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history; translations of ancient law collections and documents; as well as monographs, journal articles, and unpublished papers dealing with specialized aspects of Mesopotamian law.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history; translations of ancient law collections and documents; as well as monographs, journal articles, and unpublished papers dealing with specialized aspects of Mesopotamian law.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'.

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).

Theft and Related Offences in Early Mesopotamian Law

Theft and Related Offences in Early Mesopotamian Law PDF Author: Hossein Badamchi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description


Death rituals, ideology, and the development of early Mesopotamian kingship

Death rituals, ideology, and the development of early Mesopotamian kingship PDF Author: Andrew C. Cohen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004146350
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
At the beginning of Mesopotamia s Early Dynastic period, the political landscape was dominated by temple administrators, but by the end of the period, rulers whose titles we translate as king assumed control. This book argues that the ritual process of mourning, burying, and venerating dead elites contributed to this change. Part one introduces the rationale for seeing rituals as a means of giving material form to ideology and, hence, structuring overall power relations. Part two presents archaeological and textual evidence for the death rituals. Part three interprets symbolic objects found in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, showing they reflect ideological doctrines promoting the office of kingship. This book will be particularly useful for scholars of Mesopotamian archaeology and history.

Law in the Ancient World

Law in the Ancient World PDF Author: Russ VerSteeg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Law in the Ancient World examines the legal philosophy, legal institutions, and laws of the ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Ancient documents, accounts, and literature provide the basis for a wide perspective of law and the procedural features of these ancient legal systems. VerSteeg delineates and analyzes the elements of ancient laws, explaining how social, religious, cultural, and political forces shaped both procedure and substance. The book is comprised of four units: I. Early Mesopotamian Law; II. Law in Ancient Egypt; III. Law in Classical Athens; and IV. Roman Law. Each unit has three chapters, and the first chapter in each unit begins with an overview which provides essential historial background. Next, each initial chapter considers the role of law in society, exploring law in the abstract, the theoretical bases of justice. The middle chapters in each unit trace the development of the ancient judicial systems, distinguishing the various types of judges, courts, and procedures that were employed to make justice available to both citizens and foreigners. The third chapter in each unit reconstructs the substantive laws, including sections detailing Personal Status, Property, Family Law, Inheritance & Succession, Torts, Criminal Law, and Contracts & Commercial Law. A variety of sources, such as early law collections, land records, wills, sales documents, court chronicles, works of ancient literature, accounts of ancient trials, and great codes such as Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis illustrate the sophisticated, often subtle, and complex nature of law in the ancient world.

The Law Code of Hammurabi

The Law Code of Hammurabi PDF Author: Saad D. Abulhab
Publisher: Blautopf Publishing
ISBN: 1981340904
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This book, which includes new translations of the old Babylonian laws of Hammurabi, is the second book by the author examining, from a historical Arabic linguistic perspective, a major Akkadian document. The first book offered new translations of three tablets from a literary work, the Epic of Gilgamesh, written in a late Babylonian language. The pioneering methodology used by the author to decipher the ancient Mesopotamian texts in both documents involves the primary utilization of old etymological Arabic manuscripts written by hundreds of accomplished scholars more than a thousand years ago. Using this methodology does not only provide more accurate, non-speculated, translations, and preserve the spirit and linguistic style of the original texts, but also provides more realistic phonetic values of the cuneiform signs. This would result in having more realistic overall text readings suitable to the one geographical and historical environment where these texts were produced, namely the greater Arabian Peninsula. The text of the Hammurabi stele offers students of both Arabic and Assyriology a perfect and unique opportunity to identify the language and grammar of its ancient Arabic language. Its vocalizations of subjects, objects, verbs, and genitives are astonishingly identical to that of classical Arabic. The loose and sometimes “chaotic” placement of words in sentences is strikingly identical to that of pre-Islamic Arabic. In, fact, the older the formal Akkadian language it seems the clearer its Arabic identity! Offering a textbook reference value, the author provided the numbered, phonetic Latin transcription for each law right above its corresponding, numbered Arabic transcription. Furthermore, he translated the text of each law literally, into Arabic and English, to illustrate how its translation was concluded, and to preserve its overall linguistic style, accounting for every word in its actual text. For easier reading experience, a full subject guide to the laws of Hammurabi is provided. All reference entries from both the historical Arabic manuscripts and the modern dictionaries of Assyriology are also provided in the appendix. In his expanded introduction, the author discussed the layout, script, and language of the Hammurabi code stele in the Louvre, and through the evidence of Hammurabi’s own words in a key paragraph in his prologue, he offered the possible meanings of the nickname Hammurabi.

The nature of the early Mesopotamian collections of laws

The nature of the early Mesopotamian collections of laws PDF Author: Reuven Yaron
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law, Ancient
Languages : fr
Pages : 12

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Book Description


The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water PDF Author: Joseph W. Dellapenna
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402098677
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
According to a famous Talmudic story (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat: 31a), a gentile once approached Rabbi Hillel and asked to be taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel replied, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself. That is the entire Torah. The rest is simply an explanation. Go and learn it!’ In much the same way, Jewish law can be described in one word—Torah. All the rest is simply an explanation. The Torah, also known as the Bible, the five books of Moses, and the Pentateuch, was written over 3,000 years ago. Since then, Jewish law has developed various interpretations and applications of the Torah, interpretations of those interpre- tions, and so on. Jewish law contains civil dictates as well as religious protocol. Problems that arose in the framework of religious life and problems surrounding civil relationships both found solutions in the same legal source—the Torah and the Halacha, the Jewish legal interpretations and rulings. This chapter on water law in the Jewish tradition provides insight into Jewish law and custom in general, and rules related to the protection of water sources in particular. One should not look, however, to find a written code of Jewish law, as there is none.

Early Mesopotamia

Early Mesopotamia PDF Author: Nicholas Postgate
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136788638
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
The roots of our modern world lie in the civilization of Mesopotamia, which saw the development of the first urban society and the invention of writing. The cuneiform texts reveal the technological and social innovations of Sumer and Babylonia as surprisingly modern, and the influence of this fascinating culture was felt throughout the Near East. Early Mesopotamia gives an entirely new account, integrating the archaeology with historical data which until now have been largely scattered in specialist literature.