Hammurabi's Code: A primary datum in the conjoined professions of medicine and law

The history of our current law dates from Palaeolithic times. The first written laws were codified by the rulers of Mesopotamian kingdoms, from the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E. This history, and those of the medico-legal specialties in particular, trace their origins to Hammurabi's Code. Hammurabi (ruled 1792-1750 B.C.E.) was the sixth King of the First Dynasty of ancient Babylon, today an archaeological site in modern-day Iraq. Hammurabi's Laws (c.1760 B.C.E.), inscribed on at least one diorite stele, were set up in public places in Babylon, towards the end of the King's 43-year reign. Comprising almost 300 specific laws, with judicial punishment for transgressions, Hammurabi's Code reflects his role both as a guardian of the vulnerable and as a protector of the weak and powerless. Just as medical papyri from ancient Egypt (e.g. the Edwin Smith papyrus c.1600 B.C.E.) are regarded as the origins of western medicine, so Hammurabi is the pioneer of "medical" laws as these have evolved to their sophisticated state today.