Code of Hammurabi - The First Written Legal System

In 1901, a large stone pillar in what was once ancient Mesopotamia was discovered. Inscribed on this pillar was a large set of civil codes as ordered by the first emperor of the Babylonian Empire, Hammurabi. Inscribed over 3,000 years ago this pillar, named the Code of Hammurabi, served as one of the first text of humankind to serve in a judiciary form. The vast collection of laws declares that the purpose of these codes is to "promote the welfare of the people" and to allow "justice to prevail in the land." Instead of actual laws, the codes inscribed on the stone pillar are actually the judgments of specific cases that had come before him. The Code of Hammurabi also served as the first known set of laws that was "carved in stone", meaning that not even the king himself could alter the Babylonian Law.

The Code gives a large amount in insight into the civilization of the Babylonian Empire. Hammurabi established an "eye for an eye" system of government, in that if corporal harm was done to an individual, ideally the party responsible would have the same bodily harm inflicted upon them. This system was not always followed and, for the majority of the cases, slated towards the wealthy. If a member of the higher class of Babylonian society had committed a corporal crime, usually he would only have to pay a fine whereas if a lower class citizen caused bodily harm to another they would have the same punishment exacted on them. The law also institutes a arrangement where if an individual falsely accuses another individual or does not provide enough evidence to back up his claims he would be put to death. This limited litigation in Babylon, and when there was a case judges were provided an incentive to make an accurate judgment. If a judgment was found to be disproved after it is passed, the judge would pay "twelve times the penalty awarded in that case."