Editing Babylonian law (section)

==History==

===Tribal influence===
The early history of Mesopotamia is the story of a struggle for supremacy between the cities. A [[Colonies in antiquity|metropolis]] demanded [[tribute]] and military support from its subject cities but left their local cults and customs unaffected. City rights and usages were respected by kings and conquerors alike. When the [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] settled in the cities of Mesopotamia, their tribal customs passed over into city law.

As late as the accession of [[Assur-bani-pal]] and [[Shamash-shum-ukin]], we find the Babylonians appending to their city laws that groups of aliens to the number of twenty at a time were free to enter the city; that foreign women, once married to Babylonian husbands, could not be enslaved; and that not even a dog that entered the city could be put to death untried.{{Citation needed|date=October 2013}}

The population of Babylonia was multi-ethnic from early times, and intercommunication between the cities was incessant. Every city had a large number of resident aliens. This freedom of intercourse must have tended to assimilate custom. It was, however, reserved for the genius of [[Hammurabi]] to make Babylon his metropolis and weld together his vast empire by a uniform system of law.

===Hammurabi's Code===
{{main|Code of Hammurabi}}
By Hammurabi's time, almost all trace of tribal custom had already disappeared from the law of the Code. It is state law—self-help, blood-feud, and marriage by capture, are all absent; though code of family solidarity, district responsibility, ordeal, and the ''[[lex talionis]]'' (an eye for an eye), are primitive features that remain. The king is a benevolent [[Autocracy|autocrat]], easily accessible to all his subjects, both able and willing to protect the weak against the highest-placed oppressor. The royal power, however, can only pardon when private resentment is appeased. Judges are strictly supervised, and appeal is allowed. The whole land is covered with [[feudal]] holdings, masters of the [[Tax|levy]], police, etc. There is a regular postal system. The ''pax Babylonica'' is so assured that private individuals do not hesitate to ride in their carriage from Babylon to the coast of the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]. The position of women is free and dignified.<ref>from Encyclopedia Britannica, 1910-11</ref>

The Code did not merely embody contemporary custom or conserve ancient law. It is true that centuries of law-abiding and litigious habitude had accumulated, in the temple archives of each city, vast stores of [[precedent]] in ancient deeds and records of [[Judiciary|judicial]] decisions and that intercourse had assimilated city custom. The universal habit of writing, and perpetual recourse to written contract, further modified primitive custom and ancient precedent.

If the parties themselves could agree to the terms, the Code as a rule left them free to make contracts. Their deed of agreement was drawn up in the temple by a [[notary public]] and confirmed with an oath "by god and the king." It was publicly sealed and witnessed by professional witnesses, as well as by collaterally interested parties. The manner in which it was executed may have been sufficient guarantee that its stipulations were not impious or illegal. Custom or public opinion doubtlessly ensured that the parties would not agree to "wrong". If a dispute arose, the judges dealt first with the contract. They might not sustain it, but if the parties did not dispute it, they were free to observe it. The judges' decision might, however, be appealed. Many contracts contain the proviso that in case of future dispute, the parties would abide by "the decision of the king." The Code made known, in a vast number of cases, what that decision would be, and many cases of appeal to the king were returned to the judges with orders to decide in accordance with it. The Code itself was carefully and logically arranged, its sections arranged by subject matter. Nevertheless, the order is not that of modern scientific [[treatise]]s, so a somewhat different order than either is most convenient for our purpose.

See also: [https://web.archive.org/web/20080509192326/http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm English translation of Hammurabi's Code]