Early Mesopotamian Law

Early Mesopotamian Law PDF Author: Russ VerSteeg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This book synthesizes law in ancient Mesopotamia from its beginnings (roughly 3000 BC) to about 1600 BC. Author Russ VerSteeg explains Mesopotamian law using modern legal categories as points of reference in order to make the subject more accessible to the reader. Early Mesopotamian Law is the first book of its kind, filling a void of information left by most ancient law books, which discuss the law of Ancient Greece and Rome. It brings together information from many books on Mesopotamian history; translations of ancient law collections and documents; as well as monographs, journal articles, and unpublished papers dealing with specialized aspects of Mesopotamian law. This book will be of interest to scholars of Near Eastern studies who wish to have a single volume covering the basics of early Mesopotamian law as well as to law students and lawyers who are interested in legal history. Topics covered include: Part 1: Overview, Justice, Organization and Procedure -- the law collections ("codes"); justice and jurisprudence (the role of law); legal organization and personnel and legal procedure; Part 2: Substantive Law -- personal status; the family; inheritance and succession; criminal law; torts; property; and trade, contracts and business law.

Early Mesopotamian Law

Early Mesopotamian Law PDF Author: Russ VerSteeg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This book synthesizes law in ancient Mesopotamia from its beginnings (roughly 3000 BC) to about 1600 BC. Author Russ VerSteeg explains Mesopotamian law using modern legal categories as points of reference in order to make the subject more accessible to the reader. Early Mesopotamian Law is the first book of its kind, filling a void of information left by most ancient law books, which discuss the law of Ancient Greece and Rome. It brings together information from many books on Mesopotamian history; translations of ancient law collections and documents; as well as monographs, journal articles, and unpublished papers dealing with specialized aspects of Mesopotamian law. This book will be of interest to scholars of Near Eastern studies who wish to have a single volume covering the basics of early Mesopotamian law as well as to law students and lawyers who are interested in legal history. Topics covered include: Part 1: Overview, Justice, Organization and Procedure -- the law collections ("codes"); justice and jurisprudence (the role of law); legal organization and personnel and legal procedure; Part 2: Substantive Law -- personal status; the family; inheritance and succession; criminal law; torts; property; and trade, contracts and business law.

The Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi PDF Author: Hammurabi
Publisher:
ISBN: 9786057748812
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code of ancient Mesopotamia, dating back to about 1754 BC. It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a man-sized stone stele and various clay tablets. The Code consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (lex talionis) as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free man. Nearly one-half of the Code deals with matters of contract, establishing, for example, the wages to be paid to an ox driver or a surgeon. Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, establishing the liability of a builder for a house that collapses, for example, or property that is damaged while left in the care of another. A third of the code addresses issues concerning household and family relationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity, and sexual behavior. Only one provision appears to impose obligations on an official; this provision establishes that a judge who reaches an incorrect decision is to be fined and removed from the bench permanently. A few provisions address issues related to military service. Hammurabi ruled for nearly 42 years, c. 1792 to 1750 BC according to the Middle chronology. In the preface to the law, he states, "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared Marduk, the patron god of Babylon (The Human Record, Andrea & Overfield 2005), to bring about the rule in the land." On the stone slab there are 44 columns and 28 paragraphs that contained 282 laws. The laws follow along the rules of 'an eye for an eye'.

Law and Trade in Ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia

Law and Trade in Ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia PDF Author: N. J. C. Kouwenberg
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789088909153
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
This book contains a selection of nineteen articles published by K.R. Veenhof, focusing on his main field of study: law and trade in the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian society of the early second millennium B.C. They were originally published in journals, conference proceedings and collective volumes over the past fifty years. Their reissue here is motivated by their lasting value and their fundamental importance to the study of these subjects.It includes both "broad" articles, which give an introduction to or an overview of a specific subject, e.g. Old Assyrian trade and the practice of justice in Babylonia in the early second millennium B.C., and "narrow" ones that give an in-depth study of a single issue or a single text, such as a problematic paragraph of Hammurabi's law code or the meaning of the noun iṣurtum. The first two articles provide a general introduction to the subject; the next nine focus on Old Assyrian society, and the final eight concern Old Babylonian.The inclusion of "broad" and "narrow" articles makes this publication of interest both to the well-informed general reader interested in the Ancient Near East and to the specialist working on Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian society.Prof. dr. Klaas R. Veenhof (1935) was a teacher at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, professor at the Free University of Amsterdam and from 1982 until his retirement in 2000 professor at the University of Leiden. Key publications are his dissertation "Aspects of Old Assyrian Trade and its Terminology" (1972), "The Old Assyrian list of year eponyms from Karum Kanish and its chronological implications" (2003), and several editions of Old Assyrian texts, especially "Altassyrische Tontafeln aus Kültepe" (1992) and Kültepe Tabletleri 5 and 8 (2005 and 2010).

The Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon

The Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon PDF Author: Hammurabi
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 27

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Book Description
"Code of Hammurabi" is the most comprehensive extant collection of Babylonian laws formed during the reign of Hammurabi of the 1st dynasty of Babylon. It consists of his legal decisions collected toward the end of his rule and carved on a diorite stela set up in Babylon's temple of Marduk, the national god of Babylonia. The 282 case laws in this work include economic provisions, family law, criminal law, and civil law. Penalties differed depending on the offenders' status and the circumstances of the crimes.

Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor

Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor PDF Author: Martha Tobi Roth
Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
The law collections presented in this volume are compilations, varying in legal and literary sophistication, recorded by scribes in the schools and the royal centers of ancient Mesopotamia and Asia Minor from the end of the third millennium through the middle of the first millennium B.C.E. Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Hittite texts, with accompanying English translations, are included. Some of the collections, like the famous Laws of Hammurabi, achieved a wide audience; others, like the Laws about Rented Oxen, were scribal exercises limited to a local school center. All, however, reflected contemporary legal practice in the scribes' recordings of contracts, administrative documents, and court cases and also provide historians with evidence of abstractions of legal rules from specific cases.

The Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi PDF Author: King Hammurabi
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781987656305
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
The Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest and most complete written legal codes of law. This is volume 2 in the series of 150 volumes entitled " The Trail to Liberty. " It was written in 1754 B.C. by The Babylonian King Hammurabi. King Hammurabi's Code was carved onto a massive, finger-shaped black stone stele (pillar) that was looted by invaders and finally rediscovered in 1901. The code is inscribed in the Akkadian language, using cuneiform script carved into the stele. It is considered one of the first documents that codified or formed a foundation of what would become known as civil and criminal law, especially in the West. The following is a partial list (20 of 150) of books in this series on the development of constitutional law. The Code of Hammurabi was a Mesopotamian legal code that laid a foundation for later Hebraic and European law. 1. Laws of the town Eshnunna (ca. 1800 BC), the laws of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (ca. 1930 BC), and Old Babylonian copies (ca. 1900-1700 BC) of the Ur-Nammu law code 2. Code of Hammurabi ( 1760 BCE) - Early Mesopotamian legal code laid basis for later Hebraic and European law. 3. Ancient Greek and Latin Library - Selected works on ancient history, customs and laws. 4. The Civil Law, tr. & ed. Samuel Parsons Scott (1932) - Includes the classics of ancient Roman law: the Law of the Twelve Tables (450 BCE), the Institutes of Gaius (180), the Rules of Ulpian (222), the Opinions of Paulus (224), the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian (533), which codified Roman Law, and the Constitutions of Leo. 5. "Constitution" of Medina (Dustur al-Madinah), Mohammed (622) - Not so much a constitution as a treaty which united Muslims, Jews, Christians and pagans, in the city-state of Medina, that exhibits some principles of constitutional design. 6. Policraticus, John of Salisbury (1159), various translations - Argued that citizens have the right to depose and kill tyrannical rulers. 7. Constitutions of Clarendon (1164) - Established rights of laymen and the church in England. 8. Assize of Clarendon (1166) - Defined rights and duties of courts and people in criminal cases. 9. Assize of Arms (1181) - Defined rights and duties of people and militias. 10. Magna Carta (1215) - Established the principle that no one, not even the king or a lawmaker, is above the law. 11. Britton, (written 1290, printed 1530) - Abridged, updated, more readable, and more widely used codification based on Bracton, originally in the French of the English court, reflecting changes in the law, including changes in juries. 12. Confirmatio Cartarum (1297) - United Magna Carta to the common law by declaring that the Magna Carta could be pled in court. 13. The Declaration of Arbroath (1320) - Scotland's declaration of independence from England. 14. The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli (1513) - Practical advice on governance and statecraft, with thoughts on the kinds of problems any government must be able to solve to endure. 15. Utopia, Thomas More (1516) - Satirical analysis of shortcomings of his society and a vision of what could be. 16. Discourses on Livy, Niccolò Machiavelli (1517 tr. Henry Neville 1675) - Argues for the ideal form of government being a republic based on popular consent, defended by militia. 17. Relectiones, Franciscus de Victoria (lect. 1532, first pub. 1557) - Includes De Indis and De iure belli, arguing for humane treatment of native Americans and of enemies in war. Provided the basis for the law of nations doctrine. 18. Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, Étienne De La Boétie (1548, tr.) - People are ultimately responsible for their servitude, and non-violent resistance can win their freedom. 19. De Republica Anglorum, Thomas Smith (1565, 1583) - describes the constitution of England under Elizabeth I, that indicates tendencies toward republican ideals. 20. Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos (Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants), "Junius Brutus" (Orig. Fr. 1581, Eng. tr. 1622, 1689).

Ancient Legal Thought

Ancient Legal Thought PDF Author: Larry May
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781108484107
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"Nearly four thousand years ago, kings in various ancient societies, especially in Mesopotamia (contemporary Iraq), faced a crisis of major proportions. Large portions of the population were horribly in debt, many being forced to sell themselves or their children into slavery to pay off their debts. The laws and customs seemed to support the commercial practices that allowed lenders to charge 20%-30% interest, and the law protected the lenders and gave no recourse for the indebted. Strict justice called for the creditors to receive what they were due. But another legal concept, the emerging idea of equity, seemed to call for a different result - the use of law as a vehicle to free people from economic oppression. Debt relief edicts were instituted - "clean-slate laws" as they were known - and are of obvious relevance today as well where crushing debt is a major issue underlying social inequality"--

A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law (2 vols)

A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law (2 vols) PDF Author: Raymond Westbrook
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 904740209X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1235

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Book Description
A comprehensive survey of the Law of the Ancient Near East by a team of specialist scholars, this volume allows non-specialists access to the world's earliest known legal systems.

Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia

Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia PDF Author: Dominique Charpin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226101592
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
Ancient Mesopotamia, the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now western Iraq and eastern Syria, is considered to be the cradle of civilization—home of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, as well as the great Code of Hammurabi. The Code was only part of a rich juridical culture from 2200–1600 BCE that saw the invention of writing and the development of its relationship to law, among other remarkable firsts. Though ancient history offers inexhaustible riches, Dominique Charpin focuses here on the legal systems of Old Babylonian Mesopotamia and offers considerable insight into how writing and the law evolved together to forge the principles of authority, precedent, and documentation that dominate us to this day. As legal codes throughout the region evolved through advances in cuneiform writing, kings and governments were able to stabilize their control over distant realms and impose a common language—which gave rise to complex social systems overseen by magistrates, judges, and scribes that eventually became the vast empires of history books. Sure to attract any reader with an interest in the ancient Near East, as well as rhetoric, legal history, and classical studies, this book is an innovative account of the intertwined histories of law and language.

The Code of Hammurabi: (annotated)(Illustrated)

The Code of Hammurabi: (annotated)(Illustrated) PDF Author: Hammurabi
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781728919348
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian code of law of ancient Mesopotamia, dated back to about 1754 BC (Middle Chronology). It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code. A partial copy exists on a 2.25 metre (7.5 ft) stone stele. It consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (lex talionis) as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free, man or woman.