Historical Laws and Security

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CheckPoint: Historical Laws and Security

Write a brief description in your own words of the following laws, including where and when each law originated:

* The Code of Hammurabi - This law was established in Babylon in 1750 B.C. and was named for the enactor King Hammurabi. The law was composed of 282 clauses or laws that controlled how the citizens of Babylon lived even from their profession to how to handle debts. Although it was not the first legal code, the law established the basis for the "'eye for an eye'" that remains a common concept within modern society and is also known as "lex talionis, or the law of retaliation" (Clifford, 2004, p.45).

* Draco's Law - This law was established in Greece or, more specifically, Athens in 621 B.C. and was named for the writer of the law. Although Greece is often attributed as the basis for modern democracy, Draco's Law included crimes for which the punishment was death. This law is also the root of term "draconian" (Clifford, 2004, p.46) for which modern society uses to label an unfair or severely punitive law.

* Law of the Twelve Tables - This law was established by the Romans in 450 B.C. Although initially there were only 10 laws, when it was finalized the result was 12 laws that molded the basis for what modern society knows as the law. They did this through establishing how crimes or injustices were pursued, through which victims could receive recompense, and the idea that the power to enforce law should not be held solely by judges.

* Justinian Code - This law was established in the Byzantium Empire in 529 A.D. and is one of the first models of "codified law" (Clifford, 2004, p. 47). Through this law's creation of legal principles, modern society's concepts of both justice and civil law were based.

* Magna Carta - This law was created in England in 1215 under King John's rule and was comprised of 61 clauses. The most important clause was the 39th because it formed the concept of due process in England and resulted in becoming the basis of modern law in the United States.

* Statute of Westminster - Like the Magna Carta, England, this time under King Edward's rule, gave modern law another contribution through this statute's establishment in 1285. This statute included the following three methods (Clifford, 2004, p.48): "the watch and the ward, the hue and the cry, and the assize of arms." This was also one the first instances in which citizens became involved in preventing crimes or apprehending those responsible.

Answer the following questions:

* How have these laws led to the historical development