The Timetable of World Legal History
This code has never been discovered but it is mentioned in other documents as a consolidation of existing "ordinances"
or laws laid down by Mesopotamian kings. An administrative reform document was discovered which showed that citizens were allowed
to know why certain actions were punished. It was also harsh by modern standards. Thieves and adulteresses were to be stoned to
death with stones inscribed with the name of their crime. The code confirmed that the "king was appointed by the gods".
The earliest known written legal code of which a copy has been found, albeit a copy in such poor shape that only
five articles can be deciphered. Archaeological evidence shows that it was supported by an advanced legal system which included
specialized judges, the giving of testimony under oath, the proper form of judicial decisions and the ability of the judges to
order that damages be paid to a victim by the guilty party. The Code allowed for the dismissal of corrupt men, protection for the
poor and a punishment system where the punishment is proportionate to the crime. Although it is called "Ur-Nammu's Code, historians
generally agree that it was written by his son Shugli.
A clay tablet reveals the case, in 1850BC, of the murder of a temple employee by three men. The victim's wife knew
of the murder but remained silent. Eventually, the crime came to light and the men and woman were charged with murder. Nine witnesses
testified against the men and woman and asked for the death penalty for all four. But the wife had two witnesses which told the
court that she had been abused by her husband, that she was not part of the murder and that she was even worse off after her husband's
death. The men were executed in front of the victim's house but the woman was spared.
This Babylonian king came to power in 1750 BC. Under his rule, a code of laws was developed and carved on a huge
rock column. The expression "an eye for an eye" has come to symbolize the principle behind Hammurabi's code. It contains 282 clauses
regulating a vast array of obligations, professions and rights including commerce, slavery, marriage, theft and debts. The punishments
are, by modern standards, barbaric. The punishment for theft was the cutting off of a finger or a hand. A man's lower lip was cut
off if he kissed a married woman. Defamation was punished by cutting out the tongue. If a house collapses because the builder did
not make it strong enough, killing the owner, the builder was put to death. If the owner's son died, then the builder's son was
executed.
According to the Bible, it was in approximately 1300 BC that Moses received
a list of ten laws directly from God. These laws were known as the Ten
Commandments and were transcribed as part of the Book of Moses, which
later became part of the Bible. Many of the Ten Commandments continue
in the form of modern laws such as "thou shalt not kill" (modern
society severely punishes the crime of murder), "thou shalt not commit
adultery" (modern society allows a divorce on this grounds) and "thou
shalt not steal" (modern society punishes theft as a crime). The
Bible chapter that contains the Ten Commandments (Exodus) follows the
recitation of the Commandments with a complete set of legal rules, which
are based on the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" legal philosophy
of Hammurabi's Code. Click here to read the
actual text of the Ten Commandments in the WWLIA LAW
Museum Archives section.
It has not yet been possible to pinpoint exactly when India's great Laws of Manu were written. The Laws were a
written compilation of known legal rules which had been passed on from generation to generation. It formed the basis of the caste
system in India, where people were classified by their social standing and regulated almost all facets of India's society from
contracts to criminal law. The Laws of Manu used punishment sparingly and only as a last resort and rarely sadistic. Amputation,
though, was a possible sentence. The members of the higher castes were punished more severely than those of the lower castes.
This Greek citizen was chosen to write a code of law for Athens (Greece). The penalty for many offences was death;
so severe, that the word "draconian" comes from his name and has come to mean, in the English language, an unreasonably harsh law.
His laws were the first written laws of Greece. These laws introduced the state's exclusive role in punishing persons accused of
crime, instead of relying on private justice. The citizens adored Draco and upon entering an auditorium one day to attend a reception
in his honour, the citizens of Athens showered him with their hats and cloaks as was their customary way to show appreciation.
By the time they dug him out from under the clothing, he had been smothered to death.
This King of Sparta (southern Greece) was a renowned lawgiver. His laws were never written, just transmitted orally
and were designed to support the military vocation of Sparta. It held that women had a duty to have children and that children
born with deformity were killed. Children became wards of Sparta at the age of seven to prepare them for military duty. The greatest
crime of all was retreat in battle. The Laws of Lycergus controlled virtually every aspect of the lives of citizens of Sparta.
Solon was an Athenian statesman and lawmaker. He further refined Draco's laws and is credited with "democratizing"
justice by making the courts more accessible to citizens.
A legal book printed in China which limited the ways to punish someone where they had been convicted of a serious
crime. They included tattooing, cutting off of the nose, castration, feet amputation and death.
Ten Roman men were given wide powers to write the laws that were to govern Romans. They came up with ten laws to
which two were later added. These laws are considered to form the foundation of all modern public and private law. They promoted
the organization of public prosecution of crimes and instituted a system whereby injured parties could seek compensation from their
aggressors. More importantly, they protected the lower class (plebes) from the legal abuses of the ruling class (the patricians)
especially in the enforcement of debts. From that point on, a basic principle of Roman law is that the law must be written and
justice cannot be left in the hands of judges alone to interpret. It also prohibited inter-class marriages, seriously punished
theft and gave fathers rights of life or death over his sons. The Twelve Tables also punished the misuse of magic! Written on wood
and bronze tablets, the Twelve Tables survived almost 1000 years until destroyed by invading gauls in 390.
The first Chinese imperial code of laws dealt with theft, robbery, prison, arrest and general rules. It served
as a model for the T'ang Code.
Socrates was an Athenian philosopher. Socrates was not religious and preached logic. When Athens lost the Peloponnesian
Wars, conservative Athenians looked for a scapegoat. Three citizens brought an accusation against the 70-year old popular philosopher
for allegedly corrupting the youth and for not believing in the gods. He was tried before a jury of 501 citizens that found him
guilty on a vote of 281-220. When asked to speak on the proposed sentence, Socrates mocked the jurors and they replied, 361-140,
with a sentence of death. Socrates' promoted "conscience" and his death increased interest in his life and teachings.
This Emperor of Byzantine is best remembered for his codification of Roman Law in a series of books called Corpus
Juris Civilis. His collection served as an important basis for law in contemporary society, and was inspired by logic-based Greek
legal principles. Many legal maxims still in use today are derived from Justinian's Code. His work inspired the modern concept
and, indeed, the very spelling of "justice". This Roman Code survived as the many parts of Germany until 1900 and important traces
of it can be found in the law of Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Quebec. Roman law formed the base of civil law, one of the two
main legal systems to govern modern society in the Western civilization (the other being English common law). A quote: "The things
which are common to all (and not capable of being owned) are: the air, running water, the sea and the seashores."
Written by a Japanese prince regent, the Constitution shaped morality and law in Japan, a country which had just
begun to develop and become literate. Some examples of its paternalistic clauses are: "peace and harmony should be respected because
they are very important for intergroup relations"; "There are very few evil men. If we teach them (the Buddha beliefs), they may
become obedient"; "equality, speediness and integrity should be maintained in court procedures" and "the basic philosophy in all
matters should be "against privacy" and "toward public benefit". In it, one can observe that the emphasis of "Oriental law" which
seeks to prevent disputes, whereas the "Western law" seeks to resolve disputes.
The territory which is now China was, since time immemorial, occupied by feuding kingdoms. It was not until 221
BC that the king of "Ch'in" managed to defeat the kings of the other 6 kingdoms and unite China. After 400 years of unification,
the Empire developed a Code of Law called the T'sang Code, which listed crimes and their punishment in 501 articles. The Code revised
earlier existing Chinese codes and standardized procedures. For examples, there were only two ways to perform capital punishment
on a convicted criminal: beheading or hanging.
Fingerprinting was in use by this time in China as a means of identifying people.
In medieval Italy, students of law would hire a teacher to teach them Roman Law, especially Justinian's Code
Corpus Juris. One teacher, known as Irnerius was particularly popular and students began to flock to him
from all over Europe. He taught in Bologna and the surge of students meant that he had to hire other teachers to form the world's
first law school. By 1150, his law school had over 10,000 students and contributed to the revival of the Corpus Juris and the spread
of Roman law throughout Europe!
At Runneymede, England, on June 15, 1215, King John of England signed
the Magna Carta in which he conceded a number of legal rights to his barons
and to the people. In order to finance his foreign wars, King John had
taxed abusively. His Barons threatened rebellion and coerced the King
into committing to rudimentary judicial guarantees such as the freedom
of the church, fair taxation, controls over imprisonment (habeas corpus)
and the right to all merchants to come and go, freely, except in time
of war. The Magna Carta had 61 clauses the most important of which may
have been #39: "No freeman shall be captured or imprisoned ... except
by lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land". It was
the first time a king allowed that even he could be compelled to observe
a law or the barons were allowed to "distrain and distress him in
every possible way", just short of a legal right to rebellion. Once
sworn to the document, letters were sent to all sheriffs ordering them
to read the Charter aloud in public. It has been called the "blueprint
of English common law" and was even recently pleaded in a English
case. Click here to read the entire
text of the Magna Carta in the LAW
Museum Archives.
1306: The Trial of Scotsman William Wallace
Click here to read the full text of "The
Trial of Scotsman William Wallace".
1535: The Trial of Sir Thomas More
Click here to read the full text of "The
Trial of Sir Thomas More".
This bill was a precursor to the American Bill of Rights, and set out
strict limits on the Royal Family's legal prerogatives such as a prohibition
against arbitrary suspension of Parliament's laws. More importantly, it
limited the right to raise money through taxation to Parliament. Click
here to read the article (including the full text) on "The
1689 Bill of Rights".
In 1692, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, USA, a group of young women accused several other women of practising
withcraft or worhip of the Devil. The accusations turned into a judicial frenzy and over 300 people were acused of witchcraft,
of which 20 were executed including a priest. The extremity of the penalty turned many against the prosecution of withcraft. There
would be no more witchcraft trials in New England.
This infamous legislation regulated the use of slaves and became the model for slavery in other states, until repealed
as an effect of the American Civil War. "All Negroes, Indians ... and all their offspring ... shall be and are hereby declared
to be and remain forever hereafter slaves; and shall be deemed ... to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners."
This British barrister set about writing down the entire English law in a 4-volume set, in easy-to-read English,
thus making the law suddenly accessible to the common man. His research also made the book a must-read for lawyers and law students
alike. It was re-published many times. Through it, the English law was readily imported to the British colonies and in fact it
is said that Blackstone's Commentaries was the law in the American colonies for the first century of American independence. The
Commentaries also allows us to witness the exact state of British law at that time on such things as the total legal submission
of a wife to her husband, as was then considered natural law.
"We the people," starts the Declaration of Independence proclaimed
on July 4, 1776. The Declaration was a statement to the effect that "all
political connection between (the United Colonies) and the State of Great
Britain is and ought to be dissolved" and that a new state, the United
States, was started. It remains a remarkable legal document in that it
is the first time a government has rebuked the medieval theory that certain
people possessed by right the power to rule others. "All men are
created equal,"rings the declaration, and have "unalienable
rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving
their powers from the consent of the governed." (Click
here to read the Declaration of Independence.)
The 7 articles of the American Constitution were signed in Philadelphia in 1787 and formed the basis of the first
republican government in the world. The Constitution defined the institutions of government and the powers of each institution,
carefully carving out the duties of the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The Constitution also declared that it was
paramount to any other law, whether federal or state, and it would override any other inconsistent law. The American Constitution
served as a model for the constitutions of many nations upon attaining independence or becoming democracies.
Sydney was the site of the first British settlement on Australia, which had been designated as a prime location
as a British penal colony. For fifty years, Britain sent its worst men, who were quickly chained into work gangs and put to building
roads and bridges. By 1821, there were 30,000 British settlers in the British commonwealth, of which 75% were convicts.
With the ink barely dry on the Constitution (signed only four years earlier), American statesmen amended their
supreme law by declaring the rights of free speech, freedom of the press and of religion, a right to trial by one's peers (jury),
and protection against "cruel and unusual punishment" or unreasonable searches or seizures. The ten amendments of Bill of Rights
became known as the First to Tenth Amendment(s) respectively. The Bill of Rights influenced many modern charters or bills of rights
around the world.
In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the supremacy of the Constitution and stated unequivocally that it had the
power to strike down actions taken by American federal or state legislative bodies which, in its opinion, offended the Constitution.
This has come to be known as the power of "judicial review". This case is considered by the legal profession to be the most important
milestone in the history of American law since the Constitution.
Under the government of Napoleon, France adopted a comprehensive code of law in 1804 which enshrined many of the
victories obtained during the Revolution such as individual liberty, equality before the law and the lay character of the state.
The Code also incorporated most parts of Roman law. The Code became a model for civil law systems such as Quebec, California and
Louisiana. Perhaps the most important aspect of the Code was the fact that the law was written (as opposed to judge-made) and in
a non-technical style and thus more accessible to the public. The Code regulated much of private law matters such as property,
wills, contracts, liability and obligations. Many of its parts are traceable to Roman law. The French Code inspired similar civil
codes in the Canadian Province of Quebec (1865), Germany (1900) and Switzerland (1907)
This agreement was designed to provide for minimal human rights in time of war such as the protection of military
medical personnel and for the humane treatment of the wounded. It was later supplemented by a Prisoner of War Convention. Although
frequently ignored in military operations, this documents remains an important legal document which, for the first time ever, sets
out rudimentary standards of human decency during war.
By this change to the American Constitution, slavery was abolished in the USA.
A special panel of eight judges convened in this German town to try Nazi officers for crimes against peace, crimes
against humanity and war crimes committed during World War II. The judges came from the USA, Great Britain, France and the Soviet
Union. Twenty-four Nazis were tried and twelve received death penalties (although one defendant, Hermann Göring, committed suicide
hours before his execution). This trial was important as it showed that even in times of war, basic moral standards apply in spite
of military law principles which oblige a subordinate officer to obey orders. "The true test," wrote the Tribunal, "is not the
existence of the (superior) order but whether moral choice (in executing it) was in fact possible". The crimes included torture,
deportation, persecution and mass extermination.
The GATT was developed by the United Nations and has served as a catalyst for the lifting of legal barriers against
the free movement of goods, services and people. Now under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, the implementation of
GATT by almost all countries is causing commercial law interplay between differing legal systems and, in most cases, providing
impetus for those legal systems to move towards similarity and compatibility. The GATT also shows a new emphasis of the development
of law in the world: from military and basic rights to trade and economic matters.
