Teen Court and the First Written Laws

Use a timeline and adapted ancient laws to trace the idea of the rule of law.

The handbook and the timeline

Read the page from a made-up teen court handbook and the timeline. Then answer the questions.

Ridgeway Teen Court Handbook: Why We Have a Rulebook

1Welcome to Ridgeway Teen Court. Here, students who have broken a school or city rule for the first time, such as damaging property, appear before a jury of other students. Before every hearing, the student and the family receive a copy of this handbook. It lists the rules, the steps of a hearing and the range of sentences, such as 10 to 30 hours of community service. Jurors may not invent a new punishment or give more hours than the handbook allows.

2Why so many written rules? The answer goes back thousands of years. For most of history, laws were customs carried in people's memories, and whoever judged a case decided what the custom meant. Writing laws down made them harder to bend. One of the oldest known written codes comes from King Ur-Nammu of Ur, in Sumer. About 350 years later, King Hammurabi of Babylon had about 282 laws carved on stone pillars and set up in public. Many of his penalties were very harsh, and a penalty often depended on whether a person was a noble, a commoner or enslaved.

3In early Rome, judges came from the patricians, a group of wealthy old families. Plebeians, the ordinary citizens, said patrician judges twisted unwritten customs to favor themselves. In 494 BCE many plebeians walked out of the city in protest. They won officials of their own and kept pressing for written laws. About 450 BCE, Rome's laws were set up in the Forum on twelve tablets, and Romans treated them as the base of their law for centuries. Even so, one table banned marriage between patricians and plebeians, a rule Romans dropped only a few years later.

4These codes did not treat everyone equally, but they planted an idea that grew over many centuries: the rule of law. Under the rule of law, rules are written and known in advance, a fair process decides guilt before anyone is punished, and the same rules bind leaders and judges as well as ordinary people.

Timeline: Written Law Through Time
Date	Place	Event
About 2100 BCE	Ur, in Sumer	Ur-Nammu's code; many fines in silver
About 1754 BCE	Babylon	Hammurabi's laws carved on stone
About 621 BCE	Athens	Draco's laws: death for many crimes
About 594 BCE	Athens	Solon replaces most of Draco's laws
494 BCE	Rome	Plebeians walk out and win tribunes
About 450 BCE	Rome	Twelve Tables set up in the Forum
529 CE	Constantinople	Justinian's code gathers Roman laws
1215	England	Magna Carta: no jail except by law
1791	United States	Bill of Rights: due process of law

Notes: Solon's new laws were much milder than Draco's. Magna Carta says no free man may be imprisoned except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. Due process of law means a fair legal process, such as a trial, must come before the government takes away a person's life, liberty or property.

Use the timeline. Round your answer to the nearest hundred years.

Rome's Twelve Tables were set up about years after Hammurabi's laws were carved.

Which pair of timeline entries shows a cause and its effect, according to paragraph 3 of the handbook?

A. Magna Carta in 1215, then the plebeian walkout of 494 BCE
B. The plebeian walkout of 494 BCE, then the Twelve Tables of about 450 BCE
C. Hammurabi's laws of about 1754 BCE, then Draco's laws of about 621 BCE
D. Ur-Nammu's code of about 2100 BCE, then Justinian's code of 529 CE

Which timeline entry best shows that people could change a written code when they thought it was too harsh?

A. About 2100 BCE: Ur-Nammu issues a code of fines in silver
B. About 450 BCE: the Twelve Tables are set up in the Forum
C. About 1754 BCE: laws are carved on stone pillars in Babylon
D. About 594 BCE: Solon replaces most of Draco's laws

Read the laws

These laws are adapted from translations. Read them, then answer the questions.

Hammurabi's Code (about 1754 BCE)

Law 1. If a man accuses another man of murder but cannot prove it, the accuser shall be put to death.

Law 3. If a man comes forward as a witness in a case where a life is at stake, and he cannot prove what he said, he shall be put to death.

Law 53. If a man is too lazy to keep his dike strong, and it breaks and floods the farmland, he shall replace the grain that was ruined.

Laws 215–217. If a doctor saves a noble's life with surgery, he shall receive 10 shekels of silver. If the patient is a commoner, he shall receive 5 shekels. If the patient is a slave, the slave's owner shall pay 2 shekels.

The Twelve Tables (about 450 BCE, as quoted by later writers)

Table III. A person who admits a debt, or who has been judged to owe it, shall have 30 days to pay.

Table VII. If a tree's branches hang over a neighbor's land, they shall be trimmed to a height of 15 feet.

Table IX. A judge appointed by law who is found to have taken a bribe shall be put to death.

Table IX. Putting to death any person who has not been convicted is forbidden.

Table XI. Marriage between patricians and plebeians is not allowed.

Why would Hammurabi's Laws 1 and 3 punish a person who accuses falsely or cannot back up his testimony?

A. To discourage false charges, so people were punished only on proof
B. To reward witnesses who came forward in murder cases with silver
C. So nobles could accuse commoners without needing to prove a charge
D. So judges could decide cases quickly without hearing any witnesses

Sort each law: does it apply the same way whatever a person's rank, or does it set people apart by rank (noble, commoner, enslaved, patrician or plebeian)?

Law 1 (false murder charge)Law 53 (broken dike)Laws 215–217 (doctor's fee)Table III (30 days to pay a debt)Table VII (overhanging branches)Table XI (marriage)

Applies the same whatever the rank	Sets people apart by rank

Draw a line from each Ridgeway Teen Court rule to the ancient law it most closely echoes.

A student who lies while testifying faces a new charge.
A juror who accepts a gift from a student on trial is removed.
No sentence is given until the hearing finds the student responsible.
A student who broke a neighbor's fence pays to repair it.

A. Table IX (bribe)
B. Law 53
C. Table IX (not convicted)
D. Law 3

Tables III and VII deal with debts and tree branches. What do they suggest about the Twelve Tables?

A. They were mainly about crimes that were punished by death.
B. They helped settle everyday disputes between neighbors.
C. They were kept secret from the plebeians by patrician judges.
D. They copied Hammurabi's rules about doctors' fees.

The rule of law

Use the handbook, the timeline and the laws.

Which two timeline entries carry forward the idea in Table IX that no one may be put to death without being convicted? Choose two.

A. 1791: U.S. Bill of Rights
B. About 621 BCE: Draco's laws
C. 529 CE: Justinian's code
D. 1215: Magna Carta

A new juror says, "Hammurabi's laws were fair because they were written down and set up in public." Which response is best supported by the handbook and the laws?

A. That is right, because Hammurabi's laws did away with the death penalty.
B. That is right, because nobles and commoners received the same penalties.
C. Posting them made rules known, but penalties and fees depended on rank.
D. That is wrong, because Babylon's judges kept the laws hidden from people.

10.

Ridgeway jurors may not give more hours of service than the handbook allows. Which part of the rule of law does this rule show best?

A. Punishments depend on what jurors remember from past cases.
B. Judges may choose a new punishment when a case seems serious.
C. Rules are known in advance and limit what judges may do.
D. Students from different families receive different punishments.

11.

Claim: which did more to build the rule of law, Hammurabi's Code or Rome's Twelve Tables? Make a claim, use at least two details from the handbook, the timeline or the laws as evidence, and explain your reasoning.