Download or read book Early Mesopotamian Law written by Russ VerSteeg and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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history; translations of ancient law collections and documents; as well as monographs, journal articles, and unpublished papers dealing with specialized aspects of Mesopotamian law.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.
Download or read book The Code of Hammurabi written by Hammurabi and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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'.
Download or read book Law and Trade in Ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia written by N. J. C. Kouwenberg and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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).
Download or read book Ancient Legal Thought written by Larry May and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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"--
Download or read book The Code of Hammurabi King of Babylon written by Hammurabi and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2021-04-10 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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.
Download or read book The Code of Hammurabi written by King Hammurabi and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-04-07 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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).
Download or read book Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor written by Martha Tobi Roth and published by Society of Biblical Literature. This book was released on 1997 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law 2 vols written by Raymond Westbrook and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2003-08-01 with total page 1235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Early Mesopotamia written by Nicholas Postgate and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Writing Law and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia written by Dominique Charpin and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-11-15 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Code of Hammurabi annotated Illustrated written by Hammurabi and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2018-10-17 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water written by Joseph W. Dellapenna and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-04-21 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Death rituals ideology and the development of early Mesopotamian kingship written by Andrew C. Cohen and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2005 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Ancient Mesopotamia written by A. Leo Oppenheim and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-01-31 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This splendid work of scholarship . . . sums up with economy and power all that the written record so far deciphered has to tell about the ancient and complementary civilizations of Babylon and Assyria."—Edward B. Garside, New York Times Book Review Ancient Mesopotamia—the area now called Iraq—has received less attention than ancient Egypt and other long-extinct and more spectacular civilizations. But numerous small clay tablets buried in the desert soil for thousands of years make it possible for us to know more about the people of ancient Mesopotamia than any other land in the early Near East. Professor Oppenheim, who studied these tablets for more than thirty years, used his intimate knowledge of long-dead languages to put together a distinctively personal picture of the Mesopotamians of some three thousand years ago. Following Oppenheim's death, Erica Reiner used the author's outline to complete the revisions he had begun. "To any serious student of Mesopotamian civilization, this is one of the most valuable books ever written."—Leonard Cottrell, Book Week "Leo Oppenheim has made a bold, brave, pioneering attempt to present a synthesis of the vast mass of philological and archaeological data that have accumulated over the past hundred years in the field of Assyriological research."—Samuel Noah Kramer, Archaeology A. Leo Oppenheim, one of the most distinguished Assyriologists of our time, was editor in charge of the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute and John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago.
Download or read book Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia written by Jean Bottéro and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2001-09-05 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Described by the editor as unpretentious roamings on the odd little byways of the history of ancient Mesopotamia, these 15 articles were originally published in the French journal L'Histoire and are designed to serve as an introductory sampling of the historical research on the lost civilization. Chapters explore cuisine, sexuality, women's rights, architecture, magic and medicine, myth, legend, and other aspects of Mesopotamian life. Originally published as Initiation a l'Orient ancien . Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Law in the Ancient World written by Russ VerSteeg and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Code of Hammurabi written by Hammurabi and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-07-21 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed c. 1755–1750 BC. You will love reading the best-organized and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. This important document was copied and studied by Mesopotamian scribes for over a millennium.
