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comparison. It is a significant fact that for illustrations of the talio primitive folk afford the best material; for parallels in family life semicivilized people must be drawn upon ; while for similarities in industrial activity advanced nations must be studied. The code of Hammurabi carries several legal systems which reflect varying stages of advance in the different elements of a single civilization. 1
It remains to take a broad survey of the code in order to gather from its details its general drift and purpose. Every society gradually develops a system of control by which almost unconsciously it seeks to mold its members, securing their loy- alty, spurring them to useful effort, and checking their antisocial tendencies. In this great task law is only a single factor, and that a subordinate one. Religion, caste, custom, personal pres- tige, group ideals enforced by public opinion, are the potent forces by which the individual is cozened into conformity. The code contains a few indirect references to such influences. Thus the wife upon whose virtue mere suspicion, unsupported by facts, has been cast (132) must throw herself into the water, i. e., appeal to the ordeal to escape the pressure of public opinion. It is a clear case of Caesar's wife. It needs no stretch of the imagination to picture the enforcement in ancient Babylon of a vast tradition of convention and morality not even hinted at in the code. This, nevertheless, discloses certain underlying ten- dencies and principles of Hammurabi's empire.
The priest-king's supremacy and authority, so essential to the consolidation and perpetuation of the nation, were enforced at all points. If his officers were neglectful or sent substitutes on service, the king's wrath fell heavily upon the faithless. On the other hand, soldiers and magistrates were guaranteed privileges : their lands could not be taken away if they were absent ; they enjoyed substantial immunities. The crown lands were inalien- able. The king assumed the decision of all suits and the inflic- tion of all penalties, 2 thus removing from the relations of citizens
1 KOHLER, " Die Quellen des Strafrechts und Hammurabi," University Record (Chicago), March, 1904, pp. 372, 373.
a In only two cases does the code seem to authorize lynch law, viz., for burglary (21). and for stealing from a burning house (25).
