Final answer:
The Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi was an ancient monument that displayed the Babylonian laws to the public, much like modern public access to law serves today, but with the added role of reinforcing Hammurabi's divine authority as a ruler.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi is an artifact from ancient Mesopotamia that has provided scholars with crucial insight into early laws and societal structure. This stele, a pillar-like stone monument, exhibited Hammurabi's code — a list of judicial decisions. The Code of Hammurabi was displayed publicly to inform the citizens about the laws and proper behavior expected within the empire. Comparably, in the modern-day, the closest structure that serves a similar purpose is the legal systems' public access to law, often through codified statutes available in government buildings or online legal databases.
Hammurabi's stele was uniquely significant because it was believed to convey divine laws given to Hammurabi by the sun-god Shamash, confirming Hammurabi's authority as a ruler. This stele served not only as a legal document but as a public declaration of Hammurabi's position as a theocrat, with the implication that to disobey the code would be to go against the gods themselves. Today, the idea of law as a public declaration remains, with the understanding that the rule of law governs society, but it now lies in the context of democracy and universal human rights as opposed to theocratic rule.