The History of Law

Law is a system of rules that is set by society so as to maintain order and protect people and property from harm. The history of law is directly connected to the development of civilization. Around 3000 BC, it was said that in the Ancient Egyptian law contained a civil code that was divided into twelve books. It comprised of tradition, rhetorical speech, impartiality and social equity. In the 22nd century, Ur-Nammu formulated the first law code that consisted of caustic statements, or if-then statements.

Moving forward to 1760 BC, the Babylonian law was developed further by King Hammurabi and inscribed on stone, which are called stelae. He scattered copies of this law all throughout the kingdom of Babylon for everyone to see. It became known as the Codex Hammurabi. The discovery of the most intact copy of these stelaes was made by British assyriologists in the 19th century and has since been translated into many languages.

There are three types of law in the United States. First is called the constitutional law. This law is about the study, interpretation, practice and administration of the law laid out by a country's constitution. Constitutional law is flexible and efforts to change it are often met with either support or resistance. Take for example the matter on marriage between a man and woman. Homosexuals who are not able to marry find this a clear violation of their right. No matter how you view it, there will always be two opposing forces when it comes to amending the constitutional law.

The second type of law in the United States is called statutory or statute law. It can also be known as legislative law. It is written law set down the legislature. Statutory law can include local ordinances passed by the local government officials that are not covered by the state law. This law is different from the common law, which is proclaimed in court decisions. These laws are formed out of necessity since there are certain businesses and activities that need to be regulated. This preserves order and uniformity among the states without having to rely randomly on different common or case laws.

This bring the discussion to the last type of law, which is apparently called the common law. The common law is developed by judges through court decisions instead of going through legislatives statues. This originated in England and was invented by three courts namely the King's Bench, Exchequer, and the Court of Common Pleas. It was later adopted by the United States.

The law is flexible and is subjected to amendments from time to time in order to keep up with what is necessary at a given time. The law is there to maintain peace and order in a society. It is created for the betterment of the state the citizen living in it.