Law Givers of History Unit 2: History & Structure of the American Legal System

Standards: PS-LCRP 2-a

EQ: What makes the United States court system unique?

Menes ~3000 B.C.

• First Pharaoh of Egypt • Established first kingdom• Myth or real is debatable • Considered first to organize/create law

systematically

Earliest Legal Decision • A clay tablet reveals the case of the murder of a temple

employee by three men. The victim's wife knew of the murder but remained silent.

• Nine witnesses testified and asked for the death penalty for all four.

• Wife had two witnesses which told the court that she had been abused by her husband, that she was not part of the murder and that she was even worse off after her husband's death.

• The men were executed in front of the victim's house but the woman was spared.

Hammurabi ~1750 BC

• Code was first written code in historical record• Code was used to unify kingdom & created

stability • Carved on a huge rock column placed in towns• Lex Talionis – “Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth”

has come to symbolize the code

Hammurabi's Code• All accused had a trial• Appeals, equal access for women, protection for the poor

provided• 282 clauses regulating:

– obligations– professions– commerce– slavery– marriage– theft– debts

Hammurabi's Code• Suspicion was not grounds for trial, accused must be caught

in act• No lawyers• Capital trial required a panel of judges and a panel of elders • Other trials had 1 judge and 12 elders• Witnesses took oath• Ordeal by water used in cases beyond the knowledge of

men– wizards, suspected wives

• Capital penalty common punishment

Hammurabi's Code• The punishment for theft was the cutting off of a hand or

death. • A man's lower lip was cut off if he kissed a married woman. • Defamation was punished by cutting out the tongue. • If a house collapses because the builder did not make it

strong enough, killing the owner, the builder was put to death. If the owner's son died, then the builder's son was executed

• The loss of the eye that pried into forbidden secrets• Cutting off the hand that struck a father

Moses ~1500/~1300 B.C.

• Prophet, law-giver and first judge of the Israelites

• Mosaic Law based on Torah• 10 Commandments– First 4 deal with relation to God– Last 6 deal with relation to other people

The 10 Commandments

• Found in the Torah in Exodus (20:1) –Followed by a complete set of

Hammurabi's Code (21:1)• Considered today by many the basis of

modern laws – was iterated in many colonial legal codes/charters

• 1st – 3rd were struck down in the literal interpretation

The 10 Commandments

Commandment 1. Prefer no other gods to

me. 2. Do not make for

yourselves any graven image

3. Do not misuse my name.

4. Keep the Sabbath5. Honor your Parents

Modern Equivalent

1. None today

2. None today

3.Vulgarity prohibited - Obscenity

4. Blue Laws5. Custody, Unruly Child

The 10 Commandments

Commandment 6. Do not kill. 7. Do not commit

adultery. 8. Do not steal.

9. Do not bear false witness.

10. Do not covet your neighbor's house.

Modern Equivalent

6. Murder7. Adultery, Sodomy,

Fornication8. Property Crime - theft9. Perjury, defamation

10. “Man’s Castle”

Solomon ~1000 B.C.

• Second king of Israel • Considered “wisest man in history”• Story of The Infant and the Two Mothers well

known

Lycurgus ~800 B.C.

• Designed laws to support the military vocation of Sparta

• Greatest crime was retreat in battle• Controlled virtually every aspect of the lives of

citizen• It held that:

– Women had a duty to have children – Children born with deformity were killed – Children became wards of Sparta at the age of seven to prepare

them for military duty

Draco ~ 600 B.C.

• The first written laws of Greece• Introduced the state's exclusive role in

punishing persons accused of crime– removed private justice and priestly judgment

• The penalty for many offences was death• “Draconian" comes from his name and has

come to mean, in the English language, an unreasonably harsh law

Draco ~ 600 B.C.

• The citizens adored Draco and upon entering an auditorium one day to attend a reception in his honor, the citizens of Athens showered him with their hats and cloaks as was their customary way to show appreciation. By the time they dug him out from under the clothing, he had been smothered to death.

Solon~600 B.C.

• Athenian lawgiver • Reformed Athens constitution and codified

Athenian law• Revised many of Draco’s statutes

Confucius ~500 B.C.

• Basis of government in China for centuries • Valued harmony, learning and virtue which

impacted legal traditions in Asia • Influence worldwide

Law of the 12 Tables

• Considered foundations of all modern law• A code of law for all Romans to live by• Written about 450 B.C.• Originally 10 laws, but added two about marriage

and customary.• The most important basic principle of written legal

code was that justice was no longer based on the interpretation of judges.

• Protected the Plebes from the Patricians

Law of the 12 Tables• Table I: Rules for a Trial

– The defendant has to go to court.• Table II: The Trial

– Can make the witnesses go to court• Table III: Debt

– If you don’t pay your debts, the person you owe can take you to court and the court will demand compensation.

• Table IV: Rights of Fathers– Deformed children can be killed– If you sell your son 3 times, he is then free– If born 10 months after father dies, no inheritance

Law of the 12 Tables• Table V: Guardianship

– Females have to remain under guardianship– If a person goes crazy, the family can take over his property.

• Table VI: Acquisition/Possession– How you get stuff and how you keep it.

• Table VII: Rights concerning land– If your tree damages your neighbor’s property, you have to take

care of it.– If your tree is hanging over his land, he can eat the fruit.

• Table VIII: Torts– Clubbed to death for slander

Law of the 12 Tables

• Table IX: Public Law– Treason: put to death– Cannot be put to death until after a trial

• Table X: Sacred Law– Cannot burn or bury dead people within the city limits– Have to remove all of their gold before burning or burial

• Table XI: Supplementary Law– Marriage: poor people can’t marry rich people

• Table XII: Supplementary Law– All laws are binding until changed by the people.

Octavian ~30 B.C.

• First Emperor of Rome• Brought massive reform• Supported concept of Stare Decisis – “stand by decisions”– Uses previous opinions in cases as basis for

resolving new disputes

Justinian ~ 500 A.D.

• Corpus Juris Civilis (Formed basis of Civil Law)– Code – collection of imperial decrees– Digests – writings and decisions of jurists – Institutes – mostly the works of Gaius

• Inspired by logic-based Greek legal principles.• Many legal maxims still in use today • Inspired the modern concept and the very spelling of

"justice”• This Roman Code survived in many parts of Germany

until 1900

Justinian ~ 500 A.D.

• Formed the base of civil law• One of the two main legal systems to

govern modern society in the Western civilization, the other being English common law (which copied whole parts)

• "The things which are common to all (and not capable of being owned) are: the air, running water, the sea and the seashores."