LOFTIN/BABYLONIAN LAW 1
Babylonian Law
There are many reasons why the people wanted to have that order and structure when it
came to having written laws. Reading the laws that Hammurabi had documented showed a
picture as to the life of that time, where women were the positions of their husbands but were
also to be protected. It also showed that they did not like or hide thieves and robbers. I think that
a lot of their thoughts were what we feel even today, a need to feel safe. No matter the situation
no woman wants to be raped and as the law states that if a man forces a woman not his wife from
another man he does not know and lie in her bosom, that man shall be put to death and the
woman go free.
Having the laws written gives a sense of peace because we as humans can not control the
actions of another and we never will but if we know that their actions will have punishment we
are better left at peace. Having no laws allows men of higher social order to go free and a man
that was stealing to feed his children to death, things that we don’t understand nor never will.
Today you will not be put to death for stealing from another, but the principle is still the same.