Influences of US Law

• jurisprudence - study of law

• concerned with examining the theory and philosophy of law as well as analyzing its purpose, structure, and implementation in society

• US Law can be traced to civilizations before us

Ancient Laws

• Legal codes - set of written laws and rules for implementing those laws

• earliest example is the Code of Hammurabi - ancient Babylon king

• ex. eye for an eye

• has influenced many civilizations

Ancient Laws

• moral code - set of guidelines stating what is morally right/wrong and directing people how to live

• Ancient Hebrews / Jewish law - Ten Commandments (Old Testament or Pentateuch/ Torah)

• influenced Jewish society but Christianity as well

• Jews and Christians believe Mosaic Law was given to Moses by God

Ancient Laws

• many American laws have basis in Mosaic Law

• Mosaic Law is very similar to Code of Hammurabi

• 621 B.C. Draco's Laws - very strict Greek lawgiver who created the first written Greek law code which gave the people a voice in Ancient Athens and allowed the people to appeal decisions

Ancient Laws

• 529-534 Byzantine Emperor Justinian I compiled centuries of Roman laws into a legal code

• Justinian Codes which revived Roman laws into the Middle Ages

• firmly established emperor as an absolute monarch with unlimited power

British Law

• English model of government and law greatly influenced 13 colonies

• Magna Carta (1215) granted certain rights to nobles, weakened the king of England by placing him under the law

• English Bill of Rights (1689) further limited authority of the monarch by forcing them to have Parliament's approval before enacting some laws and guaranteeing some rights to citizens

British Law

• British common law - law based on tradition or past court decisions rather than written statutes also impacted US law by establishing the idea of accepting past court decisions as authoritative in cases where no formal law existed or was considered vague

Colonial Influences

• Mayflower Compact - document which guaranteed the people a voice in government in Massachusetts

• 1620 - first bipartisan government in the New World

• "civil body politick"

Colonial Influences

• House of Burgesses (Virginia) - modeled after British Parliament and became the first representative body of government in the colonies

• principles in the Mayflower Compact and the House of Burgesses will be reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution

Native American Influences

• late 1500s Iroquois tribes of the Northeast organized for peace and formed the Iroquois League

• made themselves the dominant tribe

• impressed and influenced Benjamin Franklin in his Albany Plan of Union 1754 which failed to unite colonies against French