Evolution of Law
The government our nation has established today has come a long way from its roots. Starting with the Napoleonic Code and eventually ending with the Ratified Constitution of the United States.
Rome came to England bringing the Roman Code, thus law begins. The Roman Code was a rigid code that in reality did not change much. It required ample detail and was difficult to understand at times. For example, if there where five different murders all using five different colored knives. Whoever was in charge of the courts would record these murders as five different cases and may yield five different outcomes. In fact, defendants were never defended because there were no trials. You where brought before the people, asked of the crime, and given a penalty. Due to the fall of Rome, the Dark Ages, and, this government did not survive long. However, it created a great basis for all government today.
The Magna Carta was one of the first major documents to start organized government. King John I met with Barons in order to avoid war and make peace. The Barons were angered because of their previously denied personal rights and liberties. To appease the Barons King John I created the Magna Carta, in 1215, which gave the Barons the liberties they wanted. It also limited some of the king's powers. It was a basic Constitution to the English culture.
After a while, the renaissance era arrived and people began regrouping and governing themselves. Custom, usage, religion, and culture caused the Roman Code to evolve. Also, because "the way of life" for English was becoming more complex, the roman code could no longer suffice as law. Changes needed to be made to assure government did its job of protecting its citizens. So ...
... middle of paper ...
...erica was in essence born, and inside of America's heart laid the constitution. The constitution guaranteed its citizens personal rights and liberties that England never did. It affirmed to its citizens that the English terror they had overcome would never be endured again. But, two states where initially unhappy about the revamping of the Articles. New York and Rhode Island were upset because of a lack of personal liberties. The founding fathers pledged to honor there request if they signed the Constitution. And later the Bill of Rights was created to appease all.
In conclusion, our Government has come a long way to be what it is today. However, without the sweat, blood, and tears that have been shed, our nation would not be as great as it is at present. America, started with a bold but bare Roman Code and has concluded to a revamped and refurbished Constitution.
The framers looked at documents from the English government, such as the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights, to sculpt their government. The Magna Carta limited the king’s power and stated that citizens had certain rights. This meant that the king had to recognise the citizen’s rights, and couldn’t imprisoned or arrest citizens unless convicted of a crime, and they had legal rights, and could have a trial by jury. The Magna Carta is significant because it was one of the most important democratic documents in history. It was important because it said that everybody was subject to the law, unlike a dictatorship, oligarchy, or monarchy. It set up a parliamentary democracy in England, and strongly influenced the American Bill of Rights. Likewise, the English Bill of Rights further restricted the powers of the king. The English Bill of Rights gave everybody certain rights; of these where were the right to trial by jury, no unusual, cruel, or unjust punishments, the right to own a gun, and citizens had to be charged with a crime before they could be sent to prison. The English Bill of Rights was influential to the American Constitution, because in the Constitution, the framers included a Bill of Rights outlining the rights of all citizens. The American Bill of Rights was heavily influenced by the English Bill of Rights. Of these were the right to bear arms, the right to a fair trial, and citizens couldn’t be put in jail without being charged with a
The American Revolution holds a very prominent place in the history of this country, as it was the longest and the most painful war Americans ever encountered. It took many years and numerous conflicts to finally gain independence in 1776 from British domination, which had been subjugating its colonies with laws of an unwritten constitution. It must be understood that though Americans were fighting for the right of democracy and each state wanted self-government, later that same issue turned into a big problem. Soon after America became independent, the former British colonies decided to form their own governments. It was then that the real battle began. The task of forming separate constitutions for each state, along with the formation of governmental institutions, turned in to a huge task -- a task so gigantic that it forced some states to rethink the matter and soon the rumors of a central government started circulating.
The character of the United States is illuminated by the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wanted to build a government where people are free and where the government “derives its power from the consent of the governed and it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it” (Jefferson, 247). T...
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.
In this essay I will give a short history of the government in United States of America (U.S.). Then I will describe each of the three branches of government in the U.S. and the relationship between them. In principle, the U.S. is a democratic republic, they govern themselves by choosing their leaders by secret ballot, and these leaders in turn make the rules. Americans started "governing themselves" as a nation on July 4th, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia by representatives of the thirteen British colonies in North America. These states joined together formally in 1781 under a first "constitution," the Articles of Confederation. That loose union of the states was replaced by the Constitution of the U.S. in 1789. This document (amended 26 times) is still the political foundation of the U.S. Being based on a written constitution, the U.S. government is committed in principle to the rule of law. To guarantee the rights of free speech, a free press, freedom of religion etc. the first ten amendments, called the "Bill of Rights" were adopted in 1791.
But before this foundation was formed, there was a struggle that had to take place for it to be established. When the english king tried to suppress that freedom the was supposed to have to stood strong, the struggle climaxed and put us into not just a war but a movement, a movement that would end with the creation of the United States. Our fathers founded this nation with the belief in freedom, liberty, justice, equality, and individual responsibility. These are just some of the values and principles that have withstood the test of time and continue to inspire people to this day. When documents like the Declaration of Independence and th...
America and more specifically, the Framers of the Constitution, recognized that they were in a unique position. They had the opportunity to write history by drafting a document that would create a system of government and a country that had never been conceived before. With this responsibility in mind, they drafted the Constitution, which unified the Colonies into one single country and created a federalist governmental system (Cummings 2015, 85). Despite these advances, the Constitution remained grounded in the values of the Declaration and had provisions embedded within it that the Framers hoped would safeguard against the injustices and tyranny suffered under Britain from being repeated again in their new republic (Cummings 2015, 85). This paper will explore this relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the unamended Constitution of 1787 by examining the texts of both documents, along with ideas of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. This will reveal that the Constitution attempted to create a system of government that was consistent with the principles of the Declaration of
It affected our language, our culture, our geography, our architecture and even the way we think. Our island has a Roman name, its capital is a Roman city and for centuries the language of our religion and administration was a Roman one.”(Ibeji) The Romans are viewed as a monolithic dictator that imposed itself on an unwilling people and dictated how they lived,worshiped and spoke. Though, the Romans brought order and a unity to England and Wales that had never been seen before. They also did not make completely abolish the religion of the people of Britain, but instead merged their religion with the Romans religion. ‘Yet perhaps Rome 's most important legacy was not its roads, nor its agriculture, nor its cities, nor even its language, but the bald and simple fact that every generation of British inhabitant that followed them - be they Saxon, Norman, Renaissance English or Victorian - were striving to be Roman. Each was trying to regain the glory of that long-lost age when Britannia was part of a grand civilisation, which shaped the whole of Europe and was one unified
The United States Constitution is arguably considered one of the nation’s most influential documents in America’s history. This centuries old document has not only guided the United States to becoming a successful society, but has also helped other nations in the forming of their own governments. Although, there has recently been a great deal of controversy as to whether the Constitution is still valued today. America has changed greatly in the time since the Constitution was first ratified, it is argued that the older views of the Constitution don’t necessarily reflect the views of today’s society. When the Constitution was created the delegates understood that there would be problems as the young
The Magna Carta was the first document in which English subjects to force English king into power; granting and protecting the subjects’ rights. This was important since the king at the time could do anything that he so desired. However, in practice, this English legal charter did not limit the king’s power. The Magna Carta is the beginnings of American freedom. It is also the foundation of the American Constitution, reflecting English freedom and the power of the English government.
The Twelve Tables were displayed in public for everyone to see. This was very important because being written down, the people could now know what the laws were and they could know what was legal and illegal. “The Tables themselves were pieces of stone with writing carved into them. The main benefit of having laws written down was that the lawmakers and law-enforcers couldn't change them to suit their whims.” This made a huge change in the Roman Republic, not only people could see what the laws were but also everyone was treated equally under those laws.
The system of government we have today was starting to developed centuries ago by the Athenians and Romans. Both governments were established with the intent to give power to the people, even though it did not always play out that way in society. The Athenian democracy and the Roman republic were two very different governments in practice, but also maintained similar characteristics in both systems of government.
On June 15th, 1215, in a field at Runnymede, King John and the Barons signed The Magna Carta. This was a royal charter drawn up by the barons to insure King John would treat them fairly and equally. This document consisted of political rights and a series of written promises. When the Barons made this document it was there attempt to stop the King from possessing too much power and abusing it.
After signing this document that established the rights, responsibilities and obligations of the king, he became more aware of the way he ruled. The Magna Carta also is considered the first step to a democratic government, since everyone had similar rights and responsibilities during the time that it was put into effect, and even though this document is not used anymore, it influenced the way democracy works in modern
Societies need the help of rules to keep order and respect among its population. With the passing of years, the law, which was and is an indispensable tool to regulate peaceful coexistence within any country, has been changing for the purpose of adapting to the evolution of moral rules in the society. This fact enables all citizens of the same country to feel protected by same rules, most commonly known as laws. That is the reason why all people should be aware and understand how our society is regulated and what the rights and duties of ordinary citizens are. In this country, we find three principal sources of law: Statutes, which is legislation from the UK Parliament and devolved parliaments; common law, which is a law made based on the doctrine of judicial precedents and is the base of our legal system; and the European Union law. This latter one has the supremacy if it conflicts with the national law according to The European Communities Act, passed by Parliament in 1972. We will focus on Statutes and common law and will try to explain how common