Historical Roots of Law

Tracing the Origins of Our Canadian Justice System

Laws as Common Sense Practices

• “Community enforced rules” have always existed

• These “laws” were passed down from generation to generation and they helped people co-exist just as rules and laws do today.

What might these laws have been about?Hunting, ownership of property, family

relationships, responsibilities, etc…

The Need to Put Laws into Writing

Population grew

Trade began between villages and between nations

Laws became more complex

Laws needed to be written down

Written laws existed all over the world, they had many similarities

India (1280-880 BCE)Great Laws of Manu

China (350 BCE)Code of Li k’vei

Babylon (present day Iran) (~1792 - ~1750 BCE)Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi

• Earliest known sets of written law• Codified by King Hammurabi of Babylon

Codified = systematically arranged and recorded

• King said his laws came from the gods whom the people feared and respected.

How would this encourage compliance?

The Code of Hammurabi Reflects Babylon Culture at the Time

• Look at the “Laws from the Code of Hammurabi,” what can you learn from their laws?

» Annotate your sheet by writing what you can learn about life in ancient Babylon (morals, society, what they valued, etc…)

» Make note when you see something that is the same today (though we may word it differently)

EXAMPLE

“If anyone is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death”

Basis of the Laws

Many of Hammurabi’s laws were based on:

Retribution: Justice based on vengeance and punishment (an eye for an eye)

Restitution: Payment made by the offender to the victim of a crime

Find an example of each from your “Laws From the Code of Hammurabi” sheet

Mosaic Law

http://hastingsnonviolence.blogspot.ca/2012/01/justice-and-nonviolence-pair-boards-ark.html

Biblical Law• One of the greatest influences on our law• Biblical law = Hebrew law = Mosaic law• Based on the Ten Commandments and other laws

found in the Book of Exodus

• Written some 500 years after the death of Hammurabi – same basic principles

http://eldersokol.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mormonism-ten-commandments.html

Evolution of Law

Code of Hammurabi• Punishes whether action is

intentional or accidental• Punishment can shift from

guilty party to someone of lesser status (woman, slave)

• Rich and powerful more protected by law

Mosaic Law

• Punishes deliberate action

• Punishes the guilty party

• Care for the poor

How do we see humankind figuring out the idea of justice?

Can you think of any example of how the law has evolved more today?

Greek Law

http://www.talariaenterprises.com/product_lists/greek_wall.html

The Start of Democracy• The first form of democracy was born in Greece

Democracy – from the Greek demos meaning “people”

• Only a small % of the Athenian people had political rights – they were known as “citizens”

• Citizenship excluded women, children, aliens, and slaves

Citizen Involvement

Citizen involvement was an important principle of Greek democracy.

• Participate in major decisions affecting the running of their country

• Voting• Jury Duty (the jury system can be traced back to

Athens, Greece in ~400 BCE)

How is the expectation of citizen involvement the same or different for us here in Canada today?

Roman Law

http://historyoftheancientworld.com/2012/12/an-outline-of-civil-procedure-in-roman-law/

Basic Principles of Roman Law

1. The law must be recorded

2. Justice could not be left in the hands of judges alone to interpret

First codified in 450 BCE, Roman law is now considered the foundation of modern law.

Key Points of Roman Law• Promoted the public prosecution of crimes• Had a system of victim compensation• Protected the lower classes (plebeians) from being

abused by the ruling class (patricians)• Began the practice of having a legal adviser who

specialized in the law (due to the sophistication and size of their society)

http://www.personal.psu.edu/asg198/Final%20Project/romanempire.html

Justinian’s CodeAfter 395 CE, the Roman Empire was split into the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire.

Byzantine Emperor Justinian I ordered the 1600 books of Roman law to be studied, organized, and clarified. This became “Justinian’s Code”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Juris_Civilis

Importance of Justinian’s Code to Modern Law

• Inspired the modern concept of justice

• The word “justice” comes from Justinian

• Code formed the basis of civil law (laws governing personal relationships)

• Influence especially evident in French law (and therefore also, Quebec civil code)

Napoleonic Code

http://yeungseok.blogspot.ca/

History of the Napoleonic Code

Napoleonic Code = French Civil Code

• Commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte after the French Revolution

• Went into effect in 1804• Represented a compromise between the Germanic

law of Northern France and the Justinian Code of Southern France

• Spread through much of Europe as Emperor Napoleon took over other countries

Importance

• Made law accessible to the public because of its non-technical style

• Regulated civil matters (property, wills, contracts, family law)

The system of law that has had the most effect on Canadian law is British Law

Next: The History of British Law