Asian Geographic - April 2018

(singke) #1

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.


So goes the ancient adage about retaliatory


justice – also known by the Latin term


lex talionis – that governed the cradle of


civilisation, formed the foundation of


constitutions, and occasionally peppers


angry conversations today.


It is in Mesopotamia that standardised law


was conceived, and most likely out of necessity


for governing disputes between people who,


for the first time in history, were organised


into closely quartered cities and ruled by a


The world’s first written laws came from its first civilisation, Mesopotamia,


and along with it the earliest judicial proceedings in the presence of a king


Letter of the Law


EQUALITY AND JUSTICE


DATA SOURCES: ANCIENT CIVILISATIONS HISTORY, FOX LAW FIRM, FACTS AND
DETAILS, TULANE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL, YALE LAW SCHOOL, TIMEMAPS


geography


ancient mesopotamia


ȑ The world’s first city-
states develop in southern
Mesopotamia


ȑ Sumerian king Ur-
Nammu writes the first
legal code

ȑ King Hammurabi of
Babylon issues the Code
of Hammurabi

ȑ The Hittites of Hattusa
write similar sets of laws
to the Babylonians

ȑ The Mesopotamian
empire falls into decline

50th century Bce 22nD century Bce 18th century Bce 14th century Bce 10th century Bce

aBove The restored
ruins of a palace in
ancient Babylon

sovereign king. The legislation of the time is
widely regarded as decidedly advanced: Many
kings, such as ancient Sumerian king Lipit-
Ishtar, had legal codes to determine the rights
of ordinary citizens, including concepts like
minimum wage and presumption of innocence,
dating all the way back to 2100 BCE.
Ruling monarchs often cited a benevolent
motive necessitating the creation of a legal
system: to protect the weak from oppression.
This attitude toward their power in lawmaking
is perhaps best summarised by the declaration

PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK
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