Page 38 - Design of Reinforced Masonry Structures

INTRODUCTION 1.7

FIGURE 1.2 Code of Hammurabi (circa 1780–1727 B.C.). The six laws addressing the construction indus-
try, covering the prices of construction and contractor liability, read (translation) [1.24]: If a builder build a
house for some one and complete it, he shall give him a fee two shekels for each sar of surface. If a builder
build a house for some one and does not construct it properly, and the house which be built fall in and kill
its owner, then that builder shall be put to death. If it kill the son of the owner, the son of that builder shall
be put to death. If it kill a slave of the owner, then he shall pay slave for slave to the owner of the house. If it
ruin goods, he shall make compensation for all that has been ruined, and in as much as he did not construct
this house properly this house which he built and it fell, he shall re-erect the house from his own means. If a
builder build a house for some one, even though he has not yet completed it, if then walls seem toppling, the
builder must make the wall solid from his own means.

particulars and procedures for design work, often for one project at hand; they are complied
by the interested group or individuals.
Building codes are legal documents that comprise systematic collections of rules and

regulations; many of which are adopted from model building codes. They advance mini-
mum requirements that will ensure adequate levels of public safety under most conditions.
Model codes are consensus documents that are written in a language that can be adopted
by governmental agencies (city, county, and state) as legal documents. Codes contain state-
ments such as “shall be” or “may be.” The language in the first statement conveys that the
specified requirement is mandatory; by contrast, the latter statement conveys that the speci-
fied requirement is discretionary.
In the United States, up until the year 2000, with the exception of some large cities and
several states, there were three model codes used.
1. Uniform Building Code (UBC) [1.25]: It was published by the International
Conference of Building Officials (ICBO), Whittier, California, and widely used in