The Tang Codex was a penal code introduced and used in China during the Tang Dynasty. Supplemented by civil laws and regulations, it became the basis for later dynastic codes not only in China, but also elsewhere in East Asia. The code synthesized legalistic and Confucian legal interpretations. Created in AD 624 and modified in AD 627 and 637, it was announced in AD 652 with 502 articles in 12 sections and expanded with a comment in 653. Considered one of the greatest achievements of traditional Chinese law, the Tang Codex is also the first Chinese codex to be transferred to the present in its full form. In 221 BC. J.-C., the State of Qin finally gained supremacy over its rivals, and so the Qin Dynasty was founded. One of the reasons for its success was the adoption of far-reaching criminal and administrative laws in the 4th century BC. on the advice of Lord Shang Yang. The laws imposed severe penalties for non-compliance with state obligations and, on the whole, punished everyone equally. At this point, the law has been shaped by a purely legalistic spirit hostile to the moral values advocated by the Confucian school of thought. Although it is known that there were earlier legal codes, such as the Urukagina Code, this is the first surviving legal text.
It is three centuries older than the Codex of Hammurabi. Laws are ordered in casuistic form of IF (crime) DANN (punishment) – a pattern that is followed in almost all subsequent codes. For the oldest known existing code of law in history, it is considered remarkably advanced because it introduces fines for bodily harm as opposed to the later principle of lex talionis (“eye for an eye”) of Babylonian law. However, murder, theft, adultery and rape were crimes punishable by death. His team was allowed to edit what they contained. The extent to which they have made changes is not recorded and essentially cannot be known as most of the originals are not preserved. The text was written and distributed almost exclusively in Latin, which was still the official language of the government of the Byzantine Empire in the years 529-534, while the predominant language of merchants, peasants, sailors and other citizens was Greek. By the early 7th century, the official language of the government had become Greek during the long reign of Heraclius (610-641). Unlike modern codes, cuneiform law does not provide a universal formula for the general areas of law. On the contrary, laws usually consist of an “if. then… Cases as an example or precedent.
Penalties for crimes vary from code to code, but not all prescribe revenge. Some only require fines in certain cases, such as in the Code of Your-Nammu, where a line reads: “If a man knocks out another man`s eye, he should weigh half a mina of money.” These cases are sometimes ranked in an apparently random order, although this may be the result of an inability to interpret them correctly today, as they would have been when they were in force. The Tang code has its roots in the code of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (564), which in turn was based on the earlier codes of the Cao-Wei and Western Jin (268). With the aim of smoothing out previous laws and reducing corporal punishment (such as mutilation) to ease social tensions in the newly pacified Tang areas, it was established in 624 AD. Created at the request of Emperor Gaozu of Tang. After further revisions in 627 and 637 under Emperor Taizong, code 653 under Gaozong was supplemented with commentaries. Legalism survived in a watered-down form after the Han Dynasty replaced the Qin. It was recognized that there was a need for complex penal and administrative regulations that allowed the emperor to rule the country through a hierarchy of ministers and officials, all accountable to him.
Imperial legal systems have all maintained the original legalistic insistence that the powers of officials be defined in detail and that sanctions be imposed on transceivers, whether involuntary or not. Han legislators took Into account Confucian values and introduced rules to implement them. The first decemvirate completed the first ten codes in 450 BC. J.-C. Here is how Livy describes his origins: “Although it is known that there were earlier codes of law, such as the Code of Urukagina, this represents the first legal text that exists. It preceded the Codex of Hammurabi by about three centuries. According to the Hebrew Bible, Moses was the ruler of the first Israel of Egypt; and traditionally, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible are attributed to him, although most modern scholars believe that there were several authors. The law attributed to Moses, especially the laws set forth in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, was therefore placed above all other sources of authority (any king and/or his officials), and the Levites were the guardians and interpreters of the law. The Draconian Constitution or Codex of Draco was a written code of law adopted by Draco in the late 7th century BC. Was created in response to the unjust interpretation and modification of oral law by Athenian aristocrats.
Since most societies in Greece codified the Basic Law in the middle of the seventh century BC. J.-C., the Athenian oral law was manipulated by the aristocracy[6] until the emergence of the Code of Draco. Around 621 BC J.-C., the Athenians commissioned Draco to draft a written law and a constitution that gave him the title of first legislator of Athens. The educated person could read the code in a central location accessible to all. This adoption of the rule of law was an early manifestation of Athenian democracy. There are both significant overlaps and significant differences between the legal sections of the Torah and its ancient counterparts in the Near East. While there is a lot of sharing in the content and wording, it is the differences between the codes that are most revealing. From the range of topics covered to the specific details of offences and punishments, collections vary widely. These variations reflect both the different underlying values and principles of cultures and their different notions of justice and punishment.1 Maqāṣid (goals or purposes) of Sharia and maṣlaḥa (welfare or public interest) are two interconnected classical doctrines that play an increasingly important role in modern times. They were first mentioned by al-Ghazali (d.
1111) who argued that Maslaha was God`s general purpose in revealing Divine law and that his specific purpose was the preservation of five things essential to human well-being: religion, life, intellect, descendants, and property. Although most jurists of the classical era recognized Maslaha and Maqasid as important legal principles, they had different views on the role they should play in Islamic law. Some jurists regarded them as auxiliary justifications limited by biblical sources and similar arguments. Others regarded them as an independent source of law whose general principles might prevail over certain conclusions based on the letter of Scripture. While the latter view was defended by a minority of classical jurists, in modern times it has been advocated in various forms by eminent scholars who have sought to adapt Islamic law to changing social conditions by drawing on the intellectual heritage of traditional jurisprudence.
