The code of hammurabi

One of the earliest known collections of codified laws is the Code of Hammurabi¹. Hammurabi was King of Babylon from about 1728 BC to 1686 BC. He had about three hundred systematically arranged laws that existed in his time.

The Code of Hammurabi reveals that the ancient kingdom was a thriving commercial center. Among other business practices, the laws regulated price-fixing², interest changes³, the practice of medicine, and the ownership of slaves. The Code reflected the customs of the period. For example, the sun-god who was also the god of justice, was named as the source if the laws, to give them more authority.

Text notes: ¹the Code of Hammurabi - Кодекс законів Хамурапі

²price-fixing - встановлення цін

³interest changes - норми відсотку

Mosaic law

Another code of early law is the Code of Hebraic, or Mosaic Law¹ of about 1400 BC. This Code is set out in great detail in the first five books of the Old Testament², which are called the Torah³, meaning “law” or “guidance”. These books recount the forty-year-long wandering of Moses and the tribes of Israel from Egypt across the Sinai desert⁴ to the Promised Land of Canaan⁵. While in the desert, Moses was summoned to the top of Mount Sinai by God, and was given the tablets of the Ten Commandments⁶. Like the Babylonians, the Hebrew compilers believed that their laws were based on the will of God.

Unlike the commercially-oriented Code of Hammurabi, the Mosaic Law reflects the agrarian community over which Moses presided. As a chief law-giver and magistrate, Moses was both a legislator and a judge in the modern sense. The Ten Commandments still hold a central position today in the teachings of both the Hebrew and the Christian faiths⁷. As well, the Mosaic Law firms an important part of the laws of many countries today.

Text notes: ¹The Code of Hebraic Law - Закони Моісея

²The Old Testament - Старий завіт

³The Tora - Тора

⁴The Sinai desert - Синайська пустеля

⁵The Promised Land of Canaan - Обітована Земля Ханаана

⁶The Ten Commandments - Десять заповідей

⁷The Hebrew faith - іудейська віра

Task 2. Find English equivalents of the following word combinations:

вкритий письменами, здійснювати, знищення корупції, залишатися в дії, зазнавати змін / впливу, інструкція, систематизувати, розвинутий / процвітаючий, очолювати, посідати центральне місце.

Task 3. Match the synonyms:

a code	a hand-book
to set up	to compile
to undergo changes	thriving
highly developed	to reveal
to show	to establish
a reference book	to be influenced by
to draw up	a set of laws
to fulfill	to write a code

Task 4. Insert prepositions if necessary:

1. These legal principles are still … use.

2. These codes are based … Roman law principles.

3. Roman law developed … the Law of the Twelve Tables.

4. … this way local rules became a part of Roman law.

5. These laws deal ... commerce.

Task 5.Using the information in the unit above, discuss the following:

1. There was always law in the community.

2. Influence of the earliest codes on modern law.

Task 6. Read and translate the text into Ukrainian: