This should be a nifty little section. As this page suggests, it’s probably not going to be what you were taught in school. But that’s why you come here, right?
Constitutional Law
Part 2: “What Were They Thinking?”
Digression: “A History of Government in 6 Revolutions: From the Paleolithic to Philadelphia”
103. Ancient Law Codes Weren’t Really Laws
Panel 1: As Joe looks on, Sis gestures to an inset of panel 2 from page 85, “Law” Codes. The inset panel depicts a cuneiform tablet, with the narration “But look at what happened after states arose: Formal, written legal codes!* Pictured is the oldest surviving legal text (though we know others came before): the law code of the city=state of Ur, written down around 2100 B.C. *Note: That’s “legal codes,” not “laws.” It’s complicated. More on this later.”
SIS:
But we already mentioned the first laws, remember?
Ur, Babylon, the Code of Hammurabi and all that?
JOE:
Law codes, yes, but…
-=-
Panel 2: An ancient Mesopotamian stele next to the text of a section of modern legislation, with a big red “does not equal” sign over them.
JOE (offscreen):
You see, ancient Mesopotamian law codes weren’t what we would consider laws.
You shouldn’t think of them as official rules for society, which their governments enforced.
-=-
Panel 3: A stylized court clerk’s office in ancient Mesopotamia. A man wearing a skirt of tufted wool is pointing to an eye patch he is wearing, and also pointing to a law-code stele. The clerk, wearing a draped robe and a fez-like hat, sits at a desk with a square of clay and a stylus. On the wall above him is a sign that reads “COURT SCRIBE please take a number.” Another sign hanging behind the stele says “We can’t fix stupid, but we can give it a court date.”
JOE (offscreen):
The ancient Mesopotamians themselves certainly didn’t think of them that way.
EYEPATCH MAN:
See?
It says right here: “An eye for an eye!”
CLERK:
So?
-=-
Panel 4: A line drawing of two ancient Mesopotamian men in tufted wool skirts. One is leaping away as the other swiped a bronze sword at his ankles.
JOE (offscreen): When you read these ancient law codes, you notice that they cover a lot of weird situations that might never even happen.
LEAPING MAN:
Seriously, how often do people go around cutting off each other’s feet?
JOE (offscreen):
While at the same time, many real-life legal concerns aren’t even mentioned.
Nothing about contracts, even though a major chunk of legal disputes back then involved contracts.
Plenty about farms and oxen, but many of these codes don’t mention the sheep, goats, and shepherds that were just as important in their societies.
-=-
Panel 5: An ancient Mesopotamian judge in official headwear and robe selects a clay tablet from an enormous pile.
JOE (offscreen):
Plus, we have (literally) tons of judicial records from back then, and none of them—zero—so much as mention the law codes of Hammurabi or Ur-Nammu or Lipit-Ishtar or anyone else as a source of law.
JUDGE:
What we rely on is precedent and principles.
We try to ensure justice on a case-by-case basis.
-=-
Panel 6: Sis looking confused.
SIS:
But, if the law codes weren’t law, then what were they for?
-=-
FOOTNOTE:
This should be a nifty little section. As this page suggests, it’s probably not going to be what you were taught in school. But that’s why you come here, right?