in search of justice
Notes from 40 centuries of legal history
Code of Ur-Nammu — c. 2100 BCE -Sumerian – 32 laws survive in a fragment. The first is: If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed.
Code of Hammurabi — c. 1792–1750 BCE — Babylon – This was the most extensive of the early cuneiform codes, with 282 laws addressing issues from murder and theft to building codes and the administration of justice.
“… That the strong might not injure the weak, in order to protect the widows and orphans, I have in Babylon … whose foundations stand firm as heaven and earth, in order to bespeak justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all injuries, set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial stone … as king of righteousness.”
Mosaic Law — c 600 – 500 BCE — Israel — Moses, the great prophet of the Old Testament / Talmud, handed down the Ten Commandments and other moral, social, food and purity laws. The law differed from other legal codes in the ancient Near East because transgressions were seen as offenses against God rather than solely as offenses against society (civil law).
Justinian
Solonian Constitution — Early 6th century BC, named for archaic Greek lawgiver Solon, reformed social caste system, promoted democracy for the wealthy
Code of Justinian — Roman law named for Emperor Justinian of Constantinople c. AD 528
Napoleonic Code — 1804 — a clearly written and accessible law considered a major milestone in the abolition of feudal laws in Europe.