Why do civilizations have laws?

There are many reasons civilizations have laws. The most basic reason would be so that they can keep order in their society. If there were no laws, there would be chaos and confusion, people would kill each other, or do things that would negatively harm themselves and those around them. For example, there is a law against drinking and driving. If there wasn't, people would shamelessly drive while they were drunk. Not only would they be crashing into other cars, but they would also run over and kill innocent pedestrians. If there wasn't a law that stated that you must have a permit in order to have a gun, people could just stroll over to a shop that sells guns, buy one, and then randomly start shooting anyone that walks by. I think you get my point...laws keep order in a civilization.

In humanities class today we also talked about "The Code of Hammurabi". For those of you who don't know, Hammurabi was the ruler of Babylon, and eventually formed the Babylonian Empire. "The Code of Hammurabi" was made in order for Hammurabi to keep order in his empire, yet some may argue that his laws were too extreme and severe. I would agree with that, yet I think he has reasons for why it was so. Before I explain my opinion, I would like to give you some examples of some of his "harsh" rules. The first one would be that if a boy struck his father, the son's arm would be severed off. Another example would be, If someone fails to meet a claim for debt, and sell himself, his wife, his son, and daughter for money or give them away to forced labor: they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them, or the proprietor, and in the fourth year they shall be set free.
I think that Hammurabi made the laws so severe because he wanted to make sure that no one would commit the crimes, or make such huge mistakes. If the punishment was very brutal, people wouldn't want to face the consequences, and would think twice before committing the crimes. If the punishment for murder was a 300 ringgit fine, like speed tickets, rich people could just go around killing people. If the punishment is death, less people would be murderers!

I guess Hammurabi even had his reasons!