Law Articles

The Carthaginians are also considered to have an excellent form of government, which differs from that of any other state in several respects, though it is in some very like the Spartan. Indeed, all three states---the Spartan, the Cretan, and the Carthaginian---nearly resemble one another, and are very different from any others. Many of the Carthaginian institutions... [continue reading]

Xenophon (430-354 BCE) was an early disciple of Socrates and a contemporary of Plato. He is best known as the mercenary general who wrote The Anabasis, which relates his adventures in leading his men out of Persia and back to Greece after the disastrous campaign of Cyrus the Younger. The Anabasis has long been considered a classic and was used by Alexander... [continue reading]

Hammurabi was the first king of the Babylonian Empire, reigning from 1792 B.C. – 1750 B.C. During his time in power, he conquered Sumer and Akkad, amassing those cultures for his territory. He is probably best known for his enduring code of Babylonian laws, known as Hammurabi’s Code. Though not the only law code around... [continue reading]

A story on a papyrus dating from the 2nd century CE relates that the goddess Isis, bestowing gifts on humanity, gave as much power and honor to women as she did to men. This tale reflects the high status women enjoyed in ancient Egypt. Although they never had the same rights as males, an Egyptian woman could own property in her own name and hold professions... [continue reading]

Did the Chinese attribute a secular or a religious origin to law? One influential view has strongly asserted the secular origin. Recently, some scholars have mounted a strong challenge, arguing that this view has overlooked or distorted a vital fragment of evidence that, in their opinion, shows conclusively that law had a religious origin. Before the... [continue reading]

This thesis discusses the interaction between the concepts of ”justice” (ma’at) and ”law” (hpw) in ancient Egypt. Ma’at, one of the earliest abstract terms in human speech, was a central principle and, although no codex of Egyptian law has been found, there is abundant evidence of written law, designed to realise ma’at... [continue reading]

Modern scholarly tradition has established that two fundamental rules regulated the use of torture in ancient Rome: torture must not be applied to Roman citizens or to slaves against their owners. It is commonly thought that during the Republic these principles were breached but exceptionally, whereas under the Empire their violation became ever more frequent... [continue reading]