To Hammurabi, “an  eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” meant justice

Laying Down the LAW

 

Law

 

                 Imagine that you are far from home in a strange land. Two men lead you into a dreary courtroom, where a stern judge sits behind a mammoth bench.

"The accused is guilty under Section 21 of the Official Secrets Act," the judge thunders, pounding his gavel. "Off to prison with you!"

You have no idea what you did wrong. You have never even heard of the law you are accused of violating.

Does this sound farfetched', Such forbidding scenes still play out in countries around the world. America's criminal justice system, too, can sometimes fail its citizens.

In ancient societies, people didn't even have a courtroom in which to plead their cases. Kings ruled according to their whims and desires, and ordinary people enjoyed few rights.

Hammurabi wanted to change this. The powerful king, who ruled ancient Babylon from 1792 to 1750 B.C., had a keen sense of right and wrong. He was one of the first rulers to display the laws of the land for all to see. First, he had the laws inscribed (carved) on a huge slab of scone.

      This stone, called a stela, was then put in a place where townspeople could see and discuss it. Hammurabi clearly thought a lot of himself "Let the oppressed, who have a case at law, come and stand before this my image as King of righteousness," he wrote. "Let him read