DAY 8 Hammurabi's Code and the History of Law Project

Today we're also looking at the history of law in the world.  It is important to note that law is constantly evolving.  Each of the records of Law that you will cover had an impact on laws written hundreds or even thousands of years later.  For example, the Napoleonic Code was based heavily on the Justinian Code, and civil law in Quebec is based on the Napoleonic Code, and there are many many more examples.

The first set of ancient laws that we will look at is the Code of Hammurabi (this is a complete text of it).  In 1,800 B.C. the Amorite king, Hammurabi, took the throne of the new Babylonian dynasty in what is today modern Iraq. He was the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylon. Immediately he began to expand his new empire to eventually include Assyria and northern Syria. Hammurabi was a great military leader and lawgiver. In the first year of his reign Hammurabi fulfilled a promise to the Babylonian god Marduk and established an extensive law system which encompassed nearly every area of ancient life. The document was over 300 paragraphs long and included sections on social, moral, religious, commercial and civil law.

Kings of the day often posted large monuments listing their laws with an accompanying statue carving of themselves to identify the law with the king. Hammurabi was no different in this practice. There were many copies of this law erected throughout the kingdom usually in temples dedicated to local gods. One of the original pillars now resides in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.

Presentation on the Code of Hammurabi.





Today I introduced the History of Law Project.  You are to create a presentation similar to my Hammurabi's Code presentation.  The Project Outline is below as is the marking scheme for it.

History of Law Project Outline

	Time Period  /  Law	Presentation	Papers Due	Students
	c.1700 BCE Code of Hammurabi	Kovich Feb 12
1	1300 BCE: The Ten Commandments (Mosaic Law)	Wed, Feb 26	Tues, Feb 25	Nick, Jacob, Aaron
2	450 BCE: The Twelve Tables (Roman Law)	Wed, Feb 26	Tues, Feb 25	Matt, Colby
3	529 CE: Justinian’s Code (Emperor of Byzantine)	Wed, Feb 26	Tues, Feb 25	Mason, Alex
4	661 CE: Islamic Law (Sharia)	Wed, Feb 26	Tues, Feb 25	Nick K, Will
5	1215: Magna Carta (King John of England)	Wed, Feb 26	Tues, Feb 25	Emily, Ellis, Saila
6	1487: The Star Chamber (England)	Thur, Feb 27	Tues, Feb 25	Nick, Jake
7	1787 & 1791: U.S. Constitution and the American Bill of Rights	Thur, Feb 27	Tues, Feb 25	Emma, Zoe, Taylor
8	1804: Napoleonic Code (France)	Thur, Feb 27	Tues, Feb 25	Georgia, Austin
9	1864: The Geneva Convention	Thur, Feb 27	Tues, Feb 25	Samantha, Meghan
10	1948: Universal Declaration of Human Rights	Thur, Feb 27	Tues, Feb 25	Salina, Tara

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Feb 10-14			Hammurabi	Library Lab
Feb 17-21	Family Day Holiday		Library Lab	Paper rough work meet with Kovich in class	Library Lab
Feb 24-28	Peer Edit in Class - MUST have three copies of Draft Paper	Final Lab Day, Library	ALL PAPERS DUE Presentations 1-5	Presentations 6-10