He was most likely using the laws to indicate the sorts of cases in which it might be right to impose it, the sorts of conduct that were most to be discouraged in a peaceful and just society. The laws reflected past cases, telling the Babylonians how justice had already been handed out; but they also established principles for the future, using Ur-Namma’s casuistic form. They provided examples, specified limits, and established exceptions, all against a background in which the basic principles of justice were known to all.
