of the gods, aside from special laws dealing with the property of the temple or a "votary of Marduk of Babylon" (Hammurabi, law 182). Hebrew Law, on the other hand, is marked by references to God throughout. God is at the center of the Hebrew law, while one can read the Code of Hammurabi and feel that property rights are at the center of that set of laws. One does not have the impression that there is "something greater" in the Code which holds the society together, beyond a desire to protect property and make sure that law and order prevail.

The Institutes of Justinian differ from both Hammurabi and Hebrew law in that the Institutes are not actually definitive laws, but rather philosophical and ethical explanations of what the law should be. Although the Institutes begin "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," the text itself is quite humanistic in its language: "Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render every one his due. . . . The maxims of law are these: to live honestly, to hurt no one, to give every one his due. . . ." In fact, the difference between divine law as it is expressed in nature is differentiated from man's law in the Institutes of Justinian: The laws of nature, which all nations observe a...

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Code of Hammurabi & Hebrew Law. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:39, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702205.html