In these documents are listed various laws and guidelines for society. The first, considered the oldest law code, was penned by Hammurabi around 1780 BC, and the second, the famous Law of the Twelve Tables, was penned by the ancient Romans around 450 BC.
While both civilizations were pagan, and their laws occasionally refer to “the gods,” or children of the gods, their civilizations provided some interesting standards for Western Civilization in terms of written laws for the people to see and abide by.
The following excerpts cover laws related to trial and debt. Consider the similarities and differences in these two codes and their legacies for Western Civilization. Your paper should answer the following two questions, and the thesis statement should provide a clear argument that includes both aspects of analysis.
- How did these two codes contribute to the laws of Western Civilization?
- What does Scripture say about law and justice, and how do these examples either evidence that, or fall short of the Biblical standard?
