Today, the law profession is one of the most prestigious jobs available and it is the dream of many to become lawyers. Yet, are you familiar with where law originated? Interested in the predecessor of the judicial system today?

Through archaeological diggings, scientists have acknowledged that the first law system in the world belonged to the Mesopotamians, specifically the Sumerians. One of the most ancient legislators, Ur-Nammu, who was ruler of the city of Ur had a code detailing the punishments for witchcraft, escapades of slaves and assault. Another version of Sumerian law is the Code of Lipi-Ishtar, which chronicles the rights of citizens, marriages, successions, property rights and penalties.

Another good example of Mesopotamian law is the Babylonians' Code of Hammurabi. There were 282 laws drafted out for economic disputes (for prices, taxes and trade), family (marriages and divorce), criminal (assault, theft, murder) and civil offences (slavery, debt). This code was discovered engraved onto a stela discovered at Susa in 1901. For example, from these laws, we learn more about the life of the Babylonians. Evidently, they recognized private ownership of property and the duty to provide military conscription even as they owned land, although most property belonged to the royalty. The father was the family head, and he controlled his children until they were married. The law also legalized adoption, which was common in order to continue family lines or keep a business within a family. An important thing to note though was that the people did not enjoy equal rights because the laws for the rich were not the same as that for the poor, with variations for the different social classes. For a copy of 114 of the laws, click here.

Penalties were fair, albeit harsh, for the Babylonians. Punishments were calculated according to lex talianis, which was the law of retelliation. Death penalties could also be imposed in crimes such as murder, and there were even several kinds of execution, depending on the nature of the crime. Carelessness and neglect in work was heavily punished, but not unintended manslaughter, which was let off with only a fine. Strangely, force labour and imprisonment were not listed in the code to be penalties.

The Greeks, however, were not as "civilized" as the Sumerians. Before the 7th century BC, they had no laws; thus, when someone was murdered, the victim's family members would usually take the law into their own hands and kill the murderer, resulting in a chain of blood feuds. It was only around 620 BC that Draco, a lawgiver, finally wrote the first laws of ancient Greece. Under his laws, homicide was deemed punishable by exile.

However,when Solon (the philosopher who started democracy) came into power, he changed most of the laws and formulated his own set of laws for dealing with crimes, each under the four categories of tort, family, procedural and public. Tort laws dealt with criminal issues, like murder and theft; family laws were not really laws, but a set of guidelines for Greek families to adhere their behavior to; procedural laws were rules for judges to follow when judging a case and public laws cited how public services should be provided.

The Greeks had a strange system of formulating laws and determining legislative affairs. Unlike other civilizations, where either officials or the kings passed laws, the Greeks had a specific type of official, the lawgiver, to pass laws. Technically speaking, these lawgivers were not considered to be a part of government, hence not officials, but were just appointed to write and pass laws. This ensured that the laws was not biased in the government's favour, as the lawgiver was not a part of government. The Greeks, much like today, had court sessions to judge a case. However, there were no lawyers; the defendents and accused would argue their cases in front of a jury, after which the audience would pronounce a verdict and the penalty, if there was any, after a vote.

As opposed to the purported fair laws of the Greek civilization, the Chinese were not so just. The earliest complete Chinese code of law originates from the Tang Dynasty, and was the culminatative efforts of many judges. Confucianism played an important part in the Chinese law code, as it regulated and taught people on how to behave; the influence of Legalism too was very powerful, although its ideals opposed that of Confucianism, it was also very popular with the Chinese as having a system whereby the evildoers were punished for their misdeeds in order to right the wrongs of the victim appealed to the commoners, who often suffered at the hands of the rich and powerful.

Chinese law, however did not begin in the Tang dynasty. It had already begun during the Ch'in dynasty, though it was extremely unpopular, because the king, Shi HuangTi, was a tyrant. The Chinese perception of the importance of maintaining harmony and the balance between Heaven and Earth also played a significant part in their law system; thus each grievance was considered to upset this balance, and righting the balance by punishing the wrongdoers was correct, and no mercy nor pity was given to the convicted. Death penalties were common in China too; execution was done in public; with a swift chop, the head parted itself from the body, thus taking the life of the prisonner.

So, after reading about the Greek, Chinese and Mesopotamian law system, what misgivings or thoughts do you have about them? Do you find them queer and unjust? Or do you find them rather similar to the judicial systems that we practice today? Do you think the ancient laws were fair? Why or why not? Do you prefer a law system like this to today's courts to determine if the accused was guilty or not?

This artifact managed to convince scientists that the laws in the Bible were not the first in the world!