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We think today that an effective judicial system is necessary for any society to function and provide justice to its citizens. The concept of justice, in fact, has evolved from very early written history, showing some similarities early on with modern ideas of law and justice for individuals. Laws and a formal judicial system developed over time in an attempt to punish crimes and regulate commerce.

==Early Development==

By the mid-third millennium BC, concepts of precedent and jurisprudence had developed, where judges would decide cases on civil and criminal matters. Laws were seen as a way to dispense justice, a key quality for kings in their service to the gods. Some of the earliest laws, although very likely even earlier laws existed, derive from the ancient Sumarian city of Lagash, located in southern Mesopotamia (southern Iraq), during the reign of Urukagina. The laws or edicts seem to have been written at around 2350 BC. <ref>For more general information on Urukagina’s early laws, see: VerSteeg, Russ. 2000. ''Early Mesopotamian Law''. Durham, N.C: Carolina Academic Press, pg. 18.</ref> Remarkably, already at this early date there was a clear understanding of individual rights and checks to prevent the abuse of power by authorities. This included limits seizure of land by the temples, which were powerful institutions by this time, or wealthy individuals.<ref>For further information on such early Mesopotamian states and laws, see: Yoffee, Norman. 2004. ''Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States and Civilizations''. New York: Cambridge University Press, pg. 103.</ref> There was a check on state tax collection, while efforts were made to dispense justice in cases of murder and criminal actions such as theft. Unlike the later Laws of Hammurabi, there does not seem to be an emphasis on capital punishment for criminal actions. Cases of divorce were removed from state authority to a civil matter. The king even returned land and other property his predecessors had seized; the laws state that they are intended to protect the vulnerable in society, particularly widows and orphans. While these early laws are fragmentary, as the entire legal code and proceedings are not known, they do show that individuals were provided with rights to prevent abuse by authorities and to remove state authority from certain types of family matters.

[[File:Ur_Nammu_code_Istanbul.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Figure 1. Tablet from the law code of Ur-Nammu.]]

==The Laws of Ur-Nammu==

The oldest formal law code (Figure 1), where the code was written as a legal text rather than kingly decrees such as the laws of Urukagina, is one attributed to king Ur-Nammu, who ruled the Ur III state from ancient Ur (located in southern Iraq). The law code may have been written sometime between 2100-2050 BC. The laws enshrine capital punishment in cases involving murder and theft, while fines and imprisonment were enacted in cases dealing with kidnapping. Fines were handed out in cases involving bodily injury, lying, or damaging someone’s property. The law code also introduces the “water ordeal,” which is similar to Medieval concepts of letting God, or in this case the gods, decide if someone is innocent or not. For instance, if someone is accused of sorcery then that person is thrown in water or probably a canal or river. If they survive, then they are innocent, while those who drown were guilty.

==Other Near East States==

We see throughout the 2nd millennium BC law codes appearing in the ancient Near East, including in the Hittite Empire located in Anatolia. These laws cover assault, marital relationships, theft, contracts, and sexual relationships. In most cases, there is an aversion for the death penalty and fines or enslavement for serious cases were applied. Slavery, similar to how it was applied in Mesopotamia, was utilized as a form of penal system. <ref>For information on Hittite laws, see: Hoffner, Harry A. 1997. ''The Laws of the Hittites: A Critical Edition''. Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui, v. 23. Leiden ; New York: Brill.</ref> The Assyrian laws also were encoded at about the same time. These laws, however, were far more gruesome in punishment, with offenders often having noses and ears chopped for even minor infractions. In cases of murder, the families of the victim were able to choose how the perpetrator was put to death.<ref>For information on the Assyrian laws, see: Saporetti, C. 1984. ''Middle Assyrian Laws. Cybernetica Mesopotamica''. Malibu: Undena Publications.</ref>

==Conclusion==

Certainly we should expect other societies, such as in the Indus or ancient Egypt, to have had major law codes, although these did not survive or have not left understood records for us. What the early Mesopotamia records show is that concepts of witnesses, using judges, protecting the oppressed, individual’s rights, legal frameworks and precedent, law as having divine origin, and a variety of punishments, including imprisonment and fines, had developed early in complex societies.

*[[Why was Alexander the Great So Successful In His Conquests?]]

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