Ancient Law Research Articles

Concept of Traditional Civil Law and Modern Civil Law System : Re-discussing the Value of the Chinese Ancient Civil Law

Concept of Traditional Civil Law and Modern Civil Law System : Re-discussing the Value of the Chinese Ancient Civil Law

Mastery, Authority, and Hierarchy in the “Inner Chapters” of theZhuāngzǐ

Mastery, Authority, and Hierarchy in the “Inner Chapters” of the<i>Zhuāngzǐ</i>

Athletics in Ancient Law

AbstractIn this article David Ibbetson takes a perspective from the ancient world. A number of texts of Roman law are concerned with injuries arising in the course of athletics. They are particularly concerned with blameworthy killings, and constitute some of the most fundamental texts at the historical base of modern negligence liability. Behind them there may lie questions discussed by Greek orators, where they were fitted into a rather different framework from that of the Romans.

At Every Bloody Level: A Magistrate, a Framework-Knitter, and the Law

In November 1806, Nottinghamshire magistrate Sir Gervase Clifton was visited at his house by one of his poorer neighbours, “a pauper of the village of Wilford.” (Wilford is about three miles from Clifton village and Clifton Hall.) William Kirwin was attempting to sort out complicated domestic arrangements within the framework of the law that governed his family's life. He told the magistrate about his mother-in-law, a widow, currently living in Tollerton. “She is in a very distressed state,” he said; he and his wife wanted her to come and live with them, “so that she may be better taken care of &amp; kept from want.” He had asked the Wilford overseer for permission to take her in but had been refused. The family had tried to help after her husband died: her son (with wife and children) had moved into her cottage on the understanding that “they would take care of her during her Life &amp; allow her good victuals drinks firing &amp; good cloathing.” Something had evidently gone wrong with that arrangement, but we are not to know what, or how, as the entry in Clifton's notebook breaks off here (as is the case with many pieces of magisterial business he recorded). Kirwin was aware of local ratepayers and tensions between parishes in regard to their financial responsibilities under the old Poor Law: what he proposed would keep his mother-in-law from “troubling the … parish of Wilford,” he said. She was financially independent, or at least on marriage she had “brought a many good with her &amp; such as a beds &amp; other goods.” He knew that a justice of the peace was a point of appeal in the vast, complex edifice of ancient statutory law (poor and settlement law) that dictated the way he lived his life. We can discern something of William Kirwin's understanding of these matters from the fragmentary, incomplete account of what he said, and the strategies he used in telling his story; we can discern some of Sir Gervase's from the action he did not take in this case, and what he did not have his clerk record.

Early Ancient Near Eastern Law. A History of Its Beginnings: The Early Dynastic and Sargonic Periods. By Claus Wilcke. Rev. ed. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2007. Pp. vi + 204. $26 (paperback).

<i>Early Ancient Near Eastern Law. A History of Its Beginnings: The Early Dynastic and Sargonic Periods</i>. By Claus Wilcke. Rev. ed. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2007. Pp. vi + 204. $26 (paperback).

Ancient law - um clássico revisitado 150 anos depois

Este artigo pretende realçar a importância desempenhada pela obra de Henry James Sumner Maine na formação da antropologia jurídica e da sociologia do direito. Para tanto, mediante a recuperação da tese central de sua obra Ancient Law, procura ressaltar o papel por ela desempenhado no delineamento de uma nova forma de abordagem da relação entre direito e sociedade. Para tanto, recupera traços gerais das análises de Norbert Rouland e de Niklas Luhmann acerca da importância das ideias do autor.

EI, EI, Oh What an Employee: The Biblical Basis for Teaching Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Have you ever wondered how a case based on solid legal argument could go so badly when decided by the court? Why does it seem that there is such a large gap between traditional legal education and the actual practice of law? Why are the most intelligent law students not always the best litigators? Why is it that some individuals and some corporations are constantly beset by litigation, while others are rarely seen in court?This paper suggests that the answers are found in ancient religious writings. Many commentators believe that politicians, judges and other decision-makers should avoid basing their decision-making on religious principles. However, this paper posits that judges do this all the time, even if unwittingly. This paper argues for the existence of an entire set of rules on which cases are decided, rules which are not part of a traditional legal education. These rules, if understood, explain how certain clients avoid most litigation, why certain litigators are surprisingly successful and why legal argument which has a solid basis in under traditional law is nevertheless lost. These non-traditional legal principles which have such an impact on litigation can be grouped under the rubric of “emotional intelligence” (EI). Although much has been written on the topic of emotional intelligence, no (discovered) paper ties it to any specific legal code, ancient or modern. Regent University School of Law is a pioneer in teaching “Biblical integration.” This concept argues that most modern law finds its basis in ancient Biblical law, the laws handed down by Moses, Solomon, David, Jesus and others. Whether the reader believes that these laws have a divine source, or simply thinks they are entitled to consideration because they have survived the test of time, this paper argues that they have value not simply in avoiding litigation, but that they have predictive value in determining the outcome of litigation. Instead of undertaking the entire spectrum of law, this paper focuses on how these principles apply to employees and employment-related litigation.

An Ancient Law of Care

This article published in the Whittier Law Review shows that torts professors commonly teach that a previously absent or barbaric tort law evolved out of the medieval laws of England. Historical and contemporary analysis of ancient texts shows that it did not. Strict liability, negligence, intentional torts, indirect causation, degrees of negligence, objective reasonableness, notice and knowledge, fixed and variable compensation, and other principal features of modern tort law have been present from ancient times, influencing our own tort law. Interpretive principles help us appreciate the breadth, sensitivity, and timelessness of the ancient tort laws.

The Fall of State: Institutional Anarchy and India

The Rule of Law governs our country. It is a cardinal principle of our Constitution, symbolizing a degree of strength and unison- binding the diverse facets of the state. Article 14 of the Constitution confers upon every citizen, equality before the law and equal protection of the laws. Sadly, the failure of the organs of state has deprived the applicability or stance of the true essence of the rule of law.This author has brought to book, the institutional anarchy India faces today with a formation of a pyramidal link of the state machinery.The Police force is demoralized; governed by ancient laws which serve no purpose in today’s time. The resort to heinous acts of humanitarian disregard have plagued the system repeatedly. Politicians perceive a divinity of sorts, deeming themselves as being above the Law. The system that governs us and the people responsible for it has developed detrimental ties with the Criminal world. The threats to the Rule of Law in India are from within. The concept and ideology of ‘state’ is withering away. This essay brings to light the frightening instances of lawlessness prevailing within our society and hints at possible changes that can be brought about to protect the rights of individuals from the crutches of the wrong arm of the law.

GREED AS VIOLENCE: Methodological Challenges in Interreligious Dialogue on the Ethics of the Global Financial Crisis

ABSTRACTThe current financial crisis is one rooted not in recent deregulation but in the breaking of ancient (religious) laws, and this crisis is one of many ethical problems today that have religious roots. The tone of this essay is informed by a document from the World Council of Churches, which affirms “greed as violence” and that Christians do not have all the answers to the problem of greed; therefore, Christians need to seek solutions with other religious communities. Furthermore, religious leaders, theologians, and ethicists, by their very station in life, are not able to effectively listen to the voices of the poor and marginalized people of the world. Self‐critically examining the mainstream traditions within Christianity for its allegiance to empires, the article calls for engaging the alternative, rather than the mainstream traditions within religions whose interpretations of Scripture have provided insights that are at variance with the mainstream. It calls those who engage in this work to be double‐headed: to examine others' beliefs from the perspective of the other—while continuing to be rooted in one's own center—and to recognize that the voices of those in poor or marginalized communities are inaccessible, unless those who are poor themselves become the mediators of dialogue.

The Ius in Re Model to Analyze Users Rights Within Complex Property Regimes: Two Ex Post Applications in South America

This article proposes the application of the Ius in Re model of “power over things” from the ancient Roman law to analyze property rights and identify users' powers within complex property regimes. We specifically propose that people's independent powers over natural resources should be dissected and independently examined to identify actors and uses inhibiting sustainable management regardless of the prevailing property regime. We employed this model to analyze two cases ex post, in Perú and Ecuador, that evolved from resource degradation to more sustainable management scenarios. Analysis under the light of the Ius in Re model suggests that such outcomes were achieved after users' powers inhibiting sustainable management were identified and adjusted. Both case studies exemplify the practical utility of the Ius in Re analytical model, showing its suitability to identify who had what powers as a critical first step toward sustainable natural resource management.

Ancient Law and the Origins of Human Society

Ancient Law and the Origins of Human Society

Biblical Milk Taboos and Scientific Methodology with Ancient Nomenclature

Human society and its religions and cultures have laid out numerous guidelines, often involving dietary restrictions (Deut 14:4-5; Lev. 11:2-7). One such set of restrictions still observed by many Jews today relates to the distinction between pure and impure, edible and forbidden mammals (Talmud Bavli, Avoda Zara 35b). The ancient Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) have often perplexed both gentiles and Jews, since they appear to be arbitrary. Here we demonstrate that the separation of pure and impure animals coincides with taxonomic, biochemical, allergenic, and common nutritional properties.

Why Did Negroes Love Al Jolson and &lt;em&gt;The Jazz Singer&lt;/em&gt;?: Melodrama, Blackface and Cosmopolitan Theatrical Culture

This essay offers a reassessment of The Jazz Singer (1927) and Al Jolson by challenging several different lines of persistent criticism: its lack of artistic merit, its effacement of Jewish identity and its racist depictions in light of Jolson's use of blackface. Rather than a failed adaptation of Samson Raphaelson's play of the same name, the picture innovatively reworked both that play and E.A. Dupont's film The Ancient Law ( Das Alte Gesetz , 1923), further placing it within a framework of Jewish culture. The black press and Negro moviegoers warmly embraced both The Jazz Singer and Jolson for a variety of reasons, including his promotion of black artists. Among African Americans, he was the most popular Hollywood movie star of the late 1920s.

Ancient Chinese Concept of fa (Law) and Its Orthographical Representations

Abstract This essay serves several critical and metacritical functions in discussing the semiotic implications of the Chinese writing fa. First of all, it examines critically various conceptualizations of " image" in the current disciplines of " imagologies", and then it comments on a contemporary French legal theoretician's image/mirage of ancient Chinese civil law. After these surveys, the essay introduces a highly specialized topic in legal semiotics by tracing the development of the written sign of fa (law) in ancient China before the second century BCE. The written word was interpreted to represent a mythical animal, whose images have recurred in Chinese writing and art history. Focusing on the scriptural representations of fa, this essay analyzes the process of conceptualization of law in ancient China, and its transformations and mutations across the borders of semiotic systems, from the basic verbal and visual levels, to the higher levels of ideology and legal theory and practice.

Bazyli Masciuch e il suo „Церковне право супруже […]” . Le prime note della ricerca

Wasyl Masciuch, the catholic of an Eastern Catholic Church of the Byzantine tradition, the doctor of the canon law, the professor of a seminary and the fi rst superior newly created on Lemkowszczyzna – for catholics of ruthenian rite – Apostolic Administrature. Masciuch’s work “Церковнеправосупруже” (Eastern Catholic Church Law) is drawing marital rights of the Greek-Catholic (uniate) Church of Ruthenian rite (ritus ruthenus). He is embracing – in great measure – in-depth analysis of the substantive law, at least concerning fragments appear the procedure law. The method of the work of the Author is undoubtedly source, and research base impressive. Ouch – the path shows every of analysed institu186 Ewa Gajda tions the genesis, and he is making it referring to ancient laws (to the Roman law above all), to Corpus Iuris Canonici and to the more later canon law (including the papal law). Masciuch isn’t shunning, even for short, of comparisons to the law of the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine tradition. Placing source excerpts of the private law is a variety of the work – usually hungarian and austrian – analogous to individual issues of ecclesiastical marital rights of the Ruthenian Catholic Church. The work contains, apart from that, the affl uent set of templates for letters in matrimonial matters. Generally speaking “Церковнеправосупруже”, in the present science of canon law, it isn’t known at all. Presented work of Wasyl Masciuch, so far treated after stepmother’s, is deserving considerable interesting, requires in-depth and deepened analysis.

Ancient laws and contemporary controversies: the need for inclusive biblical interpretation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CHAPTER 1: THE NEED FOR INCLUSIVE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 1. Introduction 2. Defining the Other: The Need to Make the Connections 3. The Need to Unmask Particularity A.UNMASKING THE CHURCH B. UNMASKING THE ACADEMY 4. Conclusions CHAPTER 2: PROBLEMATIC BIBLICAL LAWS: THE VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE 1. Introduction 2. Women and (Homo) Sexuality 3. The Poor 4. Non-Israelites (Foreigners) 5. The Ten Commandments (the Decalogue) 6. Challenging the Principles of Old Testament Ethics A. WALDEMAR JANZEN: THE FAMILIAL PARADIGM B. CHRISTOPHER J.H. WRIGHT: WHAT ABOUT THE CANAANITES? C. JOHN BARTON: THE BASIS OF OLD TESTAMENT ETHICS 7. The Bible, Ethics, and the Margins CHAPTER 3: RUTH AND ESTHER AS MODELS FOR THE FORMATION OF GOD'S PEOPLE: ENGAGING LIBERATIONIST CRITIQUES 1. Introduction 2. ruth: a woman, a daughter-in-law, and a Moabite A. FEMINIST/WOMANIST CRITIQUES: EMPOWERING THE MARGINALIZED B. QUEER CRITIQUES: CHALLENGING THE EXCLUSIVE FOCUS ON MALES C. POSTCOLONIAL CRITIQUES: STRUGGLING AGAINST THE COLONIAL EMPIRE 3. esther: A woman, a Queen, and a Minority A. FEMINIST/WOMANIST CRITIQUES: WHO REALLY WINS? B. QUEER CRITIQUES: TO PASS OR NOT TO PASS IS THE QUESTION C. POSTCOLONIAL CRITIQUES: IMPERIAL/COLONIAL POWERS, MARGINALIZATION,AND VIOLENCE 4. Conclusions CHAPTER 4: JESUS, PAUL, THE LAW AND INCLUSIVE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 1. Jesus, the Law, and Inclusive Biblical Interpretation A. INTRODUCTION B. JESUS AGAINST THE PHARISEES AND THEIR GREAT TRADITION C. JESUS: ELEMENTS OF INCLUSIVE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 1. JESUS CONSIDERS THE IMPACT OF AN INTERPRETATION ON THE MARGINALIZED. 2. JESUS' NEW INTERPRETATION IS GROUNDED IN THE BIBLICAL TRADITION. 3. JESUS IDENTIFIES THE ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT OF GOD. 4. JESUS INCLUDES THE EXCLUDED. 2. PAUL, THE LAW, AND INCLUSIVE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION A. INTRODUCTION 1. WOMEN 2. SLAVERY 3. SEXUALITY B. PAUL: ELEMENTS OF INCLUSIVE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 1. PAUL INCLUDES THE EXCLUDED AND HE BASES IT ON THE BIBLICAL TRADITION. 2. PAUL CONSIDERS THE IMPACT OF AN INTERPRETATION OR POLICY ON THE MARGINALIZED. 3. PAUL IDENTIFIES THE ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT OF GOD. CONCLUSIONS CHAPTER 5 : THE PROTESTANT REFORMERS AND INCLUSIVE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 1. Introduction 2. Thinking Contextually/Thinking Theologically 3. The Protestant Reformers, Biblical Authority, and Biblical Interpretation 4. The Protestant Heritage and Inclusive Biblical Interpretation A. A REFORMED CONTRIBUTION: THE WORD OF GOD B. A LUTHERAN CONTRIBUTION: THE INDWELLING CHRIST C. A WESLEYAN CONTRIBUTION: THE LAW OF LOVE CHAPTER 6: BIBLICAL AUTHORITY AND THE ETHICS OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 1. Introduction 2. Reconceptualizing Scripture and Biblical Authority 3. The Ethics of Biblical Interpretation CHAPTER 7: THE NEED FOR AN INCLUSIVE APPROACH CONTINUES: THE UNITED STATES, THE FOUNDING FATHERS, AND THE NATIONAL IDENTITY 1. Unmasking the National Rhetoric of Inclusion 2. Working Towards Real Inclusion: Participatory Democracy and the Prophetic Tradition BIBLIOGRAPHY

Economics of Ancient Law

The economic analysis of ancient law assumes that neither human nature nor the fundamental problems of economic organization were substantially different in ancient times than they are today. Given those assumptions, ancient social organization, including ancient law, can be analysed in economic terms. This introduction to a volume of readings on the economic analysis of ancient law traces the development of the field from the foundational contributions of Bentham, Marx, Weber and Maine, through the work of Morris Silver, and on to contemporary scholars including, among others, Robert Aumann, Robert Ellickson and Charles DaA. Thorland, Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman, and Richard Squire, Saul Levmore, Francesco Parisi, and Richard Posner.

Forgers of Law and Their Readers: The Crafting of English Political Identities between the Norman Conquest and the Magna Carta

A short time after 1206 and before 1215, a Londoner assembled a massive collection of older and near contemporary English laws, called the Leges Anglorum by historians, and inserted long interpolations and spurious codes that enunciated many of the principles that guided the baronial opposition to King John and later became part of the Magna Carta. To those familiar with the struggle leading up to the creation of the Magna Carta, these principles should cause no surprise. These ancient laws were made to proclaim that “in the kingdom right and justice ought to reign more than perverse will” (ECf4, 11.1.A.6; Liebermann 1903, 635). In another part of the collection, King Arthur, making his first appearance in English law, is credited with establishing as law the requirement that all nobles, knights, and freemen of the whole kingdom of Britain swear “to defend the kingdom against foreigners and enemies” (ECf4, 32.A.5–7; Liebermann 1903, 655). More surprising is the attribution of the regularly assembled Hustings court in London to the Trojans (who became the Britons). The seventh-century West Saxon king, Ine, suddenly looms large in the ranks of Britain's lawmakers; he not only reigns for the good of all, but is also given the lordly virtues of twelfth-century chivalric romance: he is “generous, wise, prudent, moderate, strong, just, spirited, and warlike” (as was appropriate for the time and place) (ECf4, 32.C.2, 32.C.8; Liebermann 1903, 658–59). A confection of bits of other law, attributed here to King Alfred, orders an end to vice, national education for freemen, and unity for all “as if sworn brothers for the utility of the kingdom” (Leges Angl, Pseudo-Alfred 1–6; Liebermann 1894, 19–20). Finally, in the grandest statement of English political ambition, Arthur appears again as the great conqueror, whose spirit was not satisfied by Britain alone: “Courageously and speedily he subjugated all Scandinavia, which is now called Norway, and all the islands beyond, namely Iceland and Greenland, which belong to Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Gotland, Denmark, Samland, Vinland, Curland, Runoe, Finland, Wirland, Estland, Karelien,Lapland, and all other lands and islands of the eastern Ocean as far as Russia” (ECf4, 32.E; Liebermann 1903, 659).

Roots of Property Law: From the Moral Contract - and the Doctrine of Economic Justice - to the Social Contract: Is the Legal Contract Next?

Property law is rooted in many institutions. The assumption of this paper is that the rules of property laws are determined by deep cultural structures. The thesis is that in ancient times property laws were determined by the moral contract and that contemporary property laws are determined by the social contract. The paper proposes that in the future property laws be determined by the legal contract. The distinguishing features of the three contracts are these: In the moral contract the rules of property laws are determined by stewardship over land, labor, and money; in the social contract they are determined by privilege; and in the legal contract they are determined by economic rights, which stem from economic responsibilities.