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John Sassoon's study of the written laws of four thousand years ago
puts paid to the belief that the most ancient laws were merely
arbitrary and tyrannical. On the contrary, the earliest legal
systems honestly tried to get to the truth, do justice to
individuals, and preserve civil order. They used the death penalty
surprisingly seldom, and then more because society had been
threatened than an individual killed.
Some of the surviving law codes are originals, others
near-contemporary copies. Together they preserve a partial but
vivid picture of life in the early cites. This occupies more than
half the book.
Comparison of ancient with modern principles occupies the remainder
and is bound to be controversial; but it is important as well as
fascinating. The first act of writing laws diminished the
discretion of the judges and foretold a limit on individual
justice. Some political principles such as uniformity of treatment
or individual freedom have, when carried to extremes, produced
crises in modern legal systems world wide.
But it is tempting but wrong to blame the judges or the lawyers for
doing what society require of them.
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