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Period: 1792 BCE to 1750 BCE
Hammurabi Code
Hammurabi's Code was the first recorded (written down) set of laws created by the king of the Babylonian Empire.There were 282 laws and each law was very straightforward and rarely had leeway. If you broke a rule there was a clear punishment. An example of a law is the classic saying "an eye for an eye". The meaning of this is if you somehow take someones eye out, yours will be removed as well. The Hammurabi's Code has many irrelevant law to modern society, but it was the "base" of recorded law -
Period: 529 to 565
Justinian Code
The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, compiled records of old cases from Imperial enactments, writings from Roman Jurists, along with his own set of laws. These made up a new structure of his own code of law. Part of the Justinian code was religion driven such: All persons under the jurisdiction to be of Christian faith. This was one of the first (or the first) set of laws that uses not only a rule to punishment system but also a record of past cases and similar cases -
Period: 1066 to
Common Law
Common law was created in England after the Norman Conquest. In the modern day about a third of countries legal systems include some form of common law. Canada is included in this. Common law or judicial precedent is basically a way to decide grey areas in the law (when there isn't a direct law referring to the case). It's a basis for the court system to look back on prior cases and decide if that decision is relevant to the case at hand -
Period: 1190 to 1451
Great Law of Peace
The Haudenosaunee was built of six nations. The Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora (the Tuscarora was added in 1722). It was finalized near Victor, NY. These laws were conveyed through symbols rather than language. An example of a law is if you follow another set of foreign laws, you will be alienated and basically banished from the tribes. It was one of the founding democracies -
Period: Jun 15, 1215 to
Magna Carta, Rule of Law
King John passed this set of laws, in England. It stated that people of high power, authority, or importance are not above the set of laws everyone else follows. This includes all members of royalty. These rules are still in effect in the modern day -
Impact of French law on Canada's legal system
Quebec follows civil law rather than the rest of Canada that follows Common Law. After the Battle of Quebec they became an independent legal system. The influence of French law in Canada is most prominent in Quebec. Civil law is based on decisions that follow civil code. This is basically a more straightforward rule vs. punishment system whereas Common Law focusses on past rulings on specific cases