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Importance and functions of law in society
5 important points about roman law
Importance and functions of law in society
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Aristotle once said “Law is order, and good law is good order”. This is why for many thousands of years different societies have made many laws to constrain the impulses and dangerous inclinations that people have. Laws have been made to help people navigate the world around them, but in the process of creating laws many laws that are controversial. Some laws can be good, some can be bad, some can just be interesting. But many laws have people questioning there importance. When comparing the laws of ancient Rome to todays laws it can be seen that some laws are very similar while other laws have died out as time has passed. As society has changed rules and regulations have changed with it.
In ancient Rome all of the laws were written onto tablets and placed into the center of the town. They were called the Twelve Tables. Since they were the center of the town they were physically accessible to all of the people. Although the comprehension of the laws were difficult because many of the Romans did not know how to read thus creating a problem with the metal accessibility the laws. Without this understanding you did not know many of the laws and how not to break them. This is similar to todays law because all laws are written in legal terminology so unless you know how to understand legal terminology you will have a hard time comprehending many of the finer points in the law. Roman laws also decimated people based on gender and social class and still in the world many places discriminated people based on gender, social class, sexual orientation, and religion. But some laws are different such as laws about any pluggers being thrown off cliffs, that would not be considered morally ethical today.
Rome had many good and sensible laws...
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...xamining the twelve tables and comparing them to todays laws you can see that while many of the laws are not relevant the ones that are still relevant create the best order and from this order we create a society that can run itself.
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Throughout time, it has been said that the Romans have made some major contributions when it came to Western civilization. A plethora of the contributions were in the categories of the law and engineering. In the law field, Romans left behind a great legacy for Western civilization, for instance one contribution being their Twelve Tables. The Twelve Tables established written rules of criminal and civil law. Not only with the Twelve Tables, but they developed the distinction between public law in which the state is concerned directly and private law which involves disputes between persons, the process of making laws has also had an influence on modern democratic political systems. During the Roman Republic, lawmaking was a bicameral activity and legislation was passed by an assembly of the citizens. It was then approved by the representatives of the upper class, or the senate, and issued in the name of the senate and the people of Rome. Many countries like the United States have adopted the republican Rome as a reproduction for their own governments.
Hammurabi’s Code provides evidence for early documents that signify law and order. For instance, Hammurabi’s says in his code if a man wrongs another with his false accusations, he shall be subjected to death (1, 3). His laws illustrate a judicial system in which someone has to pay someone that they wronged in either the same way that they wronged him or through money depending on the person’s social status. It is also said in his code of law that there were penalties for those who disobeyed his laws. For example, Hammurabi says, “If that man do not pay attention to my words…may the great god, the father of the gods, ...
Regulations have administrated human demeanor for hundreds of centuries, and in present-day, criminal laws are to standardize and occasionally preserve social order. By allocating which conducts are prohibited, they present comprehensible standards of actions, cautioning society about which actions will be or will not be held accountable for, depending on the degree of severity; it is also figurative in conveying a statement that the public objects to these particular deeds. The earliest identified account of written decrees dates back to the period of the Babylonian King Hammurabi, or what we now know today as Hammurabi’s Code, which instituted high principles of an individual’s actions and severe penalties to violators, inflicting consequences equivalent to that of their crimes. An additional early structure of written laws was the renowned Mosaic Law, like the Hammurabi’s Code, based on the rule of “an eye for an eye” (Realities and Challenges 99). The general public in the United States are directed by a great quantity of regulations from an array of foundations such as the federal, state, and local administrative institutes that concern everything from acquiring a license to drive to crime against person. Although the organization of laws in the U.S. is extensive, complex, and varied, it can, in fact, be more comprehensive when sorting American laws into two general groups: civil law and criminal law.
In any type of society from hunter/gatherer tribes to post industrial nations there are rules and regulations that must be followed for the safety and benefit of said society. Over the centuries these rules have become more rigid and concrete and have transformed into strict laws that all who wish to exist in that society must follow and obey or face severe punishment. The laws are a supposed codification of social norms that all those in the society feel are common practices we must abide by and follow. The laws are created to prevent chaos from erupting amongst the people and to keep order and balance by punishing those who disobey therefore deterring others from also committing such acts. The sole existence of law is for the protection of society and the protection of those in the functioning society. Law however can also lead to the erosion of conventional societal norms and in fact put many individuals in severe danger, specifically laws that are seen as unfavorable amongst the majority of society. Unjust laws and oppressive ruling can have several unexpected consequences on a society such as revolution which much like what the American colonists did in the late 18th century decided to break away from their overbearing monarchy and form a new society with a different set of norms and laws. At the beginning of the 20th century however, a new form of response to unjust laws was born and created mayhem in major cities across the nation, the rise of Organized Crime and the underground market. Society itself has created these forms of crime through the implementation of certain laws and allowed violence and destruction to manifest in opposition to that or a specific group of social rules. Whether it was the rise of gangs in the 1...
laws is to keep the bad things out from the old society out such as
"Law of the Twelve Tables." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .Donn, Mr. "The Twelve Tables - Ancient Rome for Kids." The Twelve Tables - Ancient Rome for Kids. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. http://rome.mrdonn.org/12tables.html"Roman Law." N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. http://chip.choate.edu/
Because aristocratic families in ancient Rome did not want a government dominated by one ruler, they overthrew the king to avoid losing their own power and established the Roman Republic in 509 B.C. In this new government, the idea was that an entire community of people would take part in the government. Though it was to include all citizens, it was dominated by the patricians: the elite, noble and upper class of Rome, with the plebeians (anyone who wasn 't a patrician) bringing up the rear. Structurally, this government consisted of patricians, who would be in the highest seats of the government, such as consuls and senators, and the plebeians, with a lesser say in government matters and banned from holding political office, were members of an assembly, effectively choosing the aforementioned consuls from the senate, leaving most of the benefits from this structure for the patricians.
The twelve tables of the roman law a document detailing laws in Ancient rome that the people went by. Code of Hammurabi was harsh penalties document in Babylon during king Hammurabi reign. Code of Assura document penalizing women for cheating or hitting husband but if proven men were also found guilty. All these laws help as a hole to shape today’s world. twelve table of Rome and code of Assura, Hammurabi are different as twelve table of rome is democratic law and allowed to defend yourself in court while code of Assura, Hammurabi is to break law you are given harsh penalties and man was seen higher than women.
Laws, enforcements, and censorship have been developed since the beginning of civilization. With freedom, comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes common sense. In a society or nation of few, laws and restriction tend to be smaller, and less complex. This is contributed by the fact that in small groups, their will be less diversity amongst them. In larger society ranging in millions to billions, the need for a more complex, organized government begins to form. No human is in fact alike, each person possess their own form of will, and much their own point-of-view. In a large mass society, it becomes tedious, and complex to try and rule by anarchy. The need for a common law amongst this civilization is usually formed.
The Roman Republic began approximately around 509 B.C. when the nobles drove the King and his family out of Rome. This monumental incident helped shape the start to the transformation of the monarchy into a republican governmental system. This is known to have begun by that of the Roman nobles trying to hold their power that they had gained. The Republic was “[a] city-state [which] was the foundation of Greek society in the Hellenic Age; in the Hellenistic Age, Greek cities became subordinate to kingdoms, larder political units ruled by autocratic monarchs” (Perry 105)
Since even the earliest civilizations, there have been laws. Laws are a fundamental part of our government. They help the average citizen navigate through life when situations arise and accidents happen. They are there as guidelines for safety and overall well-being of a society. A citizen has the power to seek justice through the help of our court system. The legal system also determines the consequences for citizens who break the laws. For the “average citizen” the legal system is right and just.
The concept of ‘the rule of law’ has been discussed by many. Professor Geoffrey Walker in his 1988 paper wrote ‘…most of the content of the rule of law can be summed up in two points: (1) that the people (including, one should add, the government) should be ruled by the law and obey it and (2) that the law should be such that people will be able (and, one should add, willing) to be guided by it’.
The society of the ancient Romans has often been considered the bases for our modern society. When one thinks of the Roman society, pictures of grand villa's and of senators wearing Toga's come to mind. Also, Roman society is often associated with great feasts and extravagance among the rich. There is more to Rome, however, then these symbols and the Classical Roman society is one with a complicated history that covers the history of the ancient city and involves the family, the home, education and much more. The social structure of ancient Rome was based on heredity, property, wealth, citizenship and freedom. It was also based around men: women were defined by the social status of their fathers or husbands. Women were expected to look after the houses and very few had any real independence.
Why is the concept of the rule of law an important aspect within society to have an integral understanding of? The rule of law is a facet of our society that affects and serves our lives on a daily basis because rules and laws dictate the underlying basis of our social interactions. One basic understanding of the idea of the rule of law is that society should be ruled by law, and not by men. At perhaps the most rudimentary level, the rule of law has been used to explain a type of governance that is founded upon universal and neutral rules. Endicott argues that communities can never adequately achieve the rule of law because “it requires, among other things, that government officials conform to the law. But they may not do so, and presumably there is no large community in which they always do so” (Endicott, 1999, p.1). Consequently, an area of rule of law is explored by Aristotle’s critique of Plato’s philosopher-rulers theory and his defence and understanding of the rule of law.
Society has never existed without laws and laws have functioned to create boundaries in society by determining what is regarded as lawful and unlawful. Lawful acts are those that submit to the customs and values of a society, while unlawful acts do not. Additionally, human beings are typically ruled by two different types of laws: the laws created by man and natural laws. Together, they determine which behaviors are acceptable and which behaviors are unacceptable in the society. However, though natural law is innate and instinctual, the necessity for rules and regulation mandated by humans was conceived when man acquired possessions not available to all and communities began to expand and individuals developed social distinction.