~ The Earliest Laws ~
Every society needs to have laws to protect itself and its members. Even
ancient civilisations had laws, which were part of their religious ritual and
tribal customs. These were passed on by example and by word of mouth.
~ Babylon ~
The oldest written set of laws known to us is the Code of Hammurabi. He
was the king of Babylon between 1792 BC and 1758 BC. Hammurabi is
said to have been handed these laws by Shamash, the God of Justice.
The laws were carved on huge stone slabs and placed all over the city
so that people would know about them. Judges were appointed to see
that they were obeyed.
This is an example of the philosophy that influenced their law making:
'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'. Whatever was done to the
victim, then the aggressor would be repaid in a similar fashion.
~ Rome ~
The most detailed legal code of any of the civilisations was that of the
Romans. This was first drawn up in 450 BC by the magistrates and was
called the Twelve Tables. All Roman citizens were expected to know the
Twelve Tables, which included laws such as:
 When anyone makes a formal promise or sells property, then
according to law, his promise must be carried out.
 If anyone sings abusive songs about somebody else, he shall be put
to death.
 If anyone breaks somebody else's limb and does not apologise, then
the other man can break the first man's limb in return.
Whenever people had legal problems, they would ask for an opinion
from the jurists who studied the laws. These opinions were written down
and collected to form part of the law.
According to Roman law, people were considered to be innocent until
proven guilty. Lawyers would present their case to a jury consisting of 32
men, who would decide on the punishment to be imposed. Over the
centuries, many changes and additions were made to the laws as the
Romans extended their rule to the countries they conquered. Eventually
a uniform legal code was introduced for the whole of the Roman Empire.
This became the model for the first modern code of laws; many of our
laws are based on those of ancient Rome.
~ Medieval England ~
Before medieval times, there was no legal system in England and
consequently the individuals involved had to settle disputes themselves.
This led, on many occasions, to duels being fought.
Under the feudal system, the lord of the manor set up courts to deal with
less serious crimes. Because religion had such a significant influence on
the life of the people, serious crimes were considered offences against
God. It was believed that God would give people a sign as to guilt or
innocence in these cases. There was no attempt to sort out the facts of
the case or to find evidence, because proof was in God's hands.
The sign was believed to be shown during trial by ordeal, the main forms
of which were immersion in hot or cold water, burning with a hot iron or
trial by battle. In the ordeal by cold water, the accused was lowered into
the water and if they floated they were considered guilty because the
water had repelled them. They were then usually burnt at the stake. If
they sank, they were considered innocent and pulled out. They were
lucky if, in the meantime, they had not drowned.