Historic Developments in Law

Early Civilizations and their Leaders §

• The foundations of law and justice stem from historic tradition passed down from generation to generation.
• These human creations were generally based on the leader or group’s religious beliefs and philosophies about their “imagined world”.
• Leaders of these societies developed systems of law and justice that are still used throughout the world today.
  • i.e. Hammurabi’s Code.

Value of a Human Life? §

Ancient Civilizations of Europe §

• Murder of a person in different tribes or families usually resulted in a blood feud.
  • An eye for an eye.
  • Goes on basically forever.
  • CONTRAPOINTS REFERENCE
• Eventually humans placed a value on life and interactions
  • Think punishments for crimes. Think Retributive Justice.
• That meant a debt was owed.
  • First example is the Wergild from Anglo-Saxon/Germanic law.
  • i.e. One tribe kills your healer, their tribe must give your tribe a new healer.

Code of Hammurabi §

• Created by the King of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE).
• Gathered and organized all laws and customs into a code of 282 laws.
• These laws were placed onto a giant slab, which was placed into the center of the city
  • Although this may not have helped since most of the population was illiterate.
  • However, this did mean that there was no excuse for ignorance!
• This was the first known time that laws were codified.
• Very big on Retributive Justice.
  • Basically everything was an eye for an eye.
  • Most punishments were related to the body part of the victim which was offended.

Mosaic Law §

• Moses received a message of laws from God.
• Mosaic law is essentially the relationship between God and Law.
• The 10 Commandments!
• Engraved on a stone tablet.
• Law was found in the first 5 books of the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible.
  • Contained 613 laws.
• Severity of punishment was greater than Hammurabi’s Code.
• Focus on Restitutive Justice.

Justinian Code (Roman Law) §

• Formed the initial foundation for all Western European Laws.
• Was more complex than Mosaic Law and Hammurabi’s Code.
• The Romans established profession of legal studies
• Justinian essentially took a bunch of laws from all over Rome, and put them all into one definitive edition.
  • He also included legal opinions of Roman Legal Experts.
• Established the system of having Categories of Law.
  • The Justinian Code had sections for Natural Law and Civil Law.

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Below are notes which may be less accurate or detailed, since I missed this class due to club carousel.

Development of Common Law §

• Feudal System: an old system of land ownership based on hierarchy
  • King at the top, nobles govern the land.
  • Nobles ruled their own territory like kings, which created inconsistencies between laws.
  • Kings said they had Divine Right.
• Created Assizes (traveling courts) with circuit judges (justiciars).
• 12 men are assigned in each town to present customary laws to the justiciar.
• 12 other men known as reeves were assigned as a primitive form of jury who used what they knew to vote upon the law
  • The leader of the jury was the ”Shire Reeve” (sheriff, court sheriff)
• Judges relied on common sense, and noticed many similarities between different cases
• Developed records to establish common method for dealing with similar cases
• Judge made decisions are known as Case Law, or Common Law.

Rule of Precedent §

Common Law judges used the term stare decisis (Latin: “to stand by your decision”)

• Rule of Precedent: Applying previous decision to a case that has similar characteristics
• Common Law convinced society that if the King did not make laws, he couldn’t rule by Divine Right, and was not above the law.
  • This concept is called the Rule of Law
    • ”Nobody is above the law”
• Now, equality before the law became more important.

Magna Carta §

• Signed by King John of England in 1215.
• Was the first charter of political and civil rights.

Major Legal Components §

Rule of Law §

• Equality before the law.
• The law applies to all, nobody is above it.

Habeas Corpus §

Latin: “you must have the body”

• The right to appear before a judge to validate a charge.

Due Process §

• Guarantees fairness in all legal proceedings.

Plea and Bargain §

• Disputes are settled with pleas and negotiations

Quebec Civil Code §

• A system of law used in Quebec for resolving private or civil matters since 1804.
• Divided into 10 bodies of different areas of law
  • Property Law, Employment Law, Tort Law, etc.
• Inspired by the Napoleonic Code (1804) and the Louisiana Civil Code (1808).
• Categorized law into more specific areas of law.
  • Civil Law used in Canada today, primarily law in Quebec.

First Nations / Indigenous Contributions §

• 1090 and 1150 AD
  • The Great Binding Law or Great Law of Peace.
    • ”If we take care of the land, the land will take care of us.”
• Constitution of Iroquois Confederacy
  • Contained “7 articles connecting Iroquois Six Nations”
  • Was the first agreement in the Western World among nations to develop a cohesive society.
    • Included things like Contract Law and Constitutional Law
  • Had many connections to the Earth, and environmental law.