Editing Code of Hammurabi (section)

===Other Mesopotamian===
[[File:Prologue code Lipit-Ishtar AO 5473.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph. A clay tablet containing the prologue to the Code of Lipit-Ishtar written in cuneiform|Prologue to the Code of [[Lipit-Ishtar]]]]
The Code of Hammurabi bears strong similarities to earlier Mesopotamian law collections. Many purport to have been written by rulers, and this tradition was probably widespread.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=9}} Earlier law collections express their god-given legitimacy similarly.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=5}} Like the Code of Hammurabi, they feature prologues and epilogues: the Code of Ur-Nammu has a prologue, the [[Code of Lipit-Ishtar]] a prologue and an epilogue, and the Laws of Eshnunna an epilogue. Also, like the Code of Hammurabi, they uphold the "one crime, one punishment" principle.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=161}} The cases covered and language used are, overall, strikingly similar.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=9}} Scribes were still copying earlier law collections, such as the [[Code of Ur-Nammu]], when Hammurabi produced his own Code.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=144–145}} This suggests that earlier collections may have not only resembled the Code but influenced it. Raymond Westbrook maintained that there was a fairly consistent tradition of "ancient Near Eastern law" which included the Code of Hammurabi,{{sfnp|Westbrook|2003|pp=4ff.}} and that this was largely [[customary law]].{{sfnp|Westbrook|2003|p=21}} Nonetheless, there are differences: for example, Stephen Bertman has suggested that where earlier collections are concerned with compensating victims, the Code is concerned with physically punishing offenders.{{sfnp|Bertman|2003|p=71}} Additionally, the above conclusions of similarity and influence apply only to the law collections themselves. The actual legal practices from the context of each code are mysterious.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1pp=295–296|2a1=Roth|2y=1995b|2p=13}}

The Code of Hammurabi also bears strong similarities to later Mesopotamian law collections: to the casuistic [[Middle Assyrian Empire|Middle Assyrian]] Laws and to the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Neo-Babylonian]] Laws,{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=145}} whose format is largely relative ("a man who{{nbsp}}..."). It is easier to posit direct influence for these later collections, given the Code's survival through the scribal curriculum.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=20}} Lastly, although influence is more difficult to trace, there is evidence that the [[Hittite laws]] may have been part of the same tradition of legal writing outside Mesopotamia proper.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=19}}