Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Societal Values in Hammurabi's Code

In Hammurabi's code there are numerous social values. Two big ones are that trade should be fair and honesty and justice are very important. For the latter an example is that one has to have proof that the person they are accusing actually did the crime. This is mentioned a lot showing that this is very important in Hammurabi's society. This is also very important in the 21st century's society. Our judicial system requires that one must have evidence to prevail or go forth in a trial.
Another big value that was mentioned in Hammurabi's code was that trade should be fair and that you should be able to return the things you buy. For example in the code, it mentions that if you buy a slave and it gets sick, you can return it and get your money back. Slaves were one of the most traded and expensive goods in this society and if you were conned into buying an unhealthy slave then you would lose a lot of money. Hammurabi wanted to stop that so he put it in his document showing that this was a very important value to him.

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