Question

Read the excerpt from Hammurabi’s Code. “If a man has knocked out the eye of a patrician [aristocrat], his eye shall be knocked out. . . If he has knocked out the eye of a plebeian [commoner] . . . he shall pay one mina of silver. If he has knocked out the eye of a patrician’s servant . . . he shall pay half his value.” What does this quote illustrate about the nature of Hammurabi’s Code?

Answer 1

The most important legal code of the United States is the U. S. Constitution. One of the characteristics of this code is that its laws apply to all citizens equally, regardless of race, age, class, etc.

This passage shows that Hammurabi's Code did not operate based on the same principle. Babylonian laws were applied differently depending on the class and social status of the perpetrator and the victim.