The truth is that they are just the beginning; the crucial details begin with the plain introductory statement at the beginning of this week's parasha: 

"These are the mishpatim that you [Moses] shall set before them [the Israelites.]" (Exodus 21:1) 

The Hebrew word mishpat (plural: mishpatim) does not have just one translation. Menahem Elon, a former justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, explains that the word means several things: court judgments; a system of laws and precepts; legal rights; and fixed customs or usages. (Jewish Law, pp. 105-7) 

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a 1st Century C.E. sage, appears to understand the word mishpatim as meaning court judgments. He asks why the parasha would begins by laying out the necessity for court judgments before listing individual mitzvot (Mekhilta, Mishpatim, Nezikin 1). He answers by saying that when people are contending with each other in court, strife prevails; when a judgment is rendered, peace is achieved . To prove the point, Rabi Shimon quotes Moses's father-in-law Jethro who, after advising Moses to set up a court system that would facilitate the rendering of judgments, explains the benefit: "And all the people shall go to their place in peace." (Exodus 18:23) 

Giving a somewhat different view, Professor Zev Falk, ("Hebrew Law in Biblical Times", p.25) describes what all definitions of mishpat have in common: an action taken in favor of a weak petitioner against a strong adversary.