I was reading this post by tomndebb from about three years back, and I was wondering if there was more information to be had about this part of it:
A sign of increasing civilization… Okay, but I’m wanting to know a little more. How did this cultural/civilizational development work, exactly? Are there any history books or other resources with more info about this? Or is this advancement in the ideas of law and punishment hidden from modern historical research?
Well, while it existed pre-Exodus and developed separatedly in many separate locations, this law is basically the same as the current notion that “punishment must fit the crime”. A read of pre-Talion Bible stories comes up with tales like killing a whole village to punish a rape; now, I’m definitely no advocate of rape, but I doubt the babies that got put to the knife had been cheering the rapist during the deed.
It worked by putting an upper limit on what retaliatory actions could be enacted. People tend to understand it as “if someone breaks your leg, you must break one of his”; instead, it’s more akin to “if someone breaks your leg, the most you’re allowed to do is break one of his”. For other information, I hope our more scholarly-oriented Dopers will be able to come up with some books, although you might want to start by going to your local library and asking about “Law History”.
Bump.
If anyone can recommend a specific book to start on this one, I’d appreciate it.
Sorry. My knowledge is based on various courses in anthropology, scripture, and law that I took around forty years ago and I do not have a specific source for my information.
Sites that provide information include http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/LEXTAL.HTM and Wikipedia with a decent overview: Eye for an eye - Wikipedia
In scripture courses, the contrast is often made between the “eye for an eye” that Moses promulgated and the earlier stories of Cain, (in which someone injuring him would suffer seven times the injury as punishment), and Lamech, who declared the intention to extract seventy-seven times the punishment.