Mesopotamia: A history of water and law

Abstract

Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, is home to the first civilizations in the Middle East. Dependent on the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Mesopotamian civilizations, including those led by Hammurabi, Dadusha, Nebuchadnezzar, developed a system of communal canals and irrigation works and a legal framework to govern these works. For all their legal developments Mesopotamians left a dearth of written water law. For example, of Hammurabi's 282 laws only four deal with water. However these laws established a regime for liability, they also aimed at restoring the injured party to his former position. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.