Origin of Law

In The Beginning

The First Laws

• When people live longer populations grow– When populations grow chaos ensues– People need to control the chaos

• First laws come from handed down customs– Could have been marriage– Murder– Religious laws

First Written Laws

• Code of Hammurabi– Babylonian King Lived 1800 B.C.– Thought that God told him to write down the laws to get

rid of the evil and wicked– Code starts out with legal procedures and then

punishments for various crimes• False testimony• Theft• Unjust accusations• Property rights

• Do we still have elements of his law today?

Mosaic Law

Mosaic Law continued

• Based upon the 10 Commandments

• Brings religion into the law

• Practiced by ancient societies and what others– Puritans– Holy Roman Empire– Modern day in the Middle East???

Sharia Law

• Sharia Law is based off of the Quran.– Dictates laws in every aspect of life• Business• Personal• Marriage• Etc (every aspect of life)

– Can other religions/countries have Sharia law?

Ancient Greece

•Many of our laws and procedures we use today in America come from Ancient Greece.

•One of the most famous law makers of Ancient Greece was Solon. Solon created four different types of laws that we use today.

Tort Laws• Think Money/Some one

does something to harmyou our your property.You can sue them in a civil court.

• Can you name some tort laws?

– Dog bite– Some one burns down your house– Murder– Rape– Sexual harassment

O.J. Was a Tort Case

• He was acquitted in 1995 for the 1994 killingsof Ronald Goldman and Nicole Simpson.

• In 1997 he was found liable in civil court for their deaths and the plaintiffs were awarded 33.5 million dollars.

Family Law

• Marriage• Inheritance• Adoption• Women’s roles were small because they were

under the constant care of their father/husband.

Public Laws

• How public services should be provided

• How public services should be conducted– People who live far away from public wells had to

dig their own.

• Also dictated import/export laws

Iroquois Theater Fire

• Because of fires like this where 602 people died public fire codes were enacted.

Procedural Law

• Tells a judge how to use laws

• States how many witnesses must be called during a murder trial

• Said who could be on a jury

English Law

• First people to use the concept of precedents.– Practice of using rulings from similar cases to

guide judges in decisions on present cases before him or her.

• Also first to use Habeas Corpus– This means that one has to go before court before

being imprisoned.

Where Do We Get Our Laws?

• Our society is a combination of everything we have studied

• Heavily influenced by England

• Declaration of Independence was a grievance against England for violating the rights of America. Evidently the laws that ruled England were laws colonists wanted followed here in America. Which laws were these?

So Which Rights (Laws) Did Colonists View as the most Important?

• Those would be the rights that are held in common between our Bill of Rights and the English Bill of Rights.

– For this assignment you will divide up into 5 groups. While in the group you will find two rights that found in each and then decide which right in The American Bill of Rights are the most important.