Code of Hammurabi The practice of divorce has its origins in ancient times. The earliest divorce legislation appears in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, the oldest set of laws in world history, which dates from approximately 1760 BCE. Under the Code a man initiating a divorce had to return her bridal dowry to his wife, including any money, land or goods, unless she had committed adultery. Not all of the Code was so enlightened. If a woman was considered to have brought her husband into ill-repute then it was within his rights to have her drowned. Ancient...