Text2 Law in Ancient Greece and Rome

The absolutism of power in the monarch was typical of legal systems until the time of the Greeks around 300 B.C. Before the Greeks people believed that their laws were given to them by gods, represented by their kings. The Greek system emphasized that the law was made by man, for man, and could be changed by man. Instead of being an instrument of total social control of the whole population by a monarch, the law was to serve peace and prosperity of the people.

In the year of 621 B.C., Draco, Athenian lawgiver, drew up Greece’s first written code of laws. This harsh legal code punished both trivial and serious crimes in Athens with death. The word draconian is still used to describe repressive legal measures.

In 594 B.C. Solon, Athens’ lawgiver, repealed Draco’s code and published new laws, retaining only Draco’s homicide statutes. He revised every statute except that on homicide and made Athenian law more humane. He also retained an ancient Greek tradition — trial by jury. Enslaving debtors was prohibited, along with most of the harsh punishments of Draco’s code. Under Solon’s law citizens of Athens could be elected to the assembly and courts were established in which citizens could appeal against government decisions.

The Greek ideals were carried over into the Roman system of laws. The Greeks have contributed to the Roman system of laws the concept of “natural law”. Actually, natural law was based on the idea that certain basic principles are above the laws of a nation. These principles arise from the nature of people.

As the Roman Empire increased, a set of laws was codified to handle the more sophisticated legal questions of the day. This was done under the sponsorship of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (from AD 529 to 565). This collection of laws and legal interpretations was called Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) and also the Justinian Code.

French Emperor Napoleon made some modification of the Justinian Code at the beginning of the 19th century. Napoleon Code is still the model for the legal codes governing most of the modern nation-states of Europe today.

Vocabulary

Draco [‘dreikəυ] Драконт, афинский законодатель

trivial 1) обычный, тривиальный; 2) незначительный

to repeal аннулировать, отменять закон

statute статут, законодательный акт

homicide (Am) убийство cf. murder

sponsorship покровительство

Natural law естественный закон

trial jury суд присяжных

to enslave делать рабом, порабощать

to appeal обжаловать

corpus лат. свод законов, кодекс