This is the primary home for Duhaime.org's legal history information. It is divided into six chambers.
The law has come a long way, baby! From acts so barbaric that they defy belief, to a modern world where most of the world population is exempt from the tyranical Rule of Man system and benefit from a transparent Rule of Law, this time-table looks at the significant steps in ongoing development of our law.
This is where we have prepared short descriptions of the lives and times of the most famous (or infamous) people that have shaped our law or legal institutions. The persons selected are taken from all nations and eras and based only on merit. Most are lawyers but this is not a criteria for inclusion.
There is no greater stain on the law then the bloody history of torture in the name of punishment for crime. The legal histories of England, Canada, the United States of America, Australia and, for that matter, virtually all members of the United Nations, are full of examples of awful punishment inflicted on those found guilty of crime.
The vast self-governing dominion created in 1867, with umbilical ties to the British still ongoing, Canada's legal history is rich, state-of-the-art model of freedom and democracy. But as with anything cutting edge, progress has been steady yet slow. These articles bring you to the significant moments of law-making or law-shaping, raw and uncensored.
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. It was a wild ride of religion, law, bamboo strips and tortoise shells.
There were more! How was I to know?! I went ferreting through the English Statutes and - gasp! - I found more ... more crazy English laws!
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 few and far between.
The ancient Chinese may take the gold medal for creative ways to achieve "justice".
A collection of artifacts, image and art related to the history of law.
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.
The best of the best of law and justice quotations, each with context and background on the quote and the author.
As law is all we have standing between us and the "tyranny of mere will and the cruelty of unbridled, undisciplined feeling," aka anarchy, perhaps 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 comfords of our daily lives which only the rule of law can provide.