As you learned earlier in this module, civilization evolved after the discovery of agriculture. One of the best indications that a settlement had become "civilized" was the group's use of a legal code--a set of laws that are supposed to govern the behavior of community members.
Legal codes alone were not enough to prevent vengeance, or acts of revenge, so the most successful civilizations also developed penal systems to punish lawbreakers in a way that satisfied society. These systems described the compensation, or fee, that people who broke the law had to pay to those they had harmed.
This lesson will provide a brief overview of how the earliest legal systems emerged, and help you understand how law and government evolved together over time.
Human societies have always had rules. To live together, we must have laws that tell us which behaviors are acceptable and which aren’t. But a law is only as strong as the punishment you get for breaking it. The most basic punishment is vengeance: Violent action against the lawbreaker that satisfies the need for revenge. Over time, more complex societies substituted compensation for vengeance: If a man kills another man, for instance, the murderer must give the victim’s family 50 valuable cattle. Hammurabi, the king of ancient Babylon, created a code of law that dictated a reasonable compensation for every crime. The ancient Israelites followed a law they believed came directly from God. Every society had to decide upon its laws regarding crime and punishment.
Question
How does compensatory justice help prevent the bloodbaths that occur when people seek justice through pure vengeance?
