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The need for early civilizations to create a legal system (4000 BC—500 AD)

                Justice, Decision Making, Political Systems, Citizenship, Power,

               

From the Norwegian National Library, The Schøyen Collection:  "222 Manuscripts Spanning 5000 Years." (Excerpts are shown, with descriptive information) (Click on "Contents", and under "5. Special Collections" select "5.4 Law."  There are two manuscripts of the very earliest law codes here, from Sumeria (2095-2047 BC) and Babylonia (1750-1700 BC).

(Please note: "MSS" stands for "manuscripts".  The term "canon law" means church law; while "civil law" means the law created by a ruler, state, or government.  "Cf." means "compare.") 

                http://www.nb.no/baser/schoyen/

 

The Ancient World Web - Law and Philosophy:  Website Index has numerous external links to internet resources for law, political theory and philosophy during mankind 's history and among many cultures, e.g., Greek Law, Plato's Dialogues, Islamic and Middle Eastern law, Mayan and Aztec law, Roman Law, etc.:

http://www.julen.net/ancient/Law_and_Philosophy/

 

Hammurabi's Code of Laws:

http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm

 

Ancient Mesopotamia - An example of a 15th Century BC judicial decision in land ownership dispute:

                http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/HIGH/OIM_A11878.html

 

Middle Eastern Law - Original Sources, links, and information about laws, covering from Ancient civilizations, including Sumerian and Assyrian examples of contracts and treaties and Hammurabi's Code of Laws, The Ten Commandments (Christian), the Qur'an (Islam), through the rise of Islam and to the present day:

                http://www.soas.ac.uk/Centres/IslamicLaw/Materials.html

 

Perseus Classics Collection - Tufts University (scholarly) Site:  Ancient Greek and Roman Texts and Images of artworks, buildings, coins, etc., with translations and information:

(Click on "Classics," then "About the Collection," then select "Greek and Roman Materials" and scroll down through alphabetical list, including, for example:  Aristotle: Athenian Constitution, Cicero: Agrarian Law, Plato: Laws, Republic)

                http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

 

Medieval Legal History - from the Fordham University Internet Medieval Sourcebook, part of the Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies (Click on "Law Texts"):  University site with numerous links to ancient legal sources - near Eastern, Greek and Early Roman, General Legal History, Roman Law, Byzantine Law (Byzantine Empire:  eastern successor to the Roman Empire, AD 610-1453), Canon Law, early Germanic and European Law Codes, English Law, Jewish Law, Islamic Law, and Modern Western Law:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook-law.html

 

History For Kids - Site geared to middle-schoolers.  Click on "government" icon for information about the basic types of government and how they function:

http://www.historyforkids.org/

 

                (Rome):

Excerpts of Letters between Pliny (111-113 AD) and Roman Emperor Trajan concerning trials of the Christians - noting torture and punishment: execution, but denouncing anonymous accusation:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/pliny.html

 

British Museum's "Compass" on-line collection -- images and explanations of 5000 objects from early civilizations to today, click on "Search" and type in terms, such as "Roman law," "Egyptian law" (latter includes translation of text on the Rosetta Stone) etc.:

                http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/

 

 

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© Project LEGAL, Inc.

Syracuse, NY

August, 2002