The Code Of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi

An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. That is what the Code of Hammurabi is trying to get across. After reading the Code, all I could think about was "What if that is what the laws were like now in the United States?" I don't think that the people would act in the manner that they do now. I believe

that the codes would be useful in a way but they are also not very realistic if u really think about it.

If we used the codes today in the United States I think that there would be a lot more people being faithful in their marriages. In law number one hundred twenty nine it states: "If the wife of a man be taken lying with another man, they shall bind then and throw them into the water. If the husband of the woman would save his wife, or if the king would save his male servant (he may)." This code is saying that if a woman cheats on her husband and gets caught, than they will tie up the woman and the man that she had cheated with and throw them to the bottom of the lake. If the husband goes in after the woman than she can go back home and she will be forgiven. But if he chooses not to go in after her, than she will die at the bottom of the lake with the man she cheated with. The king may also choose to go in after the man, but again if he chooses not to then the man will drown. I think that if we used a law like this in this day in age, there would be so many more marriages that would last, because honestly who wants to be thrown to the bottom of the river for cheating on their husband. I wouldn't want to die in the bottom of the Kankakee River. And I also wouldn't expect my husband to jump in after me to save my life after what I had done to him. But it would make people think about if they are really in love with the person and really want to get married before they actually do it. I think that divorce rates would decrease. This is about the only one that I actually agree with though.

In almost all of the codes, the ending result is death. I don't think that death is the answer to most of the things that are discussed in the codes. I don't think that if a man steals something that he or she should be put to death. It reminds me of our death penalty. I don't not always agree with our death penalty. I think that it depends on what the person has done. I do think that it is ok if the person has murdered someone. If they are so mean a cruel that they would kill someone out of pure anger and most of the time they don't even know the person, than I believe that they should be put to death. I do not think that a person should be put to death if it is not totally proven that they actually did it. If an innocent man is on death row and they end up putting him to death, what if they find out later on, after his death, that he was not that man that did what they had thought? The family of that man is going to have to live with that for the rest of their lives and there is a murderer walking the streets. This is the main reason I do not believe

that the death penalty does us any good at all. I believe

that if the person gets life in prison that that would be worse than the death penalty. That person has to live with whatever they did until the day that they die. And they have to live with whatever the guys in prison are going to do to them

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