The world's online museum of law; artifacts, image and art related to the history of law.
Duhaime's Timetable of Legal History takes the reader through the pivotal events that have shaped the history of civilization, from Neanderthal anarchy to the work-in-progress called "law and justice".
The lives and times of the most famous people that have shaped law or legal institutions, from all nations and eras and based only on merit. Most are lawyers but this is not a necessary criteria for inclusion.
These are the bad guys of the law; men or women who have perverted justice while, for the most part, trained and gowned in the black sanctity of the sacred profession of law.
This stuff is for real, man! Law - justice - legal .... all the weird but totally true stuff is all here, man! You ain't gonna believe it, man!
The significant moments of Canadian legal history.
When the British rule, the British rule.
The laws of the Virginia Colony, 1611, known as Dale's Laws kept an iron fist over productivity and order. Harsh in the extreme: it was a military code imposed on a civilian settlement.
In 1660, Matthew Hale gave us 18 rules to govern the job of judging.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Thus is best known the ancient Code of Hammurabi, one of the codifications which began the very slow process of conversion from the rule of man, to the rule of law.
First-ever use of the electric chair, New York, 1890: William Francis Kemmler is killed in the name of law.
The Theodosian Code of 438 A.D. received only temporary and partial recognition in the Roman world but its impact was everlasting.
The 539 B.C. Cylinder of Cyrus the Great, often described as the first human rights code of law but in any event, a very important symbol if not artifact, in the history of law.
Law and justice in ancient Egypt.
A law code published on February 2, 506 to apply within the Visigoth Kingdom of Toulouse and under the authority of Alaric II.
China - A Legal History is a 3-part article detailing the history of the development of law - legal history - in China from 2,500 BC to the 20th Century; a wild ride of religion, bamboo strips, tortoise shells ... and a little bit of law for good measure!
The history of copyright law.
Crazy English Laws II: There were more! How were we to know?!
What with the benefit of centuries of hoity-toity royalty and barons, earls and the like, the Mother country of the common law just cannot be undone when it comes to crazy laws. My lords, my ladies, other ladies and gentlemen, we give you England!
The progress of British criminal law through the medieval ages is the history of all nations that now embrace a common law heritage. It is a story of slow progress; of epiphanies, albeit too few and too far between.
The ancient Chinese may take the gold medal for creative ways to achieve "justice".
The first of the great law codes of the Germanic peoples populating what is now France, circa 480.
Real property has traditionally been the most valuable of all property. Long are the days when possession or might made a landowner. But the history of real estate law sets a fascinating background to this branch of the law rich in verbiage and ancient principles.
A history of law in Japan; a legal history of Japan from "the beginnings" to modern times, in a 5-part article.
History and features of law and justice in the Mayan and Aztec Empires, 2600 B.C. to 1500 A.D.
The best of the best of law and justice quotations, each with context and background on the quote and the author.
Newgate prison, which stood for 900 years in London (1,000-1904), was hell on earth.
More so than with other topics, we should consider the origin of law, lest we forget the hard-earned lessons of our blood-stained past, or the comforts of our daily lives which only the rule of law can provide.
Sir Richard Empson was once described as a caitiff and villain. And what tax collector isn't?
Torture in the name of the law over the centuries.
The law has no true holy grail ... yet. Archaeologists have Hammurabi's code circa 1780 B.C. But complex Egyptian and Sumerian societies flourished thousands of years earlier. It could not of occurred without law. Where is the law's holy grail?
William "Bill" Kunstler was a controversial, outrageous but larger-than-life, courageous New York lawyer with a phenomenal legacy of civil rights work.
William "Bill" Moses Kunstler (1919-1995): Civil Rights Champion, part 2 of 2 of the unauthorized biography.