November 06, 2006

Not that I'm advocating any of this, but still interesting. From a web translation of the Code of Hammurabi:

3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.

[...]

114. If a man have no claim on another for corn and money, and try to demand it by force, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver in every case.

Note also the damages caps.

The plaintiffs' bar can find things they like, too, such as early versions of dramshop and med-mal laws:

109. If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.

[...]

218. If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off.