Foundations of Law timeline | Timetoast Timelines

1792 BCE

Hammurabi's Code Two

The reason we called Hammurabi's Code the modern model of laws is because of two reasons. One is prescribed punishments, so if you do X, Y will be your punishment for doing that. Two is there is a codified set of laws and procedures, so it is put into writing.
Period: 1750 BCE to 1792 BCE

Hammurabi's Code

This is the earliest known set of laws and was created somewhere in 1750-1792 B.C by the Babylonian king Hammurabi. There was around 300 different laws on a multitude of different crimes ranging from murder, to theft. It is considered to be the modern model of laws. Crimes are punished very harshly, over 30 crimes are punished by death. It was agreed by the general public for everyone to follow. The main concept of this law system is "an eye for an eye".
527

Justinian Code

Justinian was a ruler who had a strong army and was conquering many places to try to make the Byzantine Empire as great as the Roman empire. While doing this, he realized the old Roman laws were terrible and decided to make his own. He had 10 men review all Roman law and make it simpler. They created the Justinian code with 4000+ laws. The code was 4 different parts, 1 Law Code, 2 The Digest, 3 The Institutes, 4 The Novellae (new laws). The main idea from this law code is equality.
1066

Common Law

Common law was a team of judges that would settle cases around the country. They relied on case law which is previous laws and decisions (precedent). Common law was also implemented to NA and SA when colonization occurred. Not all of the precedent is good, because as time went on so did cultural views which changed the laws. With common law everyone could look back at previous cases and predict what could happen at trial. This is still used today in many places such as here in Canada.
1066

Common Law Two

The main idea of Common Law is that everyone deserves a trial, and access to information from old cases to predict the outcome. Today we can access previous cases online as well as all the laws to predict outcomes in cases in the present, but without common law this might not have been the case today.
1190

Great Laws of Peace

The Great Laws of Peace were laws set between the First Nations and European settlers. These laws were created through several steps, mutual curiosity, trade, friendship, intermarriage, bonds, military and alliances. These laws were created through treaties and wampum belts. The main reason these were created was to regulate and formalize relations. These treaties were very unfair due to the First Nations not understand some of the things they were signing due to the language barrier.
1190

Great Laws of Peace Two

Before the Great Laws of Peace were created between settlers and First Nations, they were created between different First Nations colonies. There were original 5 different colonies, the Mohawks, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Senera. They were originally oral laws and not written down. Without the Great Laws of Peace, our provinces and colonies would have probably not combined and our country wouldn't be as we know it today.
1215

Magna Carta and Rule of Law

The Magna Carta introduced the Rule of Law to England in 1215, its main purpose was to limit the kings power. The Magna Carta also stated everyone has to follow the same laws, no exceptions. It also introduced the Habeas Corpus which was the idea of having a trial for a crime allegedly committed. Also in 1215 the first British Parliament was created to limit the kings power and create Statutes which are written laws. With these in place the king no longer could abuse his power with unfair rules.
1215

Magna Carta and Rule of Law Two

With these rules being created the king can no longer just decide unreasonable and bad punishments for small crimes, such as the death penalty for stealing. Today these rules are now used in our courtrooms so judges and jury can't make unreasonable punishments, as well as that no outside leader can choose the outcome of the trial unfairly.
Mar 21, 1804

Napoleanic Code

The Napoleanic Code was created by French leader Napoléon Bonaparte in 1804 in France. The Napoleanic code is the Civil Code of the French and is still used in some countries today. An example of a law from this code is Men had authority over their family and deprived women of their individual rights. The code influenced many European countries and a couple of Latin American countries civil rights laws.
Mar 21, 1804

Napoleonic Code Two

The napoleonic code was not very good when it came to the rights of women. Most women lost all the rights they had when they got married and had fewer rights than children. Today the code is used in Quebec, but with obvious changes to fix most of the bad things about it such as the women's rights.
Feb 18, 2022

Websites Used for the Napoleanic Code and Hammurabi's Code Image