Cuneiform law
Unlike modern codes, Cuneiform law provides no universal formula for general areas of law. Rather, laws typically consist of specific "if... then..." cases that are meant to act as an example or precedent. Punishments for crimes vary from code to code, but not all prescribe vengeance. Some call only for fines in certain instances, such as in the Code of Ur-Nammu, where one line reads: "If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out one-half a mina of silver." These cases are sometimes arranged in a seemingly random order, though this may be the result of an inability to properly interpret them today as they would have been at the time they were in force.
Eduba
Another list designed to teach students the basics of cuneiform writing is known as TU-TA-TI. In this list, which students wrote out sets of signs grouped according to their initial sounds. Each cuneiform sign represents a syllable (unlike the English alphabet, where each letter represents a sound), thus, for example, the sequence “tu-ta-ti” consists of three signs. The signs within each set in the list were ordered by their vowel sounds: -u followed by –a followed by –i . Each sign in the set was first written on its own line, and then all three signs were written together on a fourth line. Thus the first 8 lines of TU-TA-TI are: