Analyzing Legal Concepts

  1. The Babylonian Code.
    1. Punishment: The punishment for perjury in a murder/manslaughter trial was death.
    2. Crime: Theft was considered a serious crime.
    3. Authority: The law could affect the way some people chose to spend their time.
    4. Marriage: A couple had to be legally married to be considered husband & wife.
    5. Authority: The law governed the interaction of family members.
    6. Justice: An eye for an eye, literally.
    7. Equality: This law was most unequal.
    8. Guilt: The responsibility for the death by negligence was specified.
    9. Ditto
  2. Application of legal principles to the Babylonian legal system.
    1. It seems that the law covered everyone, but some people were dealt with on a different standard then others.
    2. There was no mention of innocence by default in the excerpts.
    3. A system of varying degrees of punishment did exist, but it seems extremely harsh compared to modern standards.
  3. The introduction of the Babylonian Code was instrumental in the widespread adoption of a set of laws that were set in stone (literally, in this case). It spelled out the type and degree of penalty to be issued for a given disobedience.
  4. Apparently the Babylonian Code did not make any distinction between premeditated and involuntary breaches of the law. E.g. if a ‘nobleman’ accidentally blinded a colleague he would receive the same punishment as one who did so deliberately.
  5. In spite of being codified, the Babylonian laws were not quite just because they did not treat all members of society on an equal footing. Women and slaves were not considered in the eyes of the law.
  1. Socrates: Condemned by the very laws he strove to uphold.
    1. Socrates would have felt that if the law decreed it so then nobody under 30 should be allowed to own or operate a motor vehicle. Plato, on the other hand, would have protested vehemently against this very unnecessary law.
    2. Socrates would have agreed wholehearted with the statement, while Plato would have reasoned that it is reasonably easy too distinguish between a just and unjust law, based on public debate and general consensus.
    3. I agree with Plato for the most part because his ideas concerning the rule of law are more practical.