Code of Hammurabi
An inspription of the Code of Hamurabi
It shows rules and punishments if those rules are defied. It focuses on theft, farming (or shepherding), property damage, women's rights, marriage rights, children's rights, slave rights, and murder, death, and injury. The laws do not accept excuses or explanations for mistakes or fault - the Code was openly displayed for all to see, so no man could plead ignorance of the law as an excuse. However, few people (mainly scribes) could read.
Hammurabi (1728 BC-1686 BC) felt he had to write the code to please his gods. Unlike many kings of the time and previous, he did not consider himself related to any god, although he did call himself "the favorite of the gods". In the upper part of the stela Hammurabi is shown in front of the throne of the Sun God Shamash.
There were 281 laws (number 13 is missing) on an 8 feet tall stela of black diorite. It was discovered in 1909 in Susa, Elam, what is now modern Khusistan. It is currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
The code is often pointed to as the first example of the legal concept that some laws are so basic as to be beyond the ability of even a king to change. By writing the laws on stone they were immutable and incapable of being changed. This concept lives on in most modern legal systems and has given rise to the term "written in stone".
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See also: Manusmriti