Ancient Codes

A Chapter of the Chinese Penal Code

Chambers' Encyclopædia

Ancient Legal Codes

The legal code was a common feature of the legal systems of the ancient Middle East. The Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu (c.2100-2050 BC), then the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (c.1760 BC), are amongst the earliest originating in the Fertile Crescent. In the Roman empire, a number of codi cations were developed, such as the Twelve Tables of Roman law ( rst compiled in 450 BC ) and the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, also known as the Justinian Code(429-534 CE). In ancient China, the rst comprehensive criminal code was the Tang Code, created in 624 CE in the Tang Dynasty. A code is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of as it existed at the time the code was enacted, by a process of codi cation. Though the process and motivations for codification are similar in different common law and civil law systems, their usage is different. In a civil law country, a code typically covers the complete system of law, such as civil law or criminal law. By contrast, in a common law country with legislative practices in the English tradition, a code is a less common form of legislation that, when enacted, modify the existing common law only to the extent of its express or implicit provision, but otherwise leaves the common law intact."