What are some of the impacts of the Code of Hammurabi?
“Impacts” isn’t an historically appropriate word. Archaeologists have shown that the Code was collected from existing laws in Mesopotamia, so it didn’t introduce anything new to Mesopotamian society. Most scholarly sources agree that the Code was designed as a conservative instrument, i.e. that it was supposed to protect society as it was, instead of introducing new ideas or trying to bring change. The effects of the Code are hard to talk about because surviving Mesopotamian court documents show that judges used the Code as guidelines or suggestions instead of as strict rules, especially relating to punishments. So, shorter answers might be: ‘women were’ solidified in their place as legally inferior to men in regards to property rights and sexual freedom within marriage, although in the absence of evidence they were presumed innocent when charged with a crime. ‘The Code led to’ a common legal experience within the Babylonian Empire; it also led to the continued preservation of a strict
