lex talionis
E212545
Lex talionis is the ancient legal principle of retributive justice summarized as “an eye for an eye,” prescribing punishments equivalent to the harm caused.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| lex talionis canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1900941 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: lex talionis Context triple: [Code of Hammurabi, legalPrinciple, lex talionis]
-
A.
Revenge
Revenge was an English galleon of the Elizabethan navy, famed for its heroic last stand against a vastly superior Spanish fleet in 1591 under Sir Richard Grenville.
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B.
Revenge
Revenge is an American television drama series centered on a young woman who infiltrates an affluent Hamptons community to exact vengeance on those who destroyed her family.
-
C.
Of Revenge
"Of Revenge" is a philosophical essay by Francis Bacon that explores the nature, motives, and moral implications of seeking personal vengeance.
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D.
La Justice
La Justice is a philosophical poem by French writer and Nobel laureate Sully Prudhomme that explores themes of law, morality, and the nature of justice.
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E.
Lancing
Lancing is a large coastal village and civil parish on the English Channel in West Sussex, England.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: lex talionis Target entity description: Lex talionis is the ancient legal principle of retributive justice summarized as “an eye for an eye,” prescribing punishments equivalent to the harm caused.
-
A.
Revenge
Revenge was an English galleon of the Elizabethan navy, famed for its heroic last stand against a vastly superior Spanish fleet in 1591 under Sir Richard Grenville.
-
B.
Revenge
Revenge is an American television drama series centered on a young woman who infiltrates an affluent Hamptons community to exact vengeance on those who destroyed her family.
-
C.
Of Revenge
"Of Revenge" is a philosophical essay by Francis Bacon that explores the nature, motives, and moral implications of seeking personal vengeance.
-
D.
La Justice
La Justice is a philosophical poem by French writer and Nobel laureate Sully Prudhomme that explores themes of law, morality, and the nature of justice.
-
E.
Lancing
Lancing is a large coastal village and civil parish on the English Channel in West Sussex, England.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
doctrine in criminal law
ⓘ
legal principle ⓘ principle of retributive justice ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
personal harm
ⓘ
physical injury ⓘ property damage ⓘ |
| hasAlternativeName |
law of retaliation
ⓘ
principle of retaliation ⓘ |
| hasBiblicalFormula | eye for eye, tooth for tooth ⓘ |
| hasCoreFormula |
a tooth for a tooth
ⓘ
an eye for an eye ⓘ |
| hasDomain |
criminal law
ⓘ
penology ⓘ |
| hasHistoricalFunction |
to cap retaliation at equivalence
ⓘ
to replace blood feuds with formal legal penalties ⓘ |
| hasInterpretation |
literal physical retaliation
ⓘ
monetary or compensatory equivalents ⓘ |
| hasLatinName | lex talionis ⓘ |
| hasLiteralMeaning | law of retaliation ⓘ |
| hasNormativeClaim |
no greater harm should be inflicted than was suffered
ⓘ
the punishment should fit the crime ⓘ |
| hasPurpose |
to deter private vengeance
ⓘ
to ensure proportional justice ⓘ to limit excessive retaliation ⓘ to standardize punishments ⓘ |
| hasShortDefinition | a legal principle prescribing punishment equivalent to the harm caused ⓘ |
| influenced | ancient criminal law systems ⓘ |
| isAssociatedWith |
Hebrew Bible legal traditions
ⓘ
Roman law ⓘ
surface form:
Roman law traditions
ancient Mesopotamian law ⓘ ancient Near Eastern law ⓘ |
| isContrastedWith |
rehabilitative justice
ⓘ
restorative justice ⓘ |
| isCriticizedFor |
failing to emphasize rehabilitation
ⓘ
potential harshness of punishments ⓘ |
| isDebatedIn |
legal philosophy
ⓘ
moral philosophy ⓘ theology ⓘ |
| isDefendedFor |
clarity of proportional standards
ⓘ
deterrent effect ⓘ |
| isExpressedIn |
Book of Deuteronomy
ⓘ
Book of Exodus ⓘ Book of Leviticus ⓘ Code of Hammurabi ⓘ Roman legal writings ⓘ |
| isRelatedToConcept |
just deserts theory
ⓘ
proportionality in punishment ⓘ |
| isTypeOf | retributive justice ⓘ |
| prescribes |
equivalence between offense and penalty
ⓘ
proportional punishment ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: lex talionis Description of subject: Lex talionis is the ancient legal principle of retributive justice summarized as “an eye for an eye,” prescribing punishments equivalent to the harm caused.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.