Kara Sears
The first-ever law code was the Code of Ur-Nammu, which was written in Mesopotamia in the Sumerian language on tablets around 2100-2050 BC. It is the oldest surviving law code, containing statements of royal power, such as I eliminated enmity, violence, and cries for justice. The Code of Ur-Nammu was followed by the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1760 BC) and the Law of the Twelve Tables (451-450 BC) in the Roman Empire. The process of codification has led to the creation of various law codes worldwide, with some countries adopting national civil codes, such as the French Napoleonic Code and the German Civil Code.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Code of Ur-Nammu |
| Location | Mesopotamia |
| Language | Sumerian |
| Date | c. 2100–2050 BC |
| Author | King Ur-Nammu or his son Shulgi of Ur |
| Format | Tablets |
| Contents | Strong statements of royal power, laws on divorce, sorcery, adultery, social structure, community service, tax rates, and estate laws |
| Modern Location | Istanbul Archaeology Museums, Istanbul Museum, Iraq Museum in Baghdad, British Museum |
| Other Ancient Law Codes | Code of Urukagina, Code of Hammurabi, Twelve Tables of Roman Law, Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, Edicts of Ashoka, Law of Manu, Tirukkural, Tang Code |
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Code of Ur-Nammu
The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known surviving law code, dating from around 2100 to 2050 BCE. It originates from Mesopotamia and is written in Sumerian on clay tablets, with 57 laws in total. The code is attributed to King Ur-Nammu of Ur, who ruled from 2112 to 2095 BCE, or to his son, Shulgi. Shulgi may have published the code after his father's death, and it was further developed by Shulgi's successors.
The Code of Ur-Nammu reveals the societal structure of Ur's Third Dynasty. Beneath the king, or "great man" (lugal), all members of society were either free people (lu) or slaves (male: arad; female: geme). A woman (munus) progressed from daughter (dumu-mi) to wife (dam) and, if she outlived her husband, became a widow (nu-ma-su), who could remarry. The prologue invokes the deities Nanna and Utu for Ur-Nammu's kingship and decrees "equity in the land". Ur-Nammu also standardised weights and measures, including the one-mina weight and the stone weight of a shekel of silver in relation to one mina.
The code takes the form of "if (crime), then (punishment)", a pattern followed by nearly all later codes. Punishments for most crimes took the form of fines, with the understanding that people knew how to treat each other with respect, and a fine would serve as a reminder for those who lapsed. Murder, robbery, adultery, and rape were capital offences. Other provisions include:
> If a man divorces his first-time wife, he shall pay (her) one mina of silver. (6) If it is a (former) widow whom he divorces, he shall pay (her) half a mina of silver. (7) If the man had slept with the widow without there having been any marriage contract, he need not pay any silver. (8) If a man is accused of sorcery [translation disputed], he must undergo ordeal by water; if he is proven innocent, his accuser must pay 3 shekels. (10) If a man accused the wife of a man of adultery, and the river ordeal proved her innocent, then the man who had accused her must pay one-third of a mina of silver. (11) If a prospective son-in-law enters the house of his prospective father-in-law, but his father-in-law later gives his daughter to another man, the father-in-law shall return to the rejected son-in-law twofold the amount of bridal presents he had brought.
The code also includes strong statements of royal power, such as "I eliminated enmity, violence, and cries for justice". Ur-Nammu presented his laws as having been received from the gods, recognising the power of religious beliefs to influence personal behaviour.
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Assyrian law
The first copy of the Assyrian code to be discovered dated to the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I (1114–1076 BCE) and was found during excavations by the German Oriental Society between 1903 and 1914. To date, three Assyrian law collections have been found. The rules were inscribed on clay tablets in the Akkadian language, in the cuneiform script.
The Assyrian Empire was a highly organised military and bureaucratic organisation. It was governed by a king, with civil governors and military commanders overseeing the various territories and provinces. The empire was known for its efficient administration, taxation, and conquest, with vanquished territories organised into provinces under governors appointed by the Assyrian king. The taxes of the empire were carefully regulated, with each town and province required to pay a fixed amount into the treasury of Nineveh annually.
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Babylonian Code of Hammurabi
The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC, or c. 1760 BC, and is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian and is attributed to Hammurabi, the sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon. The code was carved onto a massive, finger-shaped black stone stele, or pillar, that was looted by invaders and rediscovered in 1901 at the site of Susa in present-day Iran. The stele now resides in the Louvre Museum.
The stele features an image in relief of Hammurabi with Shamash, the Babylonian sun god and god of justice. Below the relief are about 4,130 lines of cuneiform text, with one-fifth containing a prologue and epilogue in poetic style, and the remaining four-fifths containing the laws. The code includes 282 edicts, written in 'if-then' form, covering a broad scope, including criminal law, family law, property law, and commercial law. The edicts outline different standards of justice for the three classes of Babylonian society: the propertied class, freedmen, and slaves. For example, a doctor's fee for curing a severe wound would be 10 silver shekels for a gentleman, five shekels for a freedman, and two shekels for a slave. Penalties for malpractice followed this same scheme: a doctor who killed a rich patient would have his hands cut off, while only financial restitution was required if the victim was a slave.
The Code of Hammurabi is known for its harsh punishments, sometimes demanding the removal of the guilty party's tongue, hands, breasts, eye, or ear. It also provides some of the earliest examples of the doctrine of "lex talionis," or the laws of retribution, better known as "an eye for an eye." The code also recognized the importance of the intentions of a defendant and the presumption of innocence. Written evidence was highly valued, especially in matters of contract.
Hammurabi is regarded as an important figure in the history of law, and his code is considered a true legal document. It has been admired for its perceived fairness and respect for the rule of law, as well as for its complexity, offering a glimpse into the society of Old Babylon.
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Roman law
The first legal text of Roman law is the Law of the Twelve Tables, which was compiled in the mid-fifth century BCE, specifically in 451 BCE, and finalised in 449 BCE. This law code was established during a period of social unrest, as some Romans felt that legal decisions were arbitrary. Thus, a committee of ten men, called the decemviri or decemvirs, was formed to write down the law. The Twelve Tables documented centuries-old customary laws and became the foundation of Roman law. It covered various areas, including civil law, public law, and religious law.
The Twelve Tables were followed by other significant laws during the early Republic, such as the Lex Canuleia (445 BCE), which allowed marriage between patricians and plebeians, and the Leges Liciniae Sextiae (367 BCE), which restricted the amount of public land that any citizen could occupy.
The development of Roman law continued through the period of the Roman Republic (753–31 BCE) with the emergence of jus civile (civil law) and, later, jus gentium (law of nations). The office of the praetor, created in 367 BCE, issued edicts or proclamations on judicial matters, contributing to legal reform.
The Roman legal system evolved over time, and its influence extended beyond the Roman Empire, impacting the development of law in Western civilisation and parts of the East. It served as the foundation for legal practice in Western continental Europe and influenced English and Anglo-American common law.
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Napoleonic Code
The Code of Ur-Nammu, from Mesopotamia, is the oldest known surviving law code, written in the Sumerian language around 2100–2050 BCE. It is followed by the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1760 BCE) and the Edicts of Ashoka (269–236 BCE), which are among the earliest known law codes.
Now, focusing on the Napoleonic Code:
The Napoleonic Code, officially the Civil Code of the French, is the French civil code established during the French Consulate in 1804. It is still in force in France, although it has been heavily amended since its inception. The code was promulgated in its entirety in 1804 by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. It was the first modern legal code to be adopted with a pan-European scope, and it strongly influenced the law of many countries formed during and after the Napoleonic Wars, including in Latin America and the Middle East.
The Napoleonic Code was drafted by a commission of four eminent jurists, including Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, Jacques de Maleville, François Denis Tronchet, Félix-Julien-Jean Bigot de Préameneu, and Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis. Napoleon chaired many of the commission's plenary sessions, and his support was crucial to its enactment. The code stressed clearly written and accessible law, marking a fundamental change in the nature of the civil law legal system. It superseded the former conflict between royal legislative power and the protests of judges representing the views and privileges of the social classes to which they belonged.
The Napoleonic Code codified several branches of law, including commercial and criminal law, and divided civil law into categories of property and family. It strengthened the authority of men over their families, deprived women of any individual rights, and reduced the rights of illegitimate children. However, it also granted all male citizens equal rights under the law and the right to religious dissent. The code also prohibited judges from deciding cases by introducing general rules, as this was considered an exercise of legislative rather than judicial power.
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Frequently asked questions
The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known surviving law code, written c. 2100–2050 BC.
The Code of Ur-Nammu is a Sumerian law code from Mesopotamia, written on tablets in the Sumerian language. It was discovered in what is now Iraq.
The code reveals a three-tier societal structure in Ur's Third Dynasty: the king, the lu or free person, and the slave. It also tells us about the king's vision of law and order, which encouraged his subjects to think of themselves as one family.
The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1760 BC), the Law of the Twelve Tables (451–450 BC), the Code of Justinian (AD 529–565), the Salic Law of the Salian Franks, the Code of Lipit-Ishtar, and the Middle Assyrian Laws (c. 1450–1250 BC) are all notable ancient law codes.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Scandinavian countries developed the first national codes. In the 19th century, there was a more widespread movement towards national codifications, with the first being the Napoleonic Code, adopted in France in 1804.
