Law in Mesopotamia
The people of Mesopotamia believed that all laws came from the gods. The first King was Ensi. He was elected by free citizens to lead them in battle. Subsequently, the gods placed King Hammurabi as king to protect and be a guardian of the weak and powerless. King Hammurabi ruled from 1792-1750 B.C had all the Mesopotamian laws carved on stone "stele" which was then placed around various temples in his realm. He enforced laws on possession of property, slavery and many more. Hammurabi's laws were very similar to extracts from court records from Ur over 200 years ago.