Historical roots of law
Justinian's Code
Justinian's Code. This code inspired the modern concept of justice and and organization of Roman law.
It consisted of the sets of laws and legal interpretations collected by scholars under the direction of Byzantine Emperor Justinian. The code took collections of past laws and extracts of the opinions of the great Roman jurists.
A mistake that was made was that the laws were not written down so people could get confused.
Elements of Justinian's Code can be found in the laws of many European countries, especially France.
The code strongly influenced canon law which was the law of the church and provided the foundation of law in all civil law jurisdictions.
Justinian had a new body of law known
as justinians code. it served as an important basis for law in society. The Code formed the basis of civil law. And with criminal law it became one of the main legal systems to govern Western.
Roman law provided the foundation for civil law and the legal code currently used in continental Europe and throughout Latin America.
france and napoleon code
The Napoleonic Code became popular because its non
technical style made the law accessible to the public. The code made the power of men over their families stronger than other laws and deprived women of any individual rights, and reduced the rights of children. Napoleon gave the laws his name, and they largely remain in place in France today.
The Code is also called the 'French Civil Code of 1804'.
The code defined the concept of equality before the law. It also secured the right to property. The code was made to simplify all the laws and put into a single document. This Code was spread to the regions under French control.
The code codified several branches of law. Including commercial and criminal law. The code divided civil law into categories of property and family.
The code is still in use in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Monaco. During the 19th century, the Napoleonic Code was voluntarily adopted in a number of European and Latin American countries. Napoleon set out to reform the French legal system in accordance with the ideas of the French Revolution, because the old feudal and royal laws seemed confusing and contradictory.
The Code recognized the rules of civil liberty, equality before the law, and the secular character of the state. But it didn't do it for women in the same way for men
The code is still in use in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Monaco. During the 19th century the Code was picked up in a number of European and Latin American countries. Not in the form of simple translation or with considerable modifications.
roman law
There were two basic principles of Roman law: 1. the law must be recorded.
and 2. justice could not be left in the hands of judges alone to interpret.
Roman law, like other ancient systems, originally adopted the thought of personality. That the law of the state applied only to its citizens. In that Roman law foreigners had no rights and unless protected by some treaty between their state and Rome.
The practice of having an adviser who specializes in the law first became prevalent during Roman times.
Many things we see today in our laws have been taken from the roman laws such as checks, regular elections. The Roman law can be responsable for choices we make today in law.
Romans felt that legal decisions were being unfairly decided. Then a push was made to write down the laws in order to better plan out how decisions would be made.
The idea and orginal thought of a person remaining innocent until proven guilty was important to the rule to the roman law.
Roman laws were for teaching students by codified. Which means that they were set out in an orderly written arrangement. They could not vote or hold public office though but they could own property and businesses.
Greek Law
Greeks also used democracy to decide on the sentence of a person accused. If a person were found guilty both the accused person and the accuser would suggest a sentence.
The earliest Greek law to live on is the Dreros inscription a seventh century BC law concerning the role of kosmos.
Early Greek laws were created and approved by two government entities. The Assembly was composed of any citizen but males were the only citizens in ancient Greece who wanted to vote. But any citizen could show up and vote for a law involving the city-state.
Only certain people were allowed to vote and represent themselves in court which can be similar to the Canadian Legal System was first set up. The Ancient Greek Law made democracy develope and be used to make decisions and that is the reason we have it in our Legal System today.
The first form of democracy was created in Greece. One important idea of Greek democracy was citizen involvement. Citizens were expected to participate in major decisions affecting the running of their country. Such as voting. Ctizenship ex eluded women, children, and slaves.
One important principle of Greek democracy was citizen involvement.
Each city state administered its own laws. Many of them were laid down in written statutes at the time. The harsh law code of Draco and the more humane one of Solon are two of the most famous.
Draco was the one to write down the First Law Code of Athens. This happened in 621/620 BCE.
The Ancient Greek Law introduced democracy and used it to make decisions and that is the main reason we have it in our Legal System still today. The tort laws, family laws, procedural laws and public laws that were first used in the Ancient Greek System became more popular and grew more to the Canadian Legal System.
The juries were a huge part of the greek laws.
The Greek law influenced Canadian laws in many ways, including introducing democracy. And the Canadian justice system borrowed from Greek law, and examples include the presence of a jury during trial.
Mosaic law
One of the greatest influences on our law is biblical law, known as Hebrew law or Mosaic Law.
Mosaic laws was divied into three categories: moral, civil, and ceremonial.
Examples of there laws: 1, When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof; otherwise you might have bloodguilt on your house, if anyone should fall from it”
There are 613 laws in the bible.
The 613 refers to the 613 Jewish commandments extracted from the Old Testament.
The mosaic law now commonly called the Ten Commandments, can be found in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament.
This law is the law in which God gave to the Israelites through Moses. According to the Old Testament. The Law begins with the Ten Commandments. It includes the many rules of religious observance given in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Its called the Pentateuch.
Though the Ten Commandments and other Mosaic laws were written to Moses, 500 years later the basics's are similar. Such as it was not aloud and forbidden to commit murder, adultery, and theft.
Mosaic Law was more concerned with punishing a action done on purpose rather than an accidental act of harm. Mosaic was focused on religious portions of the law. Which guided and provided for Israel. And helped with there spiritual relationship with God.
Still seen in laws today that go back to the mosaic law would be a person committing an act repaying the victim.
These laws were created becuase It was a “very strict law” of “performances and ordinances” designed to keep the Israelites “in remembrance of God and their duty towards him.”
The Code of Hammurabi
Hanmurabis laws were quite reasonable and just people agree with. it said that people should not lie, especially at a trial. It was also said that the strong should protect the weak. If we compare some of laws with those of Hammurabi, we may find we are not that different from people of 4000 years ago.
The laws varied according to social class and gender.
The Code established a minimum wage for workers opic
Examples of there laws: 1. a man brings an accusation against another man, charging him with murder, but cannot prove it, the accuser shall be put to death. 2. If a man strikes a free-born woman so that she loses her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss. 3. If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone. If one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shall pay one gold mina.
One of the earliest sets of written laws was called the Code laws. It was written by King Hammurabi of Hammurabi he codified, recorded, the rules and penalties for every codified arranged and recorded aspect of Babylonian life.
The Hammurabi code of laws was a collection of 282 rules. That were established standards for commercial interactions, set fines, punishments to meet the requirements of justice. Hammurabi's Code was carved onto a massive black stone stele that was taken by invaders and finally rediscovered in 1901.
The code was found by French archaeologists in 1901 while excavating the ancient city of Susa.
Hammurabi's Laws harmed families a lot. You can see that happening in law 129 "women are tied up and thrown into water if caught cheating on their husband'' This punishment doesn't apply to men.
