Lex Talionis

The law of retaliation, one of the oldest existing laws, is in fair reciprocity of crime and punishment. This law is often symbolized by the phrase eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

It characterizes an intermediate state of the criminal justice system between the feuding and the use of a judge as neutral and disinterested.

Etymology

The word originates talis retaliation, which in Latin means "like" or "same."

Origin

The stele of the Code of Hammurabi Code which is engraved with the same name

The first signs of retaliation are found in the Code of Hammurabi , in 1730 before Jesus Christ , the kingdom of Babylon. This law allows to prevent the people do take justice themselves and introduced the beginnings of order in society as regards the treatment of crimes. The Code of Hammurabi is in the form of a list of over two hundred precedents and many of them are full of fair reciprocity of crime and punishment. As in the case law 229 and 231 where if a house builder sees it killed during a collapse, respectively, the owner's son or the slave owner, c is the manufacturer who should be sentenced to death in the first case, the son of the builder in the second and in the latter case, the price of the slave must be paid to the owner .

We find the reference to eye for eye, tooth for a tooth in two precedents of the Code of Hammurabi, the 196 and 200 .

We read in Aeschylus (Libation Bearers, 313): "That a murderer is punished blow of a sudden murderer guilty to punishment." Plato (Laws X, 872), about patricide, uses the argument from authority and antiquity, and he mixes all human justice that Providence and the law of reincarnation of souls:

"Here is the precise statement of doctrine which dates back to the priests of antiquity. Justice, he taught us, always alert vengeful blood family, has recourse to the law which we spoke earlier, and it is said, established the need for which has committed any package like this, in turn suffer the same package he has committed: Has it destroyed his father? day will come when so- Similarly we should be resigned to suffer a similar fate by force from his children, is it her mother that was killed? it is inevitable that revives itself by participating in the female form and, done, we leave life time later at the hands of those who were brought into the world, was that the taint that has infected the blood common to each other, there no other purification ... "

He may hear the law of retaliation against a combat escalation of violence in individual limiting it to the level of violence experienced. The contemporary notion of self-defense carry the same spirit by requiring that any response is proportionate to the attack.

Interpretation remains a blur in that it is nowhere stated clearly that it represents only the maximum allowed response. Some interpretations ^Today

The modern Western law no longer applies the law of criminal retaliation. It is regarded as being more of a vengeance as the private justice. In principle, the sentences are used today to punish the guilty , but they are coupled with a desire to prepare the condemned his reintegration into society after a period of rehabilitation. Meanwhile, in civil matters, the concept of damages is the financial compensation to which entitled the person who has suffered pecuniary damage and / or harm to his property (material damage).

Retaliation and punishment

The Retaliation is used as an argument by supporters of the death penalty , sharing the idea of Joseph de Maistre , who considers a person who killed deserves the death penalty only fair. The opposite view has been widely advocated by Beccaria and Victor Hugo ("What the law says you shall not kill! How does she say? By killing!").

Law of retaliation and self defense

The modern concept of self-defense , which must be proportionate to the attack, may appear to be a legacy of the lex talionis in its limited sense. Self-defense is to protect yourself, protect others, or property of a third attack. However, in the context of self-defense, there is no question of a response consisting of a subsequent revenge permitted and regulated by the Act (as in the framework of the law of retaliation), but a preventive measure to protect the person, others or property to an unreasonable or illegal.

French Penal Code, Article 122-5:

"He is not criminally liable who, before an unjustified attack itself or others, performs at the same time, an act ordered by the necessity of self-defense of herself or others, except if there is a disproportion between the means of defense staff and the gravity of the infringement. is not criminally liable who, to stop the execution of a crime or a crime against property, he performs an act defense, other than murder, when the act is strictly necessary for the purpose since the means used are proportionate to the seriousness of the offense. "

Retaliation and Game Theory

There is no optimal strategy in the problem of prisoner's dilemma iterated. However many experiments lead to the conclusion that it does not seem to be any strategy that is consistently better than that, called Tit for Tat , based on the law of retaliation, and if it is rarely the best, she consistently ranked among the best. Most interactions in a society can be reduced to a non-zero sum game , it is possible that the law of retaliation is simply following a process of natural selection.

In religion

In Judaism

In the Torah

The phrase "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" back three times in the Pentateuch :

"But if misfortune comes, you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. "

- Exodus 21.23-25

"If a man knocks on kill a human being, whatever it will be put to death. If it hits to kill an animal, it will replace it - life for life. If a man causes a weakness in a countryman, he will do what he did: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, it will cause in him the same infirmity that resulted in the other. That strikes an animal has to be repaid; hitting a man is killed. You have one law: the same for the migrant and the native. "

- Leviticus , from 24.17 to 22

"Your eye shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. "

- Deuteronomy , 19.21

What adds:

"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. "

- Genesis IX: 6

But unlike the legal codes in effect at that time in the Middle East, including the Code of Hammurabi, the Torah clearly states that:

"Fathers shall not be put to death for the son and the son will not be put to death for the fathers: each will be put to death for his own sin. "

- Deuteronomy , 24.16

Various passages in the Bible also advocates a morality of tolerance, reconciliation is possible when:

"You do not avenge, nor bear no grudge, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the LORD. "

- Leviticus , 19.18

"Do not say: Because he treated me, I treat, I give to each according to his works. "

- Proverbs , 24.29

In the Talmud

This rule specifies the need for equity in lieu of punishment. The Talmud in order Nzikin, tractate Bava Kama, argues the idea that Exodus 21 verses, 23-25, Leviticus and Deuteronomy 24.17-22, 19,21 above can not be taken literally since it is impossible to determine whether, for example, the consequences of the loss of an eye by a person be equal to the consequences of the loss of one eye to another.

The general principle adopted by the Jewish Law for physical damage received is the payment of compensation for:

• Nezek, the value of the permanent physical disability as measured by the shortfall professional;
• Shevet, loss of income during the recovery from the injury;
• Tzaar, the price of pain;
• Ripouy, the cost of medical expenses;
• Boshet, shame imposed.

The exact value of such compensation must be judged case by case basis by a rabbinical court.

Rabbinic Judaism holds so does the law of retaliation that the idea of fair compensation, except for capital crimes under the principle that human life is priceless and can not be compensated financially.

In Christianity

Jesus in the New Testament takes up this attitude and to oppose recommends:

"You have heard that it hath been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth '. And I tell you not to resist evil. On the contrary, if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Who wants to lead you to the judge to take your coat, give your coat also. If someone forces you to go miles, doing two thousand with him. Who asks you, give; who wants to borrow, not turning back. "

- Matthew 5.38-4

In Islam

The Quran says:

"O you who believe! You have been prescribed the law of retaliation in cases of murder: the freeman for freeman, slave for slave, woman for woman. But he who is forgiven by his brother in any way must cope with a suitable application and must pay damages in good grace. This is an alleviation from your Lord and mercy. So whoever transgresses after that, will have a painful punishment. "

- Sura II, verse 178

"It is in retaliation you have the preservation of life, O men of understanding, so you achieve piety. "

- Sura II, verse 179

"We have sent down the Torah wherein was guidance and light. By its standard the prophets who submitted themselves to Allah, and the rabbis and the doctors judged the Jews. Because they were awarded custody of the Book of Allah, and they were witnesses. Therefore fear not men, but fear Me. And sell not My Signs for a miserable price. And those who do not judge by what Allah hath revealed, such are the disbelievers. "

"And We ordained therein for them:" Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth. Injuries fall under the law of retaliation. Afterwards, anyone who renounces love, it earned him an expiation. And those who do not judge by what Allah revealed, those are the unjust. "

- Sura V, verse 44-45

"Soul to soul, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, the retaliation for wounds "

- Sura V, verse 45

Television and Film

Stargate SG1 Season 10, Episode 17: The Law of Retaliation

NCIS, Season 4, Episode 13: The Law of Retaliation

JAG Season 4, Episode 15: The Law of Retaliation

Movies: The Seven Days of retaliation , Quebec film (ADAP cinematic novel of the same title of Patrick Senecal )

References

• Law portal

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