Code of Hammurabi
Babylonian code of law or conduct / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Code of Hammurabi was a legal code of Babylonia written about 1700 BC.
It was written on a stele (a large stone monument), and put in a public place where everyone could see it. The stele was later captured by the Elamites and taken to their capital, Susa. It was found there again in 1901, and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The code of Hammurabi had 282 laws written by scribes on 12 tablets.[1] Unlike earlier laws, it was written in Akkadian, the daily language of Babylonia.
The Code of Hammurabi is the longest-surviving text from the Old Babylonian period.[2] The code is an early example of a law regulating a government: a kind of primitive constitution.[3][4] The code is also one of the earliest examples of the "presumption of innocence" (innocent until proven otherwise). It suggests that both the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence.[5]