One of the oldest written law codes, predating the Torah by centuries, with striking parallels.
Documented
Older law, shared tradition
Hammurabi's code stands on a two-meter stele in the Louvre: 282 laws, including talionic "eye for an eye" justice, building codes, wages, and false-accusation penalties. Even older codes exist, Ur-Nammu around 2100 BC. The Torah's legal parallels fit a shared ancient Near Eastern legal culture, as do its differences.
Assessment: Documented. Written law is far older than the Bible, and the Bible emerged inside that legal world.
Stories
Direct copying
A popular claim says the Ten Commandments were copied from the Egyptian Book of the Dead's 42 Negative Confessions, or from Hammurabi directly.
Assessment: Overstated. The Egyptian confessions are ritual denials, not law, and thematic overlap is what you expect from neighboring moral cultures. Influence yes; photocopy no.
Interesting claims
Law as fallen knowledge
Esoteric readings suggest law codes descended from antediluvian divine instruction, the tablets merely the latest copies of an original revelation.
Assessment: Untestable. The documentary trail shows law evolving with commerce and cities, not descending from a lost source.
Sources and further reading
Code of Hammurabi, diorite stele, c. 1754 BCE (Louvre Sb 8)
Exodus 20-23, the Covenant Code
Worth asking
If justice has an author, who wrote it first, and does the answer change what justice is?