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In 1901 French archaeologists digging at the site of the ancient city of Susa unearthed an eight-foot (2.4-meter) piece of polished black rock covered with Babylonian writing. Translators went to work and soon announced the rock was a law code containing 282 different rules and regulations given by the Babylonian king Hammurabi around 1700 BCE. In the past century, archaeologists have found legal texts even more ancient than that of Hammurabi, but Hammurabi’s code is still the earliest example of an important legal principle—that the laws of a nation exist on their own, apart from national leaders. In earlier codes, laws depended on the desires of the king. Whatever an ancient ruler wanted became law, and the king could change such laws any time. Hammurabi’s code, however, outlinednational principles of justice, and these laws of Babylon were true whether the king liked them or not. This was a vital development in law and order. Our modern understanding of law assumes the laws of a government are more important than the opinions of rulers; even government leaders are subject to the law.

Hammurabi’scodedoesnotmentionincarceration,suggesting jails or prisons were nonexistent at the time. However, it does provide a range of legal punishments that applied to various crimes.Deathwas thepunishment forkidnapping, stealing from the king, and a host of other offenses. Lesser crimes, such as theft of a pig, required the thief tomake restitution—payment for the stolen property plus additional fines for his crime.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is one of the most recognizable concepts from the Code of Hammurabi. The code is one of the oldest translated writings in the world and is now on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

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The History of Punishment and Imprisonment