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Ancient Systems of Law
The oldest code of laws from anywhere in the world is that of Ur-Nammu, the Sumerian king who lived in the 21st century B.C. The next known is again in Sumerian; it was promulgated under Lipit-Ishtar (about 1850—1840 B.C.), the ruler of Isin. All of these codes date from before Hammurapi. As we have noted, he was not the first ruler of Mesopotamia to issue a collection of laws; but his code was so far ahead of anything previously attempted that we must regard it as the apex of legal codification prior to Roman Law. In fact, Hammurapi's Code is the best mirror of Mesopotamian society. Hammurapi ordered to cave this code into a great stone stele. This stele was set up in a temple to the Babylonian god Marduk and every citizen could read it. After the fall of Babylon in the 16th century B.C. the stele was lost for centuries and lay buried until French archaeologists unearthed it in 1901—1902. It is now in the Louvre museum in Paris. Hammurapi's Code is carefully arranged laws aiming at regulating society in clear language. It covered crime, divorce and marriage, slaveholding, theft and property ownership and even kidnapping.
Another ancient code is the code of Hebrew Law contained in the Book of Exodus in the Bible.
In Greece each city state had its own law, some laws were common to many states. In the seventh century B.C. the Greeks began to put their laws into writing. About 594 B.C. Solon, the famous Athenian lawgiver, provided a new code of law. He was not without some experience in matters of law and justice before he was chosen as lawgiver. The judicial reforms of Solon, which secured a minimum of popular participation in the administration of justice and laid the foundation of democracy, are among the most important in Athenian history. The Athenians did not consider it necessary to have legal experts for non-criminal cases. In a civil case the verdict was given by a jury, which might number anything from 201 to 2,500. The members of the jury listened to speeches made by persons who had brought the case before them, and by their friends. Barristers did not participate in court proceedings, but professional speech-writers sometimes prepared speeches.
Roman Law is one of the greatest systems that has ever existed. It was based upon custom, and by A.D. 528 the quantity of Roman Law had become so immense that the Emperor Justinian in Constantinople ordered to make a clear, systematic code of all the laws. Roman Law had a deep influence upon the law of the world. It had a strong influence on the law of most European countries and some influence on Anglo-Saxon law, which is the other great law system of the world. After many years Roman Law reappeared in the eleventh century, when there was a great revival of learning. Many European countries began to use Roman Law in their courts.
The Roots of American Government
By the year 1733 the English had owned thirteen separate colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America. All the English colonies in America shared a tradition of representative government. This means that in all of them people had a say in how they were governed. Each colony had its own government. At the head of this government was a governor, chosen in most cases by the English king. To rule effectively, these governors depended upon the cooperation of assemblies elected by the colonists. In most of the colonies all white men who owned some land had the right to vote.
The years from the 1750s until the mid-1770s were uneasy times in the colonies. First the colonists fought the French and American Indians to gain land. Then they argued with the British king about their rights and freedom.
Democracy in all the colonies grew rapidly. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress took the step that many Americans believed was inevitable. It cut all political ties with Britain and declared that "these United Colonies are free, and independent states". Two days later, on July 4, it issued the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is the most important document in American history. It was written by Thomas Jefferson, a lawyer from Virginia.
After repeating that the colonies were now "free and independent states" it officially named them the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence was more than a statement that the colonies were a new nation. It said that governments should consist of representatives elected by the people; that the main reason that governments existed was to protect the rights of individual citizens.
In 1790 the Constitution of the USA was adopted and a year later, in 1791 ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights were added to the Constitution. The Constitution gave the United States a "federal system of government". A federal system is one in which the power to rule is shared. The Constitution made arrangements for the election of a national leader called the President. He would head the "executive" side of the nation's government.
What Is Law?
Law is the whole set of rules that are supported by the power of government and that control the behaviour of members of a society. The law itself provides the basic structure within which commerce and industry operate. It safeguards the rights of individuals, regulates their dealings with others and enforces the duties of government.
There are two main kinds of the law - public and private (civil). Private law concerns disputes among citizens within a country, and public law concerns disputes between citizens and the state, or between one state and another.
The system of law consists of different categories of law.
There are laws which enable citizens to take legal action against the state. These actions are part of constitutional law. A constitution is the political and ideological structure within which a system of laws operates. Most countries have a formal written Constitution describing how laws are to be made and enforced.
Many countries face similar social, economic and political problems. Nations have always made political and economic treaties with each other. International law is created to regulate relations between governments and also between private citizens of one country and those of another.
Criminal law deals with wrongful acts harmful to the community and punishable by the state.
Civil law deals with individual rights, duties and obligations towards one another.
As well as defining the powers of government, most constitutions describe the fundamental rights of citizens. These usually include general declarations about freedom and equality, but, also some specific provisions. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was first adopted in 1950 and has now been signed by every country of Western Europe. Individual citizens of these countries have the right to bring a complaint before the European Commission if they think their government has broken the Convention. But despite the development of legally binding national and international conventions, millions of people in the world still do not enjoy human rights.
The Form of the British Constitution
When people take part in any activity they have to act according to certain rules. A nation needs a set of agreed rules by which it may govern itself. We call these rules a Constitution. From this you will soon realize that when we describe a country as a "Constitutional Monarchy" we mean a country with a King who regards himself as limited in his actions by the nation's rules.
Now we often say that some countries have a "written constitution". For example, the United States of America and France have written constitutions. In both these countries the whole of the constitution is set out in an official volume which anyone can buy and study. On the other hand, it is often said that the British Constitution is unwritten, meaning that it is not written in a single official handbook. In this sense it is quite true that Britain has an unwritten constitution. Some of the rules, those which have been made by Parliament, are written down in statutes but many more depend on customs. Here is a good example of the unwritten nature of the British Constitution. At any time during the last two hundred years, an educated Englishman would understand what was meant by the term "Prime Minister". Yet it was only in the year 1917 that the Prime Minister was recognized officially by being mentioned in an Act of Parliament.
Britain is a constitutional monarchy. That is to say, a monarch reigns but is limited by the rules of the State, rules which depend partly on written laws but even more on established customs which have been handed down from generation to generation.
The Sovereign. First of all there is the Sovereign, at present Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her office is hereditary, meaning that it is handed down from one generation to the next. You will notice that this is the main difference between a Monarchy and a Republic. In a Republic, for example the United States of America or France, the head of the State is elected; he is known as the President and holds office for a limited number of years only.
The Monarchy is the oldest part of the British Constitution. The Sovereign once had very great personal powers but in practice these are now exercised by the Queen's advisers, the Ministers. For this reason it is sometimes said that the Queen reigns but she does not rule.
The House of Lords. Originally this was a very powerful body indeed, much more powerful than the House of Commons, but today its powers are strictly limited and the real powers have passed to the "Lower House", the House of Commons.
The House of Commons. The third, but much the most powerful of the three elements which form part of the British Constitution, is the House of Commons. This body is directly elected by the people of Britain and nearly everyone over the age of twenty-one has the right to vote. General Elections must take place at least every five years but in practice they usually occur more frequently than this. Since 1902, successive Prime Ministers have been members of the House of Commons and never of the House of Lords.
Parliament. The Queen, the Lords and the Commons form the Parliament. You should notice that "Parliament" is a word which sometimes causes confusion. Very often in ordinary conversation people refer to Parliament when really they mean the House of Commons or sometimes the Government. But strictly speaking, Parliament means much more than just the House of Commons; it means the Queen, the Lords and the Commons all acting together.
Legal Professions in Great Britain
Freedom has to be restricted if it is to survive. This is done by the law which prohibits certain actions because they are against the interests of most citizens. But there is no point in having laws unless they can be enforced. Laws are enforced in two ways. First by the Police, whose duty it is to catch offenders. Secondly by the Law Courts which find out whether a person is innocent or guilty. If he is guilty, the courts then award punishment, either a fine or a term of imprisonment.
The court system is dependant upon the legal profession to make it work. In Britain the legal profession is divided into two branches, barristers and solicitors. The division has a number of significant impacts upon the judiciary system. The English judiciary system is organised on a very different plan. They have no ministry of Justice. Some of the functions of such a ministry are distributed among members of the Cabinet; to a certain extent the Home Secretary is their minister of criminal justice, and to less extent the Lord Chancellor is their minister of civil justice.
The traditional picture of the English lawyer is that the solicitor is the legal adviser of the public. The solicitor may conduct client's case in the lower courts. The barrister can be consulted only through the solicitor; he has the sole right of audience in the higher courts. There is approximately one solicitor to every 1300 of the population, with considerable regional and local variations. There is a heavy concentration in commercial centres. The ratio for barristers is about one per every 10,000. But a lot of work in English solicitors' offices is undertaken by managing clerks, now called "legal executives", who are the third type of lawyers. The judge is the presiding officer of the court. Judges are not themselves a separate profession: they are barristers who have been elevated to the bench, itself a name derived from the part of the Court where they sit. The judge decides the interpretation of the law. The great strength of the British legal system lies in the position of the judges. Once they are appointed it is practically impossible to dismiss them as long as they remain of "good behaviour".
The jury system is one of the most distinctive features of British justice. A jury consists of twelve people who are householders, selected at random by the officers of the court. Notice that they are not legal specialists, but simply ordinary men and women who have been ordered to attend. With a few exceptions, juries are seldom employed today in civil cases. In criminal cases involving more than three months' imprisonment, which are not tried by the magistrates' courts, the trial must be by a jury.
The professional judges, "High Court Judges", deal with the most serious crimes. They are paid salaries by the state. But in Britain, the vast majority of judges are unpaid, doing their work voluntarily, and they are called Magistrates or Justices of the Peace (JPs). They are usually well-known local citizens who are selected not because they have any legal training but because they have "sound common sense". They are appointed by the Lord Chancellor.
Magistrates are selected by special committees in every town and district. Nobody knows who is on the special committee in their area. The committee tries to draw Magistrates from different professions and social classes.
The State System of Russia
Russia is a democratic federative law-governed state with a republican form of government. The Russian Federation consists of 89 constituent entities (republics, territories, regions, cities of federal significance, the autonomous region and autonomous areas, which have equal rights). The authorities of the constituent entities have the right to pass laws independently from the federal government. The laws and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation may not contradict federal laws. The President of the Russian Federation is the head of state. The President of the Russian Federation has the right to suspend the actions of acts of executive bodies of Russian Federation members if they contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws, or the international obligations of the Russian Federation.
State power in the Russian Federation is exercised on the basis of its separation into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Federal Assembly - the Parliament of Russia - is the supreme representative and legislative body of the Russian Federation. Executive power belongs to the central and local governments. Justice in the Russian Federation is administered by the courts of law only. Judicial power is effected by means of constitutional, civil, administrative, and criminal judicial proceedings.
The President is elected to office for a term of four years by the citizens of the Russian Federation on the basis of universal, direct and equal suffrage by secret ballot. One and the same person cannot serve as President for more than two terms in succession. The President stops performing his duties ahead of time if he resigns, because of impeachment, or if he cannot continue to carry out his duties due to poor health. Elections of a new President are to take place within three months and in the meantime his duties are acted upon by the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation. The President of the Russian Federation:
- appoints, with the consent of the State Duma the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, chairs the meetings of the government, accepts the resignation of the government;
- nominates for approval by the State Duma the Chairman of the Central Bank;
- nominates judges to the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court , and Court of Arbitration of the Russian Federation, and the Prosecutor-General of the Russian Federation for appointment by the Federation Council;
- organizes and chairs the Security Council of Russia;
- is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and appoints and dismisses the supreme commanders of the Armed Forces;
- appoints diplomatic representatives for approval by the Parliament. He confers supreme military and supreme special titles and honorary titles of the state;
- has the right to show mercy and to decide on issues of citizenship;
- has the right to introduce the state of emergency throughout the country or in a particular territory within the Russian Federation;
- dissolves the State Duma;
- announces elections ahead of time and passes the decision to conduct a referendum on federal issues, etc.