Hammurabi’s Code

We have spent the better part of a month reading parts of Hammurabi’s Code to determine whether it was just or unjust. Here is what a few of us have decided:

Hammurabi was a terrible man. His laws did not come from a god of justice . They came from a god of  Unfairness. Hammurabi became the king of Babylon 4,000 years ago and made the first complete laws. Was Hammurabi’s code fair? There are three areas of the law where Hammurabi Code can be shown to be unjust. These laws don’t protect the weak, have harsh punishment, and have inconsistent punishment. 

Examples of unjust can be first found in the area of family law. First Hammurabi was not protecting the weak because if a woman is caught cheating she shall be blinded and thrown into the water and he not protecting the weak by throwing her into the water. Second he wasn’t protecting the weak because if a son struck his father his hand shall be cut off [law 195]. These examples show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust because if a son struck his father his hands shall be cut off the punishment the son could have got was not cutting off his hands. Hammurabi’s code is also unjust because he didn’t protect the weak he said that he would protect the weak but he never did.

Examples of injustice can be found in the area of property law. First Hammurabi had cruel and harsh punishments for example in law 21 if a man made a hole in the wall to rob someone they shall pierce him or hang him on  the wall the robber made. What the robber could do instead of being pierced or being hung on the wall they could rebuild the wall and then be taken to jail. These examples show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust because if a man has made a hole in the wall to rob someone he shouldn’t be hung or pierced on the wall he has made. What he could do is rebuild the wall and then go to jail.

Examples of injustice can be found in the area of personal injury law. First, he was being unfair to the weak because in law 199 it says is you knock out a slave eye you have to pay half the price. Second, if you knock out a free man’s eye, there eye shall be knocked out. These examples show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust because the slave man and the other man they should pay the same price because they should be treated equally. Everyone should be treated equally.

Indeed these are the laws Hammurabi made. The whole point of this lesson is to not bring this cruelty in the future. So we won’t treat people the way Hammurabi treated people in the kingdom. So think about it and decide yourself.

-M.L. (3rd Block)

Hammurabi’s Code was written by a terrible man who did not care about the justice of other people. Hammurabi’s code was made around 1792 BCE. The laws were made in Babylonia. There are exactly 282  laws. Hammurabi’s code was not fair to all people. There are three areas of law where Hammurabi’s code can be shown to be unfair to slaves, an unprotecting king, and having too harsh of punishments.

Examples of injustice can first be found in the area of family law. Hammurabi was not being fair to slaves because in laws 209 and 213 if a free woman was pregnant and a man hit her and her baby died she got ten shekels of silver, but if a slave woman is hit and her baby dies she only gets two shekels of silver. It is also unfair to slaves because in law 196 and 199 if a man knocks out the eye of a free man than his eye gets knocked out also, but if he knocks out the eye of a slave he only has to pay half his value. These examples show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust because they are treating free people better than they are treating the slaves, I believe that all people should be treated the same way.

Examples of injustice can be found in the area of family law. Hammurabi was not being a protecting king because, in the background essay it say that Hammurabi killed many people to conquer their city-state. I believe that Hammurabi killed too many people to care about protecting them. Another way Hammurabi was not being a protecting king Because, Law 195 says that if a son has struck his father his hands should be cut off. I believe that the son would have the right to hit his father if he was hitting him or his mother. These examples show that Hammurabi’s  code was unjust because he hurt innocent people who did not deserve to be hurt.

Examples of injustice can be found in the area of family law. Hammurabi is giving too harsh punishments because in law 129 it says that if  a married woman is caught with another man  they shall bind them and cast them into the water. Hammurabi is also giving too harsh punishments because in law 218 it says that if a surgeon performs an surgery and kills the patient then his hands shall be cut off. I believe that the man did no know that he was going to kill the patient. These examples show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust because the people did simple things and were punished like they were charged with first degree murder.

Indeed, there are laws in the code that may seem unjust for example, punishments too harsh, unfair to slaves, and not being a protecting king. However, the three examples presented above,punishments too harsh, unfair to slaves, and not being a protecting king, show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust.

-T.D. (3rd Block)

Hammurabi was a terrible man. His laws did not come from a god of justice. They came from a god of unfairness. Hammurabi became the king of Babylon 4,000 years ago and made the first complete laws. Was Hammurabi’s code fair? There are three areas of the law where Hammurabi Code can be shown to be unjust. These laws don’t protect the weak, have cruel and harsh punishment, and are unfair to the weak.

Examples of injustice can be first found in the area of family law. First Hammurabi was not protecting the weak because if a woman is caught cheating she shall be blinded and thrown into the water and he not protecting the weak by throwing her into the water. Second he was not  protecting the weak because if a son struck his father his hand shall be cut off [law 195]. These examples show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust because if a son struck his father his hands shall be cut off the punishment the son could have got was not cutting off his hands. Hammurabi’s code is also unjust because he didn’t protect the weak he said that he would protect the weak but he never did.

Examples of injustice can be found in the area of property law. First Hammurabi had cruel and harsh punishments for example in law 21 if a man made a hole in the wall to rob someone they shall pierce him or hang him on  the wall the robber made. What the robber could do instead of being pierced or being hung on the wall they could rebuild the wall and then be taken to jail. Second he doesn’t. These examples show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust because if a man has made a hole in the wall to rob someone he shouldn’t be hung or pierced on the wall he has made. What he could do is rebuild the wall and then go to jail.

Examples of injustice can be found in the area of personal injury law . First he was being unfair to the weak because in law 199 it says is you knock out a slave eye you have to pay half the price. These examples show that Hammurabi’s code was unjust is unjust because the slave man and the other man they should pay the same price because they should be treated equally. Everyone should be treated equally.

Indeed there are laws that are unjust for example, in law 195 if a son struck his father his hands shall be cut off. However, the three examples presented above, not protecting the weak, giving cruel and harsh punishment, and being unfair to the weak. Hammurabi never protected the weak. Hammurabi’s laws should never be written again because they were horrible.

-D.M. (3rd Block)

 

Interplanetary Travel

Our Writing Prompt:

If you could travel to any planet in our solar system (or one of the moons) where would you go? What would it be like? What should you take with you?

If I had to choose which planet I would want to visit then my planet would be planet Saturn because of its rings and because it is shrouded in mystery and no one knows much about it. What I would bring to the planet Saturn is a coat because it is so cold on the planet’s surface that it could freeze me into a solid block of ice. I would set up a space colony there and it would be like a floating city that defies gravity and since it has such strong gravity then this space colony will have to have its own gravity.

Then we could do some research on the planet to find out more about the planet and see if it does have some strange forms of life on it and if it does are they smart like us humans and if so then will they be friendly to us or will it be a war like relationship between us?

These are some of the most important questions that some astronomers have and they will search tirelessly through the cosmos until we find life on other planets and the sad part about it is only time will tell in time but let’s focus on why I would move to Saturn this is because it makes some interesting sounds in space like its rings are made of ice rock and dust and they all crash together and with the sheer size of the planet and its rings they make noise and different parts of the rings move faster than others some move around Saturn really fast or really slow.

Saturn is always the planet that is in the spotlight and it has many different kinds of moons. It has 62 moons orbiting around it one moon that is practically famous is the moon Titan.

On this moon had a very dense atmosphere and it is great for flying planes and any other thing that can fly. On the planet’s surface it has water ice and methane lakes. On this planet things are different water acts like rocks and methane acts like water and I did not mention the planets gravity it is a lot smaller than our planet and that means less gravity. Even lava on this planet is different instead of the lava being red orange or black it is blue and instead of the lava being really hot it is in fact really cold and if you were to put something like a stick or your hand in it you wouldn’t burn your hand you would freeze it there are some really bizarre things about this moon and how the laws of physics work on it and that is why I choose Saturn as my favorite planet and my vacation spot.

-J.S. (2nd Block)

 

The planet I would go to is the titan moon because it’s kinda like earth. I would bring ice skates because the lake there is frozen, and I would bring planets so that I could plant them because on titan they have soil just like earth’s. Titan moon is a great moon if I say so myself I would go there every day too see if my plants had grown or too ice skate, even though I’m not good at ice skating but I would love to visit there because I would want to ice skate with my family because they are the best to bring we would be skating all day.

-S.T. (2nd Block)

Teachers that Impacted our Lives

“Love” by William Maxwell is a short story about a teacher that touched the hearts of her students in the short amount of time that she was with them before she died of tuberculosis. Here are what some of our own students said about the teachers who impacted them the most:

My favorite teacher is Ms.T in from my elementary, she always lets her students state opinions. Ms.T will give us her phone number for she can help us if we need help with homework. She always gave us a high five and smile in the morning if we were seen near her trailer. Ms.T was there when I was going through some hard times and she would always tell me that “If you give up school how are you going to make your family happy.”  She has was always keeping us in check and she never puts a student down and if you are feeling low she can brighten up your day.

-L.H. (4th Block)

My favorite teacher is Ms. W. The reason why she is the best teacher is because she helps use in math and how when you grow up how life will be when you get to be a adult. Another reason why I like Ms. W is because she is honest about when we get math problems wrong. She is honest about what goes on in other classes and why things go on the way they do. She helps me improve my grade .That is the reasons why ms. W is my favorite teacher.

-L.B. (3rd Block)

I show compassion to ms. H, my fifth grade teacher cause she always make learning fun and making it easy to learn. She’s also funny and when I’m bored, she answers my riddles. What also made her my favorite teacher was that she took pictures of every memory of the first day of school to the last day of school. These are some reasons why she is my favorites teacher.

-A.R. (3rd Block)