<P> The principle is found in Babylonian Law . If it is surmised that in societies not bound by the rule of law, if a person was hurt, then the injured person (or their relative) would take vengeful retribution on the person who caused the injury . The retribution might be worse than the crime, perhaps even death . Babylonian law put a limit on such actions, restricting the retribution to be no worse than the crime, as long as victim and offender occupied the same status in society . As with blasphemy or lèse - majesté (crimes against a god or a monarch), crimes against one's social betters were punished more severely . </P> <P> Roman law moved toward monetary compensation as a substitute for vengeance . In cases of assault, fixed penalties were set for various injuries, although talio was still permitted if one person broke another's limb . </P> <P> First referenced in the Code of Hammurabi, (which predates the Hebrew bible .) In the Hebrew Law, the "eye for eye" was to restrict compensation to the value of the loss . Thus, it might be better read' only one eye for one eye' . The biblical phrase "an eye for an eye" in Exodus and Leviticus (עין תחת עין ‬, ayin tachat ayin) literally means' an eye in place of an eye' while a slightly different phrase (עַיִן בְּעַיִן שֵׁן בְּשֵׁן, literally "eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth") is used in another passage (in Deuteronomy) of the Hebrew Bible, specifically, in the first of its three subdivisions, the Torah . For example, a passage in Leviticus states, "And a man who injures his countryman--as he has done, so it shall be done to him (namely,) fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth . Just as he has injured a person, so it shall be done to him ." (Lev. 24: 19--21) </P> <P> Isaac Kalimi explains that the "lex talionis was humanized by the Rabbis who interpreted "an eye for an eye" to mean reasonable pecuniary compensation . As in the case of the Babylonian' lex talionis', ethical Judaism and humane Jewish jurisprudence replaces the peshat (literal meaning) of the written Torah . Pasachoff and Littman point to the reinterpretation of the lex talionis as an example of the ability of Pharisaic Judaism to "adapt to changing social and intellectual ideas ." </P>

Where does the eye for an eye come from