Legal history
[3] Ancient Egyptian law, dating as far back as 3000 BC, was based on the concept of Ma'at, and was characterised by tradition, rhetorical speech, social equality and impartiality.
[4] By the 22nd century BC, Ur-Nammu, an ancient Sumerian ruler, formulated the first extant law code, consisting of casuistic statements ("if... then...").
The most intact copy of these stelae was discovered in the 19th century by British Assyriologists, and has since been fully transliterated and translated into various languages, including English, German and French.
[7] Ancient India and China represent distinct traditions of law, and had historically independent schools of legal theory and practice.
The Arthashastra, dating from the 400 BC, and the Manusmriti from 100 BCE[8] were influential treatises in India, texts that were considered authoritative legal guidance.
The eastern Asia legal tradition reflects a unique blend of secular and religious influences.
[14] Japan was the first country to begin modernising its legal system along western lines, by importing bits of the French, but mostly the German Civil Code.
[16] Today Taiwanese law retains the closest affinity to the codifications from that period, because of the split between Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists, who fled there, and Mao Zedong's communists who won control of the mainland in 1949.
[17] Today, however, because of rapid industrialisation China has been reforming, at least in terms of economic (if not social and political) rights.
[19] Jus novum (c. 1140-1563) Jus novissimum (c. 1563-1918) Jus codicis (1918-present) Other Sacraments Sacramentals Sacred places Sacred times Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures Particular churches Juridic persons Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law Clerics Office Juridic and physical persons Associations of the faithful Pars dynamica (trial procedure) Canonization Election of the Roman Pontiff Academic degrees Journals and Professional Societies Faculties of canon law Canonists Institute of consecrated life Society of apostolic life The legal history of the Catholic Church is the history of Catholic canon law, the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West.
During the 6th century AD in the Eastern Roman Empire, the Emperor Justinian codified and consolidated the laws that had existed in Rome so that what remained was one twentieth of the mass of legal texts from before.
As one legal historian wrote, "Justinian consciously looked back to the golden age of Roman law and aimed to restore it to the peak it had reached three centuries before.
Since the Roman court system had broken down, legal disputes were adjudicated according to Germanic custom by assemblies of learned lawspeakers in rigid ceremonies and in oral proceedings that relied heavily on testimony.
[33] In particular, Henry II instituted legal reforms and developed a system of royal courts administered by a small number of judges who lived in Westminster and traveled throughout the kingdom.
[35] Also, judges no longer moved on circuits becoming fixed to their jurisdictions, and jurors were nominated by parties to the legal dispute rather than by the sheriff.
[37] As nationalism grew in the 18th and 19th centuries, lex mercatoria was incorporated into countries' local law under new civil codes.
Some concepts from Spanish law, such as the prior appropriation doctrine and community property, still persist in some US states, particularly those that were part of the Mexican Cession in 1848.
