History of Law

Hammurabi -Sixth King of Babylon

1792 BCE

Hammurabi was a Babylonian king. He held reign from 1792-1750 BC. While in power he created a set of laws used to govern his large and still growing empire. This kingdom no longer stands and was where much of modern day Iraq is, following along the Persian Gulf.

Hammurabi's Code

1791 BCE

Hammurabi's Code was some very early laws that had impact on today's justice system. The system, while harsh and severe, held almost three hundred laws. Hammurabi had seven foot tall steles, or pillars, placed throughout his kingdom with the laws scripted on them.

Hammurabi's Impact on Modern Law

1790 BCE

Hammurabi's Code would impact today's law as in created the idea of bringing justice to society. Looking into the code it has law on things from marriage, theft, homicide, property and adoption, it focused down on how to make system that handled the needs of society. So Hammurabi's hierarchy and punishments may have been a representation of the times, but his idea of order to govern was a push in the right direction.

Hammuarbi's Laws

1780 BCE

"If a surgeon has made an (incision) on gentleman with a bronze lancet, and has thereby caused the gentleman to die...they shall cut off the surgeons hand." As shown in the example they were harsh with their punishments. Taking what one has used to commit a crime, or pushing death disregarding intent completely. This idea of an "eye for eye" was commonly followed.

Emperor Justinian

529

Justinian was a Byzantine emperor from 527-529 CE. He would be one of it's most famous rulers for his reformation of the roman empire. With Justinian's Code he ended the problematic and contradicting laws that currently existed across the empire.

Justinian's Code

530

What Justinian did was send out a team of legal experts to create a set of laws that protect rights after realizing the mess his empire had become. Many of the laws within the codex targeted religious regulation; uniting church and state. This differs from today as we have a separation of the two.

About the Code

535

The codex was split into four parts, these would be the basis for today's law types. For example, criminal justice, marriage, women's rights, slavery, and property. The four parts that make up the code and have the bases within them are, The Law Code, The Digest, The Institutes, and The Novellae.

Empress Theodora

540

Empress Theodora played an important role in the passing of new laws and increasing women's rights. She and Justinian impaacted how today's laws categorize.

Justinian's Impact on Modern Law

550

Justinian's Code impacted today's law as it created not only a basis for law but also strengthened centralized government. This also significantly influenced civil law into the middle ages and modern laws.

Common Law/ Precedent

1066

Common law first arises in 1066 after the Normand Conquest. Common law is like a set of unwritten rules that are used by judges in uncommon cases that cannot be ruled based off preexisting statues or legislature. It can help with making fairer rulings by making precedent decisions. This affects our legal system as common law progresses with many cases. These rulings and previous reasonings can help with atypical cases no one has necessarily encountered being brought to appropriate justice.

Magna Carta Impact on Modern Law

1214

This would help protect the people from an unjust government with absolute power given to the monarch. For being medieval times this would prove to be an important turning point in history as it affected the documents that would be based off it in the future.

The Magna Carta History

1214

The Magna Carta was a document created by King John of England's Barons and other nobles who believed he had too much power. What it would serve purpose for was to establish that all even the king must comply to the rules, as well as protect the peoples rights. King John of England would have been forced to sign it as it limited his power as a monarch.

Magna Carta

Jun 15, 1215

The Magna Carta was signed June 15th, 1215. It was created due to political issues the king faced for example, preventing land confiscation and unreasonable taxes.

The Great Law of Peace

1451

The Great Law of Peace took five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and united them, while protecting individual rights. They would later on add a sixth nation in 1722. It was written on a wampum belt, this was done by Dekanawidah and spokesman, Hiawatha.

About the Great Law of Peace

1452

This law was much more focused on keeping peace and allowing freedom than it did focus on punishment as we had often seen before. The laws were first recorded as the symbols on wampum belts and then translated over to English. The laws were divided into one hundred and seventeen articles. Each nation played an important role in governing the peace and nations as one.

The Great Law of Peace's Impact on Modern Law

1454

The Great Law of Peace united nations while protecting individualism and traditions important to each. This had an important affect as it would influence thinking about equitable governments that protect what important to the differences of it people. This confederacy distributed wealth and goods for the wellness of it as a whole. While separating powers moving from feudalism.