The basis of Hammurabi's law is that of equal retaliation, comparable to the Semitic law of "an eye for an eye." The law offers protection to all classes of Babylonian society; it seeks to protect the weak and the poor, including women, children, and slaves, against injustice at the hands of the rich and powerful. This has several parallels to our laws today; they were created to protect all people equally, rich or poor, black or white, and accordingly. There also is a very significant contrast with our laws, in that most punishment today isn't as severe.

Hammurabi's code placed a great value on life. In our society, capital punishment is reserved for a very few number of crimes. Only is murder considered a capital crime, and even then sometimes there must be further circumstances. Today, we still do p

There are some major differences in the laws regarding the legal system also. The third law states, "If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death." This law shows two enormous differences between our legal system and Hammurabi's code of laws. First, individuals today can't bring charges to criminal court, we have public attorneys assigned to that job. Secondly, failure to prove a charge in our society does not constitute a capital offense. If guilt hasn't been proven, the case is over and no one faces consequences from it. Another large contrast is in the fifth law which states, "If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgement." This much accountability is pretty much unheard of in our justice system today. Today if a judge makes a mistake, an appeals court can overturn his judgement, but that judge won't be punished in any o

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hammurabi Theft, King Hammurabi, Penalties Hammurabi's, hammurabi's code, , hammurabi's code laws, code laws, laws hammurabi's code, value life, definitely impact, laws created, laws punishment, legal systems, legal system, justice system, laws hammurabi's,
Approximate Word count = 833
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)