Laws were written down

Written Laws

• Between 1280-880 BCE in India: The Great Laws of Manu. Compiled laws that had been passed down from generation to generation by oral tradition.

• 350 BCE in China: The Code of Li’Kvei

• 1792-1750 BCE from Mesopotamia (now Iraq):Hammurabi’s code

The Code of Hammurabi

In 1901, archaeologists found in Susa, Iran, the codified laws of Hammurabi written on a stone tablet.

Hammurabi had been the king of Babylon (a city in what is now Irag). (Remember the hanging gardens of Babylon from Grade 10 Social Studies?)

Hammurabi had claimed that these laws were “from the gods”, thereby ensuring that people obeyed them.

Hammurabi’s Code

• Almost 300 different laws

• Patriarchal

• Hierarchal

Hammurabi’s law were based on:- Retribution (getting even: an eye-for-an-eye)

Sometimes another person was the one punished (slave, daughter)

And

- Restitution (paying back the victim)

Mosaic Law

• Sometimes called biblical law.• This was the law that is said to have been given

to Moses by God on Mount Sanai and which the Hebrew people were to follow.

• The first 10 of these laws appear as the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament of the Christian bible andAll of them are in the Torah, the religious book of Judaism

Mosaic Law

• Considered the intent of the perpetrator

• Punished the guilty party him or herself, not a substitute

• Introduced caring for others (leave a portion of crops in the field for those who needed them)

Citizens had rights and obligations

They were expected to vote and had to sit on juries.

Greek Law

Democracy is born --- but only for “citizens”.Women, children, slaves, aliens (those not born in Greece) were not eligible to be citizens.

• The jury system can be traced to Athens, Greece

• About 400 BCE• Juries were made up of 101, 501 or 1001

citizens

Greek trials

• Women who were charged with a crime were not allowed to speak on their own behalf.

• If a person were found guilty, both the accuser and accused would suggest a sentence.

Roman Law

Roman laws were codified (set out in an orderly written arrangement that could be revised as

new laws were needed).

Two basic principles of Roman law:

• Justice cannot be left to judges alone

• Law must be recorded

Like previous codes, Roman law reflected a patriarchal society.

• “Sons shall be under the jurisdiction (legal authority) of the father.”

• Women were not mentioned because they were not “persons”. They were property.

The Twelve Tables

The Twelve Tables

• The Twelve Tables were written on wood and bronze in 450 BCE.

• They formed the basis of Roman Law during the occupation of Britain.

• Compiled by a committee of ten men.

Examples from the Twelve Tables

• If someone is called to go to court, he is to go. If he doesn’t go, a witness should be called. Only then should he be captured.

• If he shirks or flees, he should be captured. If illness or old age is an impediment, let him be given a carriage. If he doesn’t want it, it should not be covered.

• Only a landowner should be surety for another landowner. But any citizen can be surety for a proletarian.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/94583_15-significant-law-codes-that-help-shaped-history#ixzz100oaYkiY

The Tables promoted:

• Public prosecution of crime

• A system of victim compensation

• Protected the lower class from abuse by the ruling class

By 100 BCE, the Romans had a complex and sophisticated society with many laws covering many areas (criminal, contract, tort).

The average person, when faced with a charge or dispute, could not possibly know all he had to know. Legal advisers were hired. These were the forerunners of present-day lawyers.(Remember in Athens when non-citizens had to get someone to speak for them at trial?)

Justinian’s Code

• The clarification and organization of Roman Law commissioned by the Emperor Justinian Iwhich was completed in 529 BCE.

• Justinian’s Code forms the basis of civil law (the law governing personal relationships) in most of the western world.

France and the Napoleonic Code

• The Napoleonic Code, also known as the French Civil Code, unified French law.

• It went into effect in 1804 and spread throughout Europe as Napoleon brought other countries under his domination.

Napoleonic Code:

• Was written in plain language and easy to understand so people liked it.

• Regulated:- property- wills- contracts- family law

The law of Quebec, other than those laws which are federal, is based on the Napoleonic

Code.

British Law

Although Mosaic, Greek, Roman and French law have all influenced law in Canada, British law has been the most influential.

Early British Law

When the Romans left Britain, in 410 CE, the British turned to God to determine guilt or innocence. How did God do this? (pp 28 & 29)

In three different ways:1. Trial by Ordeal (various examples)2. Trial by Oath Helping3. Trial by Combat

Trial by ordeal (examples)

Trial by Ordeal

Examples:Trial by hot ironTrial by hot waterTrial by cold waterTrial by cake (seriously!)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4UeVL4SKoQ

Trial by Ordeal

• Only used if sentence was the death penalty

• Consisted of “torture”

• God would save the accused if s/he was innocent.

Trial by oath helping• used for a less serious charge

• required people who knew the accused to swear an oath on the Bible that he was innocent

• if they did, the accused was freed

Why did it work then?

Trial by combat

Trial by combat-The accused and accuser fought, sometimes by a duel.

God would help the innocent one .

Trial by Combat cont’d

With trial by combat, a knight or another “more able” person would fight on behalf of the

accused or accuser.

• Our adversarial system is based on “trial by combat”

• Adversaries battle it out, now using brains instead of brawn

• Even then, weaker but richer people hired others to do battle for them

The feudal system and William the Conqueror

Divine Right --- The belief that monarchs got their power from God. They were, therefore, above the law and had to answer only to God.

• In 1066, William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded England.

• He set up a system of land ownership called the feudal system.

• He divided England into parcels of land.• He gave each parcel to a nobleman who

owned everything on that parcel --- land, animals, peasants who farmed it.

• The nobleman returned the favour by giving the king crops, the use of knights, and money.

• The nobleman controlled the administration of law on his parcel of land.

• This resulted in big discrepancies in “justice”. Some noblemen were cruel and unjust; others kind and reasonable.

• By the mid 1100s, the people were fed up.

• King Henry II, William’s grandson, tried to bring some consistency and fairness to the law.

• He appointed judges to travel around, hearing cases and administering the law.

• There was no code so the judges had to rely on their common sense.

• Eventually, the judges agreed that similar cases should receive similar sentences and they began to record the facts of their cases and the results so that it would be easier for them all to follow the precedent (the example).

Common law or Case Law

• These written cases became known as the common law (common to all).

• Stare decisis --- meaning to ‘stand by the decision’ (to follow the example of decisions already made).

• This following of stare decisis developed into what is know today as the rule of precedent.

• King Henry II also started the 12-member jury (Then it was elderly men)

Magna Carta

• With judges travelling and “making law”, people in England began to think that maybe monarchs did not rule by divine right, that maybe monarchs too should be subject to the law.

The Magna Carta

The Magna Carta was the first written charter of rights. It was signed by King John, son of Henry II, in 1215 and it:

• recognized the rule of law• introduced habeas corpus (which means that

an arrested person has the right to go before the court so that a judge can determine if the arrest is valid).

Aboriginal Law

• Oral tradition

• Based on belief in a creator and on a strong sense of family and leadership

• Established forms of government, religion, social structure and legal system

Aboriginal Law (continued)

• Around 1450, five First Nations came together to form the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy.

• In 1720, one more nation joined the Confederacy and it became commonly known as the Six Nations.

Six Nations

Power extended from what is now Quebec in the east and Illinois in the west and south.

The Great Binding Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

• The Great Binding Law outlined the rights, duties and responsibilities of the people.

• Included laws on adoption, emigration, treason, and secession.

Homework

Pages 35 Questions 2, 3, 4