The Code of Hammurabi

Every civilization needs laws and regulations but this code seems like a bit too much. Some of the penalties are too cruel. It talks about burning people, executing people, throwing people into rivers and dismembering them. I can understand that if you rob someone, you should be punished but I feel that being "put to death" is going overboard. I believe that some of Hammurabi's rules were fair. Like number 197 which is "if he breaks another man's bone, they shall break his bone." If you do something to someone, you should get the same thing done to you. But, some other ones I disagree with. Particularly number 117 which is "if a man be in debt and sells his wife, son, or daughter, or bind them over to service, for three years they shall work in the house of their purchaser or master, in the fourth year they shall be given their freedom." It's horrible to sell a person. No matter what your debt is. It's their own fault that they got into debt in the first place, and it's their job to get out of it. Although, I'm guessing that under his rule, the people didn't commit as many crimes because they knew they would get executed or even have something worse happen to them. I don't necessarily believe that most of these rules are too harsh to be fair. If you do something wrong, you have to pay the price. And that price, more often than not, is death.