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Egyptian, Babylonian, and American Law comparison

By Joshua Guthrie 11/8/2 1!

"n the ancient and the modern world there must be laws en#orced by a go$ernment to %eep the peace o# the society or ci$ili&ation' (our world$iew, current understanding o# the world, and social standards #rame the way laws o# that area and era are #ormed' "n the ancient world two ma)or countries at the time, Egypt and Babylonia, had their own set o# laws' *ome o# their standards align with our modern American law and others don+t' A lot o# their customs are wrong by our standards but acceptable at the time to theirs' "n Egypt the ruling body was the ,haraoh' -uch li%e modern day dictatorships and the opposite o# the .nited *tates /democracy0, he ruled with the absolute power o# a god' "# he said it, you did it' 1owe$er their women were probably the most pri$ileged in the ancient world' 2hey could own property, di$orce, marry who they wanted, etc' 3hen someone committed a crime in Egypt most sentences were probably not long prison time li%e in the .*, because o# the lac% o# #acilities' 1owe$er other punishments li%e hard labor or #logging would ha$e been pre#erred' Babylonian laws on the other hand were more an eye #or an eye %ind o# treatment' Although the most common punishment was #ines, i# you did something that hurt someone else or caused harm, then you were punished se$erely through mutilation, branding things li%e that' 2he women in their society were not $ery pri$ileged and loo%ed down on unli%e today+s $iew o# women being e4ual to men' 5athers had complete say in what their daughters did, they could be sold as sla$es, gi$en as wi$es, concubines or de$oted to the gods' American laws are somewhat di##erent than ancient laws' "n our culture women are #ree to do what they want with their li$es' 6ote, -arry who they want, di$orce, own property, they are $ery #ree much li%e Egyptian women' "n America, although #ines are the most common punishment in America, we do put people in prison #or the higher le$el crimes classi#ied as -isdemeanors or 5elonies' "n our culture torture or mutilation as punishment would be unheard o# put down immediately' Laws in Ancient Egypt, Babylonia and modern America we can see ha$e a lot o# similarities and things that we agree on' But we also ha$e )ust as many that they didn+t do the same way as us and didn+t agree on' 2opics li%e the roles o# women and more cruel punishments li%e mutilation $s less cruel li%e long prison sentences' Just goes to show how the culture o# the era determines how people act and go$ern their people'

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