Moreover, when once a judgment had been given and had been duly recorded
it was irrevocable, and if any judge attempted to alter such a decision
he was severely punished. For not only was he expelled from his
judgment-seat, and debarred from exercising judicial functions in the
future, but, if his judgment had involved the infliction of a penalty,
he was obliged to pay twelve times the amount to the man he had
condemned. Such an enactment must have occasionally given rise to
hardship or injustice, but at least it must have had the effect
of imbuing the judges with a sense of their responsibility and of
instilling a respect for their decisions in the minds of the people. A
further check upon injustice was provided by the custom of the elders of
the city, who sat with the judge and assisted him in the carrying out
of his duties; and it was always open to a man, if he believed that he
could not get justice enforced, to make an appeal to the king. It is not
our present purpose to give a technical discussion of the legal contents
of the code, but rather to examine it with the object of ascertaining
what light it throws upon ancient Babylonian life and customs, and the
conditions under which the people lived.
The code gives a good deal of information with regard to the family life
of the Babylonians, and, above all, proves the sanctity with which the
marriage-tie was invested.
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