Law, Order And The Structure Of Law And Order

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In today’s society we have structure in terms of law and order; however this was not always the case in past societies, while some did have an organized legal system, others were run on dishonesty and carried out outrageous punishments. An example of a society with law and order was ancient Rome in which there was a strict legal code which applied to most citizens. This concept of law and order was lost by medieval times in which rulers were immoral, punishments were inhumane and there were often unfair rulings. This displays how societies have changed and developed overtime and how throughout history we see different ways of life emerge, die out and then re-emerge.
The basis for Roman law and society were the Twelve Tables, the first ten of which were formed in around 450 BC and the rest soon after. Roman society was divided into two classes; Patricians and Plebeians, the former were the upper class, the wealthy land owners of Rome and the latter were the lower class. The Twelve Tables were created to form equality between the classes, due to complaints of discrimination from the Plebeians. They covered laws relating to; debtors, inheritance, marriage, the rights of the father, property, wills, guardians, and women. Due to the tables, there were set rules which those in power couldn’t just change to suit their needs (or create new ones); however this doesn’t mean that there was complete equality amongst the people and classes or that punishments were fair. Even with a sound law structure there was discrimination and just like in most ancient societies there were many unjust and cruel punishments. An example of the cruelty and discrimination is displayed in Table IV which states ‘A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly ...

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...w and order, etc. However in some circumstances the societies were similar. For example, in modern society we do have strict laws and a well-organized legal system, however there are still cases today of wealthier citizens and those in power (or even celebrities) avoiding punishment for their crimes. This shows the development of laws and punishments overtime and how some aspects of societies never change.
At first the ancient Romans formed the Twelve Tables, a legal code, to form the basis of Roman law and society. Medieval law was inspired by Roman and Greek law to an extent however they did not have the structure found in these ancient societies, the structure which we once again have in modern times. Throughout the centuries many aspects of life have changed, however each society has taken inspiration from another and they all have similarities between them.

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