Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi provides what is perhaps the oldest and most famous appearance of a notable legal principle, usually referred to by its later Latin name: Lex talionis. The familiar adage “an eye for an eye” expresses this principle, and rests directly on the Babylonian precedent in Law 196 of the Code: “If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out” (46). This law appears to represent an influential piece of jurisprudence in the ancient Near East, because it is echoed in Exodus 21: 24 of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The Latin term, lex talionis, refers to a law of exact retaliation, and this form of retributive justice was advocated by some Roman writers like Cicero.

In the Code, the principle of “an eye for an eye” often required an exact balance of injuries. The “eye for an eye” example of Law 196 is immediately followed by a similar application in Law 197: “If he break another man’s bone, his bone shall be broken” (46). Other examples abound in the Code, such as in the laws governing the builders’ trade.