Urukagina introduced the reform edict known as the Code of Urukagina in ancient Mesopotamia.
Urukagina ruled the Sumerian city-state of Lagash in the twenty-fourth century BCE. His surviving inscriptions describe measures intended to restrain abuses by officials, protect vulnerable people, and restore proper temple and social practices. Modern historians often call the text a “code,” but it is better understood as a royal reform proclamation than as a complete legal code in the later sense.
The inscriptions are among the earliest known written records describing social reforms. They mention matters such as debt, taxation, and the treatment of widows and orphans, although the exact interpretation of several passages remains debated.
Urukagina later lost power to Lugalzagesi of Umma. His reforms must not be confused with the much later laws of Ur-Nammu or Hammurabi, which are preserved in different textual traditions.