| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Archaeological evidence suggests a ranked society with only part-time specialization in burgeoning sociopolitical, religious, and/or military institutional roles.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[1]: Santley, Robert S. (1977). "Intra-site settlement patterns at Loma Torremote, and their relationship to formative prehistory in the Cuautitlan Region, State of Mexico." Ph.D. Dissertation, Depatartment of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, pp. 365-425. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 94-7, 305-334. [3]: Niederberger, Christine. (2000) "Ranked Societies, Iconographic Complexity, and Economic Wealth in the Basin of Mexico Toward 1200 BC." In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 169-192. [4]: Paul Tolstoy. (1989) "Coapexco and Tlatilco: sites with Olmec material in the Basin of Mexico", In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, Robert J. Sharer & David C. Grove (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pg. 87-121. [5]: Charlton, Thomas H., & Deborah L. Nichols. (1997). "Diachronic studies of city-states: Permutations on a theme—Central Mexico from 1700 BC to AD 1600." In Charlton and Nichols, eds. The Archaeology of City-States: Cross-Cultural Approaches. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.169-207. |
||||||
|
Archaeological evidence suggests a ranked society with only part-time specialization in burgeoning sociopolitical, religious, and/or military institutional roles.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[1]: Santley, Robert S. (1977). "Intra-site settlement patterns at Loma Torremote, and their relationship to formative prehistory in the Cuautitlan Region, State of Mexico." Ph.D. Dissertation, Depatartment of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, pp. 365-425. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 94-7, 305-334. [3]: Niederberger, Christine. (2000) "Ranked Societies, Iconographic Complexity, and Economic Wealth in the Basin of Mexico Toward 1200 BC." In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 169-192. [4]: Paul Tolstoy. (1989) "Coapexco and Tlatilco: sites with Olmec material in the Basin of Mexico", In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, Robert J. Sharer & David C. Grove (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pg. 87-121. [5]: Charlton, Thomas H., & Deborah L. Nichols. (1997). "Diachronic studies of city-states: Permutations on a theme—Central Mexico from 1700 BC to AD 1600." In Charlton and Nichols, eds. The Archaeology of City-States: Cross-Cultural Approaches. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.169-207. |
||||||
|
inferred from discussion in sources of development/introduction in later periods
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
inferred from discussion of sources of development/introduction in later periods
|
||||||
|
inferred from discussion of sources of development/introduction in later periods
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Following polity: "The statute-book, the judiciary, and courts of law with their prisons and instruments of punishment, were unknown"
[1]
.
[1]: J. Monette, History of the discovery and settlement of the valley of the Mississippi, by the three great European powers, Spain, France, and Great Britain (1971 [c. 1846]), p. 191 |
||||||
|
Though contemporary sources do not mention the specific absence of lawyers, they say that "[t]he statute-book, the judiciary, and courts of law with their prisons and instruments of punishment, were unknown"
[1]
.
[1]: J. Monette, History of the discovery and settlement of the valley of the Mississippi, by the three great European powers, Spain, France, and Great Britain (1971 [c. 1846]), p. 191 |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Not mentioned by sources.
|
||||||
|
Not mentioned by sources, either for Chenla or for Funan.
|
||||||
|
’The king was recognised as the final court of appeal and final authority in law. Before a case reached the king, it might go through various lower courts; inscriptions frequently mention officials who appear to have functions connected with courts of law. There is no way of measuring the extent of discrimination and corruption in the administration of justice. The ideal of fairness to all was certainly recognized; one judge, or [sic] example, is declared to have been appointed on the strength of his impartiality’
[1]
[1]
’Persons accused of crimes were taken before examining magistrates called sabhachara; these were peripatetic investigators of the court. Witnesses were called, testimony sworn, and written depositions taken. Often, fines were assessed, but punishments for serious infractions of the law was severe.’
[2]
’Within the village were local judicial courts (rah sabha), and there was always a keeper of records - an office that continued down to the nineteenth century.’
[3]
’Yang (2004) following Xia (1981) using the Shuofu A text, points to an inexactitude in Pelliot, whose text maintained the contrary, that scrivener’s shops did exist.’
[4]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, pp.167-168) [2]: (Coe 2003, p. 144) [3]: (Coe 2003, p. 142) [4]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 45) |
||||||
|
’The king was recognised as the final court of appeal and final authority in law. Before a case reached the king, it might go through various lower courts; inscriptions frequently mention officials who appear to have functions connected with courts of law. There is no way of measuring the extent of discrimination and corruption in the administration of justice. The ideal of fairness to all was certainly recognized; one judge, or [sic] example, is declared to have been appointed on the strength of his impartiality’
[1]
[1]
’Persons accused of crimes were taken before examining magistrates called sabhachara; these were peripatetic investigators of the court. Witnesses were called, testimony sworn, and written depositions taken. Often, fines were assessed, but punishments for serious infractions of the law was severe.’
[2]
’Within the village were local judicial courts (rah sabha), and there was always a keeper of records - an office that continued down to the nineteenth century.’
[3]
’Yang (2004) following Xia (1981) using the Shuofu A text, points to an inexactitude in Pelliot, whose text maintained the contrary, that scrivener’s shops did exist.’
[4]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, pp.167-168) [2]: (Coe 2003, p. 144) [3]: (Coe 2003, p. 142) [4]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 45) |
||||||
|
’The king was recognised as the final court of appeal and final authority in law. Before a case reached the king, it might go through various lower courts; inscriptions frequently mention officials who appear to have functions connected with courts of law. There is no way of measuring the extent of discrimination and corruption in the administration of justice. The ideal of fairness to all was certainly recognized; one judge, or [sic] example, is declared to have been appointed on the strength of his impartiality’
[1]
’Persons accused of crimes were taken before examining magistrates called sabhachara; these were peripatetic investigators of the court. Witnesses were called, testimony sworn, and written depositions taken. Often, fines were assessed, but punishments for serious infractions of the law was severe.’
[2]
’Within the village were local judicial courts (rah sabha), and there was always a keeper of records - an office that continued down to the nineteenth century.’
[3]
’Yang (2004) following Xia (1981) using the Shuofu A text, points to an inexactitude in Pelliot, whose text maintained the contrary, that scrivener’s shops did exist.’
[4]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, pp.167-168) [2]: (Coe 2003, p. 144) [3]: (Coe 2003, p. 142) [4]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 45) |
||||||
|
’The king was recognised as the final court of appeal and final authority in law. Before a case reached the king, it might go through various lower courts; inscriptions frequently mention officials who appear to have functions connected with courts of law. There is no way of measuring the extent of discrimination and corruption in the administration of justice. The ideal of fairness to all was certainly recognized; one judge, or [sic] example, is declared to have been appointed on the strength of his impartiality’
[1]
’Persons accused of crimes were taken before examining magistrates called sabhachara; these were peripatetic investigators of the court. Witnesses were called, testimony sworn, and written depositions taken. Often, fines were assessed, but punishments for serious infractions of the law was severe.’
[2]
’Within the village were local judicial courts (rah sabha), and there was always a keeper of records - an office that continued down to the nineteenth century.’
[3]
’Yang (2004) following Xia (1981) using the Shuofu A text, points to an inexactitude in Pelliot, whose text maintained the contrary, that scrivener’s shops did exist.’
[4]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, pp.167-168) [2]: (Coe 2003, p. 144) [3]: (Coe 2003, p. 142) [4]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 45) |
||||||
|
Inferred from the fact that attorneys existed in Ayutthaya (as suggested, for example, by the following seventeenth-century mention: ""The accusations and defences are brought before the courts of the Berckelangh and Mathip by the plaintiff or defendant or by attorneys, verbally or in writing"
[1]
), and the fact that the legal reforms of Rama I built on preceding legal traditions
[2]
.
[1]: (Van Ravenswaay 1910, p. 70) [2]: (Wyatt 1984, pp. 146-147) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Crete owes much of its fame in Classical Greece to its internal organization and its cultivation of the laws. This prestige is partly due to mythological traditions and Minoan memories and survivals. The laws that, according to legend, Minos received every nine years, and the figure of Rhadamanthys the just judge, bear witness to a dim recollection of an earlier rule of law. From as early as the 7th century BCE, Crete had engaged in important legislative innovations, some of which can be reconstructed from the later laws of Gortyn. The famous legal inscription of Gortyn is not an isolated example. Fragments of laws dating from the 7th to the mid-5th century survive in many cities. The reasons for this legislative activity - an activity that includes both the recording of older laws and the introduction of new ones - were the major problems concerning land ownership, inheritance, small landowners’ dependence on creditors as a result of the gradual spread of a monetary economy, and the presence of individuals who lacked political rights but engaged in important financial activities as traders, craftsmen and freelance workers. There was very little interest in reform of the existing regime: the handful of laws on civic issues were intended to limit the arbitrary actions and immunity of the Kosmoi.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [23]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. A second school was established in Beriut in the early third century. Further schools of law were established in Alexandria, Caesaria, Athens, Constantinople, Carthage and Augustodunum.
[2]
"Professional" lawyers (causidici, advocati) replaced orators (oratores) during the Roman Dominate period.
[3]
Leo I (460 CE) demanded some lawyers produce a certificate proving their professional instruction, a requirement which was later demanded in the provinces.
[4]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [10]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) [3]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163-164) [4]: (Mousourakis 2007, 164) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
People who have an education in laws and serve as representatives of clients in courts were present.
[1]
"In the fourth century ... we find scarcely any professionals in the field of law. On the contrary, this century is known for its dramatic shortcomings in comparison with the previous Roman jurisprudence, while on the other hand the new Byzantine law schools did not arise before the end of the fifth century." [2] "These schools were attended by practically everyone who wanted a public appointment. There were for instance the notaries. They began as legal copyists of documents (donations, wills) and deed of sale. After a lengthy private practice they would then get an appointment as judge in one of the provinces and then, after some years in office, with the help of influential friends would enter the imperial chancery." [3] [1]: (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Fögen 1994, 60) Fögen M T, in Laiou A E eds. 1994. Law and Society in Byzantium, 9th-12th Centuries. Dumbarton Oaks. [3]: (Haussig 1971, 179) Haussig, H W.trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. |
||||||
|
“In order to deal with the essential conditions that Claude Cahen and Gabriel Baer laid down so well in their articles, I would like to take as an example of an Islamic guild the Islamic legal professions, called madhhabs, and their institutional organization of legal education, as of the second half of the ninth century. The first steps toward the pro- fessionalization of legal studies were taken after the Inquisition, Mihna, which ended at the midpoint ofthe ninth century. The Inquisition was the culmination of an on-going struggle between two movements: one, of phil- osophical theology, the other, of juridical theology. It was fought over a theological question: whether the Koran was the created or uncreated word of God? We need retain here only that the philosophically-oriented movement entered the Inquisition supported by the central power; which power fifteen years later, made an about-face and came out in support of the juridically-oriented movement. To put it in simple terms: law won out over philosophical speculation. In the century following the Inquisition, the available sources make possible the recognition of the first colleges where law was taught. In the eleventh century, legal professions reached the height of their development with yet a new set of colleges, and a clear-cut structure of scholastic personnel, with various grades and functions.”
[1]
[1]: (Makdisi 1985) Makdisi, G. 1985. The Guilds of Law in Medieval Legal History: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Inns of Court. 34 Clev. St. L. Rev. 3: 3-16. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4CNJ8Q5/library |
||||||
|
People who have an education in laws and serve as representatives of clients in courts were present.
[1]
"In the fourth century ... we find scarcely any professionals in the field of law. On the contrary, this century is known for its dramatic shortcomings in comparison with the previous Roman jurisprudence, while on the other hand the new Byzantine law schools did not arise before the end of the fifth century." [2] "These schools were attended by practically everyone who wanted a public appointment. There were for instance the notaries. They began as legal copyists of documents (donations, wills) and deed of sale. After a lengthy private practice they would then get an appointment as judge in one of the provinces and then, after some years in office, with the help of influential friends would enter the imperial chancery." [3] [1]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Personal Communication. [2]: (Fögen 1994, 60) Fögen M T, in Laiou A E eds. 1994. Law and Society in Byzantium, 9th-12th Centuries. Dumbarton Oaks. [3]: (Haussig 1971, 179) Haussig, H W.trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. |
||||||
|
Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
"In the fourth century ... we find scarcely any professionals in the field of law. On the contrary, this century is known for its dramatic shortcomings in comparison with the previous Roman jurisprudence, while on the other hand the new Byzantine law schools did not arise before the end of the fifth century." [2] "These schools were attended by practically everyone who wanted a public appointment. There were for instance the notaries. They began as legal copyists of documents (donations, wills) and deed of sale. After a lengthy private practice they would then get an appointment as judge in one of the provinces and then, after some years in office, with the help of influential friends would enter the imperial chancery." [3] [1]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Fögen 1994, 60) Fögen M T, in Laiou A E eds. 1994. Law and Society in Byzantium, 9th-12th Centuries. Dumbarton Oaks. [3]: (Haussig 1971, 179) Haussig, H W.trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Lawyers present in the Council of the Indes.
[1]
[2]
[1]: (Cunningham 1919, 25) Cunningham, Charles Henry. 1919. The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies As illustrated by the Audiencia of Manila (1583-1800). Berkeley, California: University of California Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/CM5NJJRR [2]: (Casey 2002, 101) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
"The class of professional pleasders had not yet come into existence; the jurors were expected to analyse the case, ascertain the points favourable for either party and weigh them impartially for coming to a proper decision. Brahmana Durdhara, who proceeds to plead the cause of the defendant against his creditors in the famous case from Pataliputra described by Asahaya in his commentary on Narada-Smriti, IV, 5, no doubt plays the role of the pleader; but he is rebuked by the judge for advocating the cause of a third party in return for a fee. So even in the 8th century the pleader class had not acquired a respectable status."
[1]
[1]: (Majumdar and Altekar 1986, 278-279) Anant Sadashiv Altekar. The Administrative Organisation. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar. Anant Sadashiv Altekar. 1986. Vakataka - Gupta Age Circa 200-550 A.D. Motilal Banarsidass. Delhi. |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] special judicial officers for the administration of justice [2] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library [2]: R.C. Majumdar, H.C. Raychaudhuri, Kalikinkar Datta, An Advanced History of India (1974), p. 376 |
||||||
|
"These men, who sometimes acted as lawyers, were known as wakils, but the term did not have the precise legal definition that it acquired during the British period. H. H. Wilson defined a wakil as, "A person invested with authority to act for another, an ambassador, a representative, an agent, an attorney." It is in this very general sense that the word was current in pre-British times; only on rare occasions do we find the term wakil used to describe someone who pleaded a case in a court of law.
"A wakil was, then, a representative, although not necessarily a legal representative. In general, his job was to negotiate with equals or superiors of his employer, in order to obtain a desired goal, such as trading privileges, a reduction of the revenue demand, a military alliance, or a favorable decision in a civil or criminal court of law. In many cases a wakil was also a gatherer of information. Thus, most important nobles, landholders, and foreign trading companies employed wakils whose job was to attend the court of the governor of the province in which they were situated (or perhaps even the emperor’s court) in order to collect information that might be useful, as well as to represent the interests of their employers when disputes between nobles arose, or when a favor from the governor was needed. [...] Most of the wakils described in historical accounts, then, were specialists in the arts of bargaining, negotiation, and pleading cases; but usually they did not work in law courts, and often they were not even concerned with legal matters. However, there were some wakils who were courtroom lawyers, although not as many as there were in contemporary Europe." [1] [1]: (Calkins 1968, pp. 404-405) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
No professional lawyers were present at council hearings: ’Crimes and offences were so unfrequent under their social system, that the Iroquois can scarcely be said to have had a criminal code. Yet there were certain misdemeanors which fell under the judicial cognizance of the sachems, and were punished by them in proportion to their magnitude. Witchcraft was punishable with death. Any person could take the life of a witch when discovered in the act. If this was not done, a council was called, and the witch arraigned before it, in the presence of the accuser. A full confession, with a promise of amendment, secured a discharge. But if the accusation was denied, witnesses were called and examined concerning the circumstances of the case; and if they established the charge to the satisfaction of the council, which they rarely failed to do, condemnation followed, with a sentence of death. The witch was then delivered over to such executioners as volunteered for the purpose, and by them was led away to punishment. After the decision of the council, the relatives of the witch gave him up to his doom without a murmur.’
[1]
[1]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. I”, 321 |
||||||
|
No professional lawyers were present at council hearings: ’Crimes and offences were so unfrequent under their social system, that the Iroquois can scarcely be said to have had a criminal code. Yet there were certain misdemeanors which fell under the judicial cognizance of the sachems, and were punished by them in proportion to their magnitude. Witchcraft was punishable with death. Any person could take the life of a witch when discovered in the act. If this was not done, a council was called, and the witch arraigned before it, in the presence of the accuser. A full confession, with a promise of amendment, secured a discharge. But if the accusation was denied, witnesses were called and examined concerning the circumstances of the case; and if they established the charge to the satisfaction of the council, which they rarely failed to do, condemnation followed, with a sentence of death. The witch was then delivered over to such executioners as volunteered for the purpose, and by them was led away to punishment. After the decision of the council, the relatives of the witch gave him up to his doom without a murmur.’
[1]
The sources have so far been silent on professional advocates on reservations: ’Iroquois legal procedure during the reservation period was marked by the absence of symbols. Wampum which had extensive symbolic connotations, both in religious and civil procedures, was used in legal convocations only to convene the judicial body. In the longhouse, wampum validated the confessions of religious performers, but in the trials conducted by the Confederate Council no use of wampum was made to validate the testimony given by litigants. One instance was cited of a trial for murder being conducted in the provincial courts at Brantford wherein the accused, a Six Nations Indian, refused to take an oath upon the Bible and requested that the Council wampum be brought to court for the purpose of validating his oath. It may be suggested that writing had produced new legal symbols such as wills and quit claim deeds. The succeeding chapters will develop in detail the coordination of reservation society by the government of the Confederacy.’
[2]
’The legislative enactments of the Council represent in content an adequate means of coordinating reservation society with particular stress on the regulation of economic activity. The formulation of laws does not of itself assure the coordination of societal activity. Ethical values, as a rule, are not at issue in regulatory legislation, and deprived of the weight of ethical sanction, their enforcement depends heavily upon compulsive mechanisms. The Council, by exercise of its appointive powers, had created an adequate personnel to enforce its legislation. If any weakness existed, it was the neglect to include in their legislation the penalties to be assessed against violators.’
[3]
[1]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. I”, 321 [2]: Noon, John A. 1949. “Law And Government Of The Grand River Iroquois”, 43 [3]: Noon, John A. 1949. “Law And Government Of The Grand River Iroquois”, 59 |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
"Alexander is cited by Zoroastrian tradition as having "killed the magi ... many teachers, lawyers, Herbats [the lower magi], Mobats [the upper magi]. Much of the literature of Persia, notably works of learning and Zoroastrian texts, simply perished during the Alexandrian conquests."
[1]
This quote seems to imply that Greek women might need the assistance of a lawyer, although a male relative could have been used: In Late Period Egypt "Egyptian women (unlike Greeks) could act in transactions on their own behalf and without any guardian whatsoever; equally, women could come forward in law-courts totally unaided as plaintiffs or defendants. And it is quite evident that women were capable of independent economic activities regardless of marital status."
[2]
[1]: (Farrokh 2007, 108) Farrokh, Kaveh. 2007. Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Allam 1990, 33) Allam, S. 1990. Women as Holders of Rights in Ancient Egypt (During the Late Period). Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. Vol. 33, No. 1 (1990), pp. 1-34. BRILL |
||||||
|
Evidence for professional lawyers was not discussed in the literature, but may have been present based on the presence of a formal legal code and magistrates.
[1]
Present for the Achaemenids.
[1]: Aperghis, G. G. 2004. The Seleukid Royal Economy: The Finances and Financial Administration of the Seleukid Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
||||||
|
present: 168-30 BCE inferred present = uncertain present
Professional advocates are certainly documented in the second century bc. Among the more noteworthy aspects of the technical details revealed in a famous Demotic archive are the proceedings of a trial held at Asyut in the middle of the second century bc is the complexity of the Ptolemaic legal system. That complexity was caused by two main factors. First, the bureaucratic system operated in two languages, Greek and Demotic. Greek, or at least officials with Greek names, dominated state administrative offices (e.g. the epistates, the stratêgoi) while Egyptians, and the Egyptian language, dominated local temple administration. It is all of this complexity that I think provides us with one of the most interesting historical facts coming from this archive. The judges asked Chratianch the plaintiff: "Is there a man who speaks for you?" A man appears, with a non-Egyptian name, to answer a few technical points on behalf of the plaintiff. He was not a guardian (or a kurios in the Greek sense) because he would have been identified as such. Rather he is simply called a man, but it is difficult not to conclude that he was in fact functioning as an advocate on behalf of the woman. On an unrelated petition on the verso of the text that records the trial and its outcome, Tuot son of Petihor was specifically mentioned as an advocate for the priests of Isis at Aswan. This same man may have been involved in the recorded trial, and indeed this archive may have been his. Much is uncertain. But if it is a Ptolemaic institution, a second question emerges. Was it merely the result of the complexities of the Ptolemaic system, or did it develop under Greek influence? Finally, it seems clear that such reports of trials and the use of advocates, better documented from the Roman period, have their origin in the Ptolemaic bureaucratic administration of trials (Joe will write a paragraph with more details). |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
There are no professional lawyers in village-level disputes, given their relatively informal character (see above). Cases were formerly settled by ordeal: ‘Since the annexation of the Garo Hills by the British Government, a body of men called laskars has been formed, who act as a kind of rural police and also as honorary magistrates. They are empowered to deal with all minor matters and settle unimportant disputes. They do this by calling together meetings of villagers, in which they sit as presidents and give final decisions. Their powers do not exceed those of inflicting fines and awarding compensation to injured parties. This is but an adaptation of the ancient usages of the people, for in former times, the village met in conference to decide any matter in dispute between its members. When in these meetings evidence could not be adduced, recourse was, and is yet had to trial by ordeal. This is of two kinds, the [...] ordeal of hot iron, and the [...] ordeal of boiling water.’
[1]
‘Before the advent of the British, Garos settled all the criminal offences through killing. It was the only way of resolving any dispute of criminal nature. The Britishers could not stop this practice of killing of each other for any slightest dispute. It took a long time and ultimately with the demonstration of gun and bullet, they could succeed to put a stop to it after the Garo Hills became a district in 1869. The laskar was appointed to look into the disputes of both civil and criminal nature in the village. If it is of purely criminal nature, the matter is reported to the Deputy Commissioner at Tura and disposed there. The cases which are not serious are settled by the village Nokma and Laskar with fines upto the amount not exceeding Rs. 50 for injury to property, injury to persons not endangering life or limb, house trespass, affronts of whatever kind; gambling and drunken or disorderly brawling (Milton Sangma, 1981, p. 187).’
[2]
Serious cases are handled by district-level courts: ‘The cases which are brought to the courts are serious and quite entangled ones, otherwise these could be decided amicably at the mahari or chra level in the village. When one does have a dispute involving an alien village, one does not get any support from any member of that village since they do not belong to the same clan. The village authority decides the case and gives judgement according to the customary law.’
[3]
Legal practicioners may appear before those higher courts: ‘The judicial officers (who preside over those courts) are appointed by, or with the approval of the Governor. The rules as to administration of justice do not contain specific provisions as to their tenure and salary, or as to their full time or part time character. But most of these matters will be regulated as rules or orders issued under Rule 15 of the Assam Autonomous Districts (Constitution of District Councils) Rules, 1951. It may be of interest to note that there is a specific prohibition against a member of the Executive Committee being appointed to these courts. To this extent, their independence is protected. A legal practitioner can appear before these courts. But in cases where an accused is not arrested, the legal practitioner takes the permission of the District Council Court for such appearance.’
[4]
It is assumed here (provisionally) that by ’legal praciticioners’ advocates are meant.
[1]: Playfair, Alan 1909. “Garos”, 74 [2]: Marak, Kumie R. 1997. “Traditions And Modernity In Matrilineal Tribal Society”, 147 [3]: Marak, Kumie R. 1997. “Traditions And Modernity In Matrilineal Tribal Society”, 164 [4]: Marak, Kumie R. 1997. “Traditions And Modernity In Matrilineal Tribal Society”, 62 |
||||||
|
Plaintiffs presented their case themselves and took oaths rather than being aided by an advocate: ’As far back as 1600 the practice has been that, in ordinary cases, every man tells his tale by turns without interruption before the judge, who decides after hearing both sides. On the conclusion of the complainant’s or plaintiff’s statement, the linguist, turning to the defendant, says to him, “Wu nsem pa,” that is, “Such is your good report”-an ironical expression, meaning, “That is what you call good conduct; pray, what have you to say?” for every man is presumed innocent and expected to conduct himself properly, so that a report of his doings may deserve praise, not censure. The defendant having made his defence, questions are put to the parties, who are now allowed, if they so desire, to question each other. By such means the facts or points in issue are made clear. The endeavour is [Page 37] to discover a person admitted by the persons to be present, and who is put forth by them as worthy of credit. After this each party calls his witnesses. When a witness, through sickness or other good reason, is unable to be present, a linguist is sent with the parties or their representatives to him for his statement, and this is repeated to the court. After the parties have made their statements, questions may be put to them by the president and councillors. What a party does not deny he is taken to affirm, especially when this is specially brought to his notice by any member of the court and it is not met. A party may or may not call his witnesses, but if the right is waived, it is no ground for a rehearing. When an accused person demands leave to swear the big oath, or appeal to the gods-‘misire ntam, misire abusum”-libation is quickly made by him and the linguist. The form repeated by the accused is somewhat thus: “As soon as I in my defence speak falsely or act deceitfully, kill me, my god.” The linguist follows him at once thus: “Should you say what is untrue, or practise the slightest deception in your defence, may the god (Katawiré, or other god named) strike you dead.” Sometimes, however, the linguist simply says, “If you speak falsely, may this oath kill you” (“nsiw nk[unknown] wu,” hence “enchiou-keu ou,” in ancient books of travel, erroneously called the oath administered at every trial in Gold Coast). One may correct the present mistake, which confuses the gods ( abusum) with charms ( esuman). Busum is a god visible or invisible. Suman is a charm, an object which can be handled, generally a dangerous or poisonous concoction. Suman is properly called fetish, a word which comes from what the Portuguese explorers used to designate the objects they supposed the Africans worshipped, and in which they were shrewd enough to recognize a certain similarity to their own little images and relics of saints, namely, Feitiço. In criminal cases man and wife may give evidence either for or against each other, so long as they take the oath or fetish to testify [Page 38] truthfully. The evidence, however, of a woman against her husband is viewed with great disfavour. In civil cases objection is usually taken, and therefore it is not accepted, unless no other evidence is available. The statement of a man’s mother, brothers, or sisters is not received as evidence, but as a part of his own statement, because of the identity of interest and their joint liability for costs of the suit.’
[1]
[1]: Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 36p |
||||||
|
Professional lawyers of native and British origin were only employed at the courts of the British colonial settlements: ’The result of these changes was to increase the importance of English common law in the colony English rules of evidence and methods of procedure were followed, and the chief justice was empowered to admit barristers and solicitors to appear in court. The "country advocates," members of the Western-educated elite who lacked formal legal training but had represented clients in court cases and had existed in an uneasy relationship with judges prior to 1876, had their status regularized. How-ever, they were soon to be replaced by lawyers who had been trained in Great Britain. In theory the Supreme Court Ordinance gave preference to customary law unless it was specifically excluded by a contract. Never-theless, it seemed initially as if the changes privileged English common law since many of the British judges knew little about customary law, but over time there did develop a body of "case law based on native law."’
[1]
[1]: Gocking, Roger S. 2005. “The History of Ghana”, 38 |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
No evidence for employment specialization characteristic of a developed urban society. Agricultural and herding would be typical occupations with "some internal differentiation ... in view of the sophistication of craft production documented at Mehrgarh.”
[1]
[1]: Agrawal, D. P. (2007) The Indus Civilization: An interdisciplinary perspective. Aryan Books International: New Delhi. |
||||||
|
No evidence for employment specialization characteristic of a developed urban society. Agricultural and herding would be typical occupations with "some internal differentiation ... in view of the sophistication of craft production documented at Mehrgarh.”
[1]
[1]: Agrawal, D. P. (2007) The Indus Civilization: An interdisciplinary perspective. Aryan Books International: New Delhi. |
||||||
|
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh.
[1]
[2]
An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body but there is no evidence for any formal institutions or significant occupational specialization.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6 [2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"While the necessary reliance on archaeological evidence has ensured that many aspects of Harappan civilization, such as economic activities, settlements, industry, and biological anthropology, have been investigated as well as or better than those of literate civilizations, the absence of intelligible documentary material is a major handicap to understanding Harappan social and political organization and has put some aspects of Harappan life, such as the law, quite beyond cognizance."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2008: 245) Jane McIntosh. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. |
||||||
|
According to Coningham, while archaeologists such as Maurizio Tosi attempted to find evidence of courts and the rule of law, they have only found stamp seals that did not change over time or, by their concentration in a given place, indicate an authoritarian locus.
[1]
[1]: Coningham pers. comm. interview with Harvey Whitehouse and Christina Collins, Jan 2017 |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
The law was based on religion, specifically "the Holy Scripture of the Avesta and its translation and commentaries in Pahlavi".
[1]
The highest legal official was the mowbedan mowbed, the top religious leader within the Zoroastrian church [2] , whose precise relationship with the sahr dadwaran dadwar (the judge of the judges of the State, the head of the state judges) [2] is unknown. The mowbed were priest judges. [1] Judges known as rads were among other city officials including tax officials who "represented the central government and were responsible to provincial administrators". [3] The king could "pass judgement in criminal cases, as we may conclude from the Acts of the Christian Martyrs (see Wiessner 1967)." [1] [1]: (Macuch 2012) Macuch, Maria. 2016. Judicial and Legal Systems iii. Sasanian Legal System. Vol. XV. Fasc. 2. pp. 181-196. Site accessed: 21 September 2016: www.iranicaonline.org/articles/judicial-and-legal-systems-iii-sasanian-legal-system [2]: (Shaki 2011) Shaki, Mansour. 2011. CLASS SYSTEM iii. Encylopaedia Iranica. Vol. V. Fasc. 6. pp. 652-658. Site accessed 21 September 2016: www.iranicaonline.org/articles/class-system-iii [3]: (Lambton 2011) Lambton, Ann K S. 2011. CITIES iii. Administration and Social Organization. Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cities-iii |
||||||
|
The law was based on religion, specifically "the Holy Scripture of the Avesta and its translation and commentaries in Pahlavi".
[1]
The highest legal official was the mowbedan mowbed, the top religious leader within the Zoroastrian church [2] , whose precise relationship with the sahr dadwaran dadwar (the judge of the judges of the State, the head of the state judges) [2] is unknown. The mowbed were priest judges. [1] Judges known as rads were among other city officials including tax officials who "represented the central government and were responsible to provincial administrators". [3] The king could "pass judgement in criminal cases, as we may conclude from the Acts of the Christian Martyrs (see Wiessner 1967)." [1] [1]: (Macuch 2012) Macuch, Maria. 2016. Judicial and Legal Systems iii. Sasanian Legal System. Vol. XV. Fasc. 2. pp. 181-196. Site accessed: 21 September 2016: www.iranicaonline.org/articles/judicial-and-legal-systems-iii-sasanian-legal-system [2]: (Shaki 2011) Shaki, Mansour. 2011. CLASS SYSTEM iii. Encylopaedia Iranica. Vol. V. Fasc. 6. pp. 652-658. Site accessed 21 September 2016: www.iranicaonline.org/articles/class-system-iii [3]: (Lambton 2011) Lambton, Ann K S. 2011. CITIES iii. Administration and Social Organization. Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cities-iii |
||||||
|
“In order to deal with the essential conditions that Claude Cahen and Gabriel Baer laid down so well in their articles, I would like to take as an example of an Islamic guild the Islamic legal professions, called madhhabs, and their institutional organization of legal education, as of the second half of the ninth century. The first steps toward the pro- fessionalization of legal studies were taken after the Inquisition, Mihna, which ended at the midpoint ofthe ninth century. The Inquisition was the culmination of an on-going struggle between two movements: one, of phil- osophical theology, the other, of juridical theology. It was fought over a theological question: whether the Koran was the created or uncreated word of God? We need retain here only that the philosophically-oriented movement entered the Inquisition supported by the central power; which power fifteen years later, made an about-face and came out in support of the juridically-oriented movement. To put it in simple terms: law won out over philosophical speculation. In the century following the Inquisition, the available sources make possible the recognition of the first colleges where law was taught. In the eleventh century, legal professions reached the height of their development with yet a new set of colleges, and a clear-cut structure of scholastic personnel, with various grades and functions.”
[1]
"In legal matters, Patricia Crone points out, "there is no trace of the Prophetic tradition until about 770" and it was the lawyers in particular who created the stories about Mohammed simply to back up their own arguments in law. "Numerous Prophetic traditions can be shown to have originated as statements made by the lawyers themselves ... it was the lawyers who determined what the Prophet said, not the other way around." Bukhari is said to have accumulated as many as 600,000 traditions, of which he only accepted as authentic 7,000, or just over one per cent!" [2] -- these are religious scholars not lawyers as this variable codes? lawyers do "red tape", defend, prosecute, submit claims etc. [1]: (Makdisi 1985) Makdisi, G. 1985. The Guilds of Law in Medieval Legal History: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Inns of Court. 34 Clev. St. L. Rev. 3: 3-16. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4CNJ8Q5/library [2]: (Pickard 2013, 432) Pickard, J. 2013. Behind the Myths: The Foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. AuthorHouse. |
||||||
|
“In order to deal with the essential conditions that Claude Cahen and Gabriel Baer laid down so well in their articles, I would like to take as an example of an Islamic guild the Islamic legal professions, called madhhabs, and their institutional organization of legal education, as of the second half of the ninth century. The first steps toward the pro- fessionalization of legal studies were taken after the Inquisition, Mihna, which ended at the midpoint ofthe ninth century. The Inquisition was the culmination of an on-going struggle between two movements: one, of phil- osophical theology, the other, of juridical theology. It was fought over a theological question: whether the Koran was the created or uncreated word of God? We need retain here only that the philosophically-oriented movement entered the Inquisition supported by the central power; which power fifteen years later, made an about-face and came out in support of the juridically-oriented movement. To put it in simple terms: law won out over philosophical speculation. In the century following the Inquisition, the available sources make possible the recognition of the first colleges where law was taught. In the eleventh century, legal professions reached the height of their development with yet a new set of colleges, and a clear-cut structure of scholastic personnel, with various grades and functions.”
[1]
"In legal matters, Patricia Crone points out, "there is no trace of the Prophetic tradition until about 770" and it was the lawyers in particular who created the stories about Mohammed simply to back up their own arguments in law. "Numerous Prophetic traditions can be shown to have originated as statements made by the lawyers themselves ... it was the lawyers who determined what the Prophet said, not the other way around." Bukhari is said to have accumulated as many as 600,000 traditions, of which he only accepted as authentic 7,000, or just over one per cent!" [2] -- these are religious scholars not lawyers as this variable codes? lawyers do "red tape", defend, prosecute, submit claims etc. [1]: (Makdisi 1985) Makdisi, G. 1985. The Guilds of Law in Medieval Legal History: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Inns of Court. 34 Clev. St. L. Rev. 3: 3-16. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4CNJ8Q5/library [2]: (Pickard 2013, 432) Pickard, J. 2013. Behind the Myths: The Foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. AuthorHouse. |
||||||
|
"ulama (scholars), both in Baghdad and the outlying provinces."
[1]
"The Qur’an and all the sciences related in one way or another to the study of this sacred book of Islam found a place in the teaching carried on in the cathedral mosques : traditions (hadīth), exegesis (tafsīr), law and legal theory (fiqh, usūl al-fiqh), grammar (nahw), adab (literature). There, also, professors gave legal opinions (fatwā) and sermons (wa’z), and held disputations on matters of law (munāzara)...On the other hand, a class on law was smaller. For law was a more specialized religious science attracting principally those who were preparing for a professional career"
[2]
Inferred from the following quotes, which broadly refer to India under early Muslim rule. The muhtasib "was primarily a member of the judicial staff and acted as a kind of prosecutor in offences against religious law." [3] "Since the sultans were expected to enforce the law of the Shariah, they were also obliged to take the opinion of the ulema." [4] [1]: (Hanne 2007, 22) Hanne, Eric J. 2007. Putting the Caliph in His Place: Power, Authority, and the Late Abbasid Caliphate. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. [2]: (Makdisi, G., 1961. Muslim institutions of learning in eleventh-century Baghdad. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 24(1), pp.1-56. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3D6X5HUM/item-list) [3]: Habibullah, A. B. M. (1961). The foundation of Muslim rule in India. Central Book Depot, pp 276. [4]: (Ahmed 2011, 97) Ahmed, Farooqui Salma. 2011. A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Pearson Education India. |
||||||
|
not entire period. need to timestamp
|
||||||
|
The muhtasib "was primarily a member of the judicial staff and acted as a kind of prosecutor in offences against religious law."
[1]
"Since the sultans were expected to enforce the law of the Shariah, they were also obliged to take the opinion of the ulema."
[2]
[1]: Habibullah, A. B. M. (1961). The foundation of Muslim rule in India. Central Book Depot, pp 276. [2]: (Ahmed 2011, 97) Ahmed, Farooqui Salma. 2011. A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Pearson Education India. |
||||||
|
Inferred from the following quotes, which broadly refer to India under early Muslim rule.
The muhtasib "was primarily a member of the judicial staff and acted as a kind of prosecutor in offences against religious law." [1] "Since the sultans were expected to enforce the law of the Shariah, they were also obliged to take the opinion of the ulema." [2] [1]: Habibullah, A. B. M. (1961). The foundation of Muslim rule in India. Central Book Depot, pp 276. [2]: (Ahmed 2011, 97) Ahmed, Farooqui Salma. 2011. A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Pearson Education India. |
||||||
|
The code of Patshtunwali was a personal code of honor rather than a formalized code, with justice taking place between clans and individuals.
[1]
[1]: Rosman, Abraham, Paula G. Rubel, and Maxine Weisgrau. The tapestry of culture: An introduction to cultural anthropology. Rowman Altamira, 2009. p.349 |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
‘Traditional Japanese jurisprudence allowed legal representation only in exceptional circumstances, such as cases in which infancy, advanced age or illness were an issue. In 1854, the function of the lawyer was viewed as accompanying people to court and writing documents for them. Under Japanese law at the time, some form of relationship was required between legal representative and litigant. Innkeepers (kujishi) could provide such a relationship. They were the first class of legal representatives in Japan, although they had no legal training. While they had no official recognition, they were allowed to act as counselor for clients who had traveled to the Tokyo court and were staying in their inn. Court officials viewed the kujishi with suspicion, and their reputations were generally very poor.’
[1]
[1]: Hood, David 1997. ‘Exclusivity and the Japanese Bar: Ethics or Self-Interest?’. Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal (Pacific Rim Law & Policy Association) 6 (1).p.201. |
||||||
|
Professional lawyers were not present in Iban communities and trials: ’However, if a case cannot be settled informally, the tuai rumah will then call a bechara . A time is set and the two parties are notified, witnesses and members of every family in the community are informed, and, if necessary, messengers are dispatched to call people back from their farms. On the appointed evening, after the last meal of the day has been finished, the tuai rumah spreads mats on his section of the gallery ( ruai ). As people gather, the principal disputants are called forward and made to sit facing each other before the tuai rumah and senior family heads. The tuai rumah then calls upon the disputants to present their accounts, beginning first with the plaintiff. After each party has spoken, the testimony of witnesses ( saksi ) is given and discussion is open to questions. Finally, after each side has stated its case, the hearing is opened to a general discussion which continues until the tuai rumah is satisfied that the issues involved in the dispute are clear and that each party has had an opportunity to air its case fully. He will then call upon several of the elders present to express their opinions. In stating their views, the elders, who are recognized for their knowledge of adat , are expected to cite precedent and draw parallels with previous judgments made in similar cases by former headmen and regional leaders.’
[1]
[1]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, 6 |
||||||
|
Professional lawyers are not involved in village disputes: ’However, if a case cannot be settled informally, the tuai rumah will then call a bechara . A time is set and the two parties are notified, witnesses and members of every family in the community are informed, and, if necessary, messengers are dispatched to call people back from their farms. On the appointed evening, after the last meal of the day has been finished, the tuai rumah spreads mats on his section of the gallery ( ruai ). As people gather, the principal disputants are called forward and made to sit facing each other before the tuai rumah and senior family heads. The tuai rumah then calls upon the disputants to present their accounts, beginning first with the plaintiff. After each party has spoken, the testimony of witnesses ( saksi ) is given and discussion is open to questions. Finally, after each side has stated its case, the hearing is opened to a general discussion which continues until the tuai rumah is satisfied that the issues involved in the dispute are clear and that each party has had an opportunity to air its case fully. He will then call upon several of the elders present to express their opinions. In stating their views, the elders, who are recognized for their knowledge of adat , are expected to cite precedent and draw parallels with previous judgments made in similar cases by former headmen and regional leaders.’
[1]
But the Brooke administration established colonial courts on district/polity level: ’By 1900, Brooke control of Sarawak was fairly well established. The government was gradually extending its efforts into such fields as agricultural research. As it established a system of courts and law, effort was made, whenever possible, to codify and preserve local customary law ( adat ). From this time on, the mainstream of Iban migration was much less violent, despite cultural ideals, and as we will see, much slower. However, government regulations notwithstanding, the migrations did not cease.’
[2]
Iban communities occasionally made use of the colonial system of courts seeking verdicts in translocal matters: ’The Chinese-Iban relationship was not entirely harmonious. The Chinese sometimes cheated their customers by using rigged scales to weigh jungle produce, but the Ibans retaliated by mixing earth and other trash into the gutta, and later they learned to practice similar tricks with cultivated rubber as well. The early outstation Chinese were often rough and roistering, the Ibans were hot tempered, and communal quarrels inevitably occurred. Ibans sometimes protested in the Simanggang court when rowdy shopkeepers pinched the exposed bosoms of their women. After one such incident the magistrate observed, “More than one complaint has been made by Dayaks of Chinamen behaving thus, and it is disgraceful that a woman cannot walk in the bazaar without being assaulted in an indecent manner by Chinamen.”’
[3]
It seems unlikely that Iban plaintiffs had access to professional lawyers in those cases.
[1]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, 6 [2]: Austin, Robert Frederi. 1978. “Iban Migration: Patterns Of Mobility And Employment In The 20Th Century”, 16 [3]: Pringle, Robert Maxwell 1968. “Ibans Of Sarawak Under Brooke Rule, 1841-1941”, 490 |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
The following suggests that the legal profession had been established in the Islamic world by now.
“In order to deal with the essential conditions that Claude Cahen and Gabriel Baer laid down so well in their articles, I would like to take as an example of an Islamic guild the Islamic legal professions, called madhhabs, and their institutional organization of legal education, as of the second half of the ninth century. The first steps toward the pro- fessionalization of legal studies were taken after the Inquisition, Mihna, which ended at the midpoint ofthe ninth century. The Inquisition was the culmination of an on-going struggle between two movements: one, of phil- osophical theology, the other, of juridical theology. It was fought over a theological question: whether the Koran was the created or uncreated word of God? We need retain here only that the philosophically-oriented movement entered the Inquisition supported by the central power; which power fifteen years later, made an about-face and came out in support of the juridically-oriented movement. To put it in simple terms: law won out over philosophical speculation. In the century following the Inquisition, the available sources make possible the recognition of the first colleges where law was taught. In the eleventh century, legal professions reached the height of their development with yet a new set of colleges, and a clear-cut structure of scholastic personnel, with various grades and functions.” [1] [1]: (Makdisi 1985) Makdisi, G. 1985. The Guilds of Law in Medieval Legal History: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Inns of Court. 34 Clev. St. L. Rev. 3: 3-16. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4CNJ8Q5/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Ulema means "scholars" - they are scholars of the Quran and the holy law, but not priests in the sense of rituals etc. But one should discuss this categorisation with an expert on Islam.
[1]
[1]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [1]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [1]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [2]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [1]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
At this time, lawyers were amateurs. "With a few exceptions, the leading jurists belonged to the Senatorial aristocracy... expert knowledge and ’professional’ in these fields [rhetoric, logic and grammar] were not matters for gentlemen but schoolmasters, frequently Greeks, slaves or freedmen."
[3]
Brennan (2004) refers to "specialists in jurisprudence" during Republican Rome. [4] "Certainly by c. 200 B.C. the Roman elite was taking an academic interest in the city-state’s legal history." [4] "In the developed Republic ... some important colleges of priests maintained books of precedents; the senate’s part decrees could be consulted in written form." [4] Latin legal literature began to develop c.200 BCE. [5] [1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [4]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) [3]: (Mousourakis, 2007, 61) [4]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. [5]: (Brennan 2004, 32) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
At this time, lawyers were amateurs. "With a few exceptions, the leading jurists belonged to the Senatorial aristocracy... expert knowledge and ’professional’ in these fields [rhetoric, logic and grammar] were not matters for gentlemen but schoolmasters, frequently Greeks, slaves or freedmen."
[3]
Brennan (2004) refers to "specialists in jurisprudence" during Republican Rome. [4] "Certainly by c. 200 B.C. the Roman elite was taking an academic interest in the city-state’s legal history." [4] "In the developed Republic ... some important colleges of priests maintained books of precedents; the senate’s part decrees could be consulted in written form." [4] Latin legal literature began to develop c.200 BCE. [5] [1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [4]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) [3]: (Mousourakis, 2007, 61) [4]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. [5]: (Brennan 2004, 32) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
Brennan (2004) refers to "specialists in jurisprudence" during Republican Rome. [3] "Certainly by c. 200 B.C. the Roman elite was taking an academic interest in the city-state’s legal history." [3] "In the developed Republic ... some important colleges of priests maintained books of precedents; the senate’s part decrees could be consulted in written form." [3] Latin legal literature began to develop c.200 BCE. [4] [1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [4]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) [3]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. [4]: (Brennan 2004, 32) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
Brennan (2004) refers to "specialists in jurisprudence" during Republican Rome. [3] "Certainly by c. 200 B.C. the Roman elite was taking an academic interest in the city-state’s legal history." [3] "In the developed Republic ... some important colleges of priests maintained books of precedents; the senate’s part decrees could be consulted in written form." [3] Latin legal literature began to develop c.200 BCE. [4] [1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [4]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) [3]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. [4]: (Brennan 2004, 32) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. |
||||||
|
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [6]) [2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"The point about these placita was thus that they were standardized occasions, run by high-status legal experts, the palatine judges, and legitimated more widely by Rome’s aristocracy. The whole of the city’s political society came together regularly and frequently to run justice, that is to say, and the choreography of each case, while it was on one level unique every time because every case was different, on another level had considerable regularities as well."
[1]
Lawyers became an increasingly important part of the papal curia in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; the future pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216) was a lawyer. Bologna, technically a part of the Patrimony, was the major center for legal scholarship in western Europe from the twelfth century onwards. [1]: (Wickham 2015, 388) Wickham, C. 2015. Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
Several Popes during the thirteenth century, most notably Innocent III, were lawyers.
"The point about these placita was thus that they were standardized occasions, run by high-status legal experts, the palatine judges, and legitimated more widely by Rome’s aristocracy. The whole of the city’s political society came together regularly and frequently to run justice, that is to say, and the choreography of each case, while it was on one level unique every time because every case was different, on another level had considerable regularities as well." [1] [1]: (Wickham 2015, 388) Wickham, C. 2015. Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Sakha assemblies did not admit advocates, only witnesses and oaths: ’4. When a complaint is brought, the defendant is summoned and if he admits the claim against him to be just, a decision is made, and if not, witnesses are summoned by the nasleg corporals, who are paid by the petitioner for the service. At the end of the case, the petitioner gets this payment back, along with other losses, from the defendant if the latter is convicted. If he is not convicted and the petition proves unjust, these losses are imposed on the petitioner as a penalty. 5. Converted witnesses are questioned under an oath made before an image of God. After they have kissed the image, they briefly declare that they will tell the genuine truth about what is asked them, and, if not, that they will incur the wrath of God and be deprived of His blessings, etc. Priests are not required to make this oath. 6. Unconverted witnesses are administered an oath in which they bow to a fire and swear that they will be deprived of God’s blessings, etc., if they give false testimony. 7. Claims and disputes to which there are no witnesses are decided by an oath administered in the manner described above. If both the plaintiff and the defendant wish to take it, the oath is usually given to the defendant. 8. Important and complex claims, such as those concerning big thefts, disputed places, etc., are settled on the basis of instructions given on June 30, 1728 by the ambassador plenipotentiary to China, Count Ragunzinskiy, to the frontier guards Firsov and Mikhalev,; the clan-chiefs of the nasleg in which the affair took place invite the clan-chiefs of the neighboring naslegs, six men in all, whose unanimous decision ends the case; there is no appeal. Although this is called an intermediary trial, the name is wrong, since the plaintiffs do not take part in inviting the clan-chiefs of the neighboring naslegs.’
[1]
Sauer describes oaths taken by witnesses: ’A magician [RCH: i.e., the shaman] places his tambour and dress before the fire, the embers of which are burning. The accused stands before it, facing the sun, and says: ‘May I lose during my life all that man holds dear and desirable [...]’ The magician throws butter on the hot embers; the man accused must then step over the tambour and dress, advance to the fire, and swallow some of the exhaling smoke from the butter; then, looking to the sun, say, ‘If I have sworn false, deprive me‘of the light and heat.’ Some of the tribes close the ceremony by making the accused bite the head of a bear; because they allow this beast to have more than human wisdom, and suppose that some bear will kill the aggressor.”’
[2]
[1]: Samokvasov, D. I. A. 1876. “Collection Of Customary Law Of The Siberian Natives”, 5 [2]: Sauer, Martin 1802. “Account Of A Geographical And Astronomical Expedition To The Northern Parts Of Russia By Commodore Joseph Billings, In The Years 1785-1794”, 123 |
||||||
|
Sakha assemblies did not admit advocates, only witnesses and oaths: ’4. When a complaint is brought, the defendant is summoned and if he admits the claim against him to be just, a decision is made, and if not, witnesses are summoned by the nasleg corporals, who are paid by the petitioner for the service. At the end of the case, the petitioner gets this payment back, along with other losses, from the defendant if the latter is convicted. If he is not convicted and the petition proves unjust, these losses are imposed on the petitioner as a penalty. 5. Converted witnesses are questioned under an oath made before an image of God. After they have kissed the image, they briefly declare that they will tell the genuine truth about what is asked them, and, if not, that they will incur the wrath of God and be deprived of His blessings, etc. Priests are not required to make this oath. 6. Unconverted witnesses are administered an oath in which they bow to a fire and swear that they will be deprived of God’s blessings, etc., if they give false testimony. 7. Claims and disputes to which there are no witnesses are decided by an oath administered in the manner described above. If both the plaintiff and the defendant wish to take it, the oath is usually given to the defendant. 8. Important and complex claims, such as those concerning big thefts, disputed places, etc., are settled on the basis of instructions given on June 30, 1728 by the ambassador plenipotentiary to China, Count Ragunzinskiy, to the frontier guards Firsov and Mikhalev,; the clan-chiefs of the nasleg in which the affair took place invite the clan-chiefs of the neighboring naslegs, six men in all, whose unanimous decision ends the case; there is no appeal. Although this is called an intermediary trial, the name is wrong, since the plaintiffs do not take part in inviting the clan-chiefs of the neighboring naslegs.’
[1]
Sauer describes the oaths of unconverted witnesses: ’A magician [RCH: i.e., the shaman] places his tambour and dress before the fire, the embers of which are burning. The accused stands before it, facing the sun, and says: ‘May I lose during my life all that man holds dear and desirable [...]’ The magician throws butter on the hot embers; the man accused must then step over the tambour and dress, advance to the fire, and swallow some of the exhaling smoke from the butter; then, looking to the sun, say, ‘If I have sworn false, deprive me‘of the light and heat.’ Some of the tribes close the ceremony by making the accused bite the head of a bear; because they allow this beast to have more than human wisdom, and suppose that some bear will kill the aggressor.”’
[2]
No mention of advocates is made in relation to Russian courts.
[1]: Samokvasov, D. I. A. 1876. “Collection Of Customary Law Of The Siberian Natives”, 5 [2]: Sauer, Martin 1802. “Account Of A Geographical And Astronomical Expedition To The Northern Parts Of Russia By Commodore Joseph Billings, In The Years 1785-1794”, 123 |
||||||
|
Kinsmen of the dead, not courts, decided on the course of action taken: ’Feuding or warfare is endemic among the Jivaro. Because of the retaliatory nature of legal sanctions in the society, the application of avenging action frequently initiates long and drawn out hostilities between two groups of kinsmen. This pattern of repeated application of sanctions by two families against one another is a dominant preoccupation especially among the interior Jivaro. These feuds may be formally ended by payment to the deceased’s relatives, or when one of the eldest men on one side is killed, or when each group of kinsmen has lost a man.’
[1]
’After this idea took hold, they travelled upriver to the settlement of Bupátä’s brother Ungúmï, a húndach, or old one (although he is only about 45 years old), to seek his counsel. Then, Santü journeyed further north into Ecuador to converse with Mukwíngü, the mother’s brother of Bupátä and Ungúmï. Such counsel, as I have indicated, forms an important part of the protocol that characterizes the pattern of Achuarä hostilities. Not every death attributed to sorcery is avenged, especially in the case of young children. But, once a homicide is committed in retaliation for perceived sorcery-related deaths, it inevitably calls forth a revenge raid sometime in the future on the part of close relatives-brothers-in-law or sons-in-law, usually-of the victims. Should their retaliation prove successful, close relatives of the person whose death initiated the feud also become obligated to avenge the more recent killing. Each successive death draws greater numbers of relatives into the feud on each side, and more and more lives are placed in jeopardy.’
[2]
The material suggests that the Shuar population was not pulled into the settler court system during the Spanish colonial period: ’In retaliation against the ravages of whites and such client Amerindians, some groups responded with force to outside efforts at settlement and exploitation. It is within this general context that our knowledge of Jivaroan warfare and feuding exists; and while the causes of Jívaro conflict lie in good part in environmental factors, this wider dimension cannot be ignored. As early as 1599, the Jivaroan peoples razed the Spanish gold-mining towns of eastern Ecuador and northern Peru, where Indian labor was being exploited to fill the coffers of the Spanish crown (Harner 1972:18-26; Izaguirre 1929/XI:11-19). Subsequent efforts to reestablish mines in the same region of the upper Santiago River have been persistently resisted as have other forms of occupation that have been attempted in or around the Jivaroan area.’
[3]
[1]: Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Jivaro [2]: Bennett Ross, Jane 1984. “Effects Of Contact On Revenge Hostilities Among The Achuará Jívaro”, 102 [3]: Bennett Ross, Jane 1984. “Effects Of Contact On Revenge Hostilities Among The Achuará Jívaro”, 84 |
||||||
|
Kinsmen of the dead, not courts, decided on the course of action taken: ’Feuding or warfare is endemic among the Jivaro. Because of the retaliatory nature of legal sanctions in the society, the application of avenging action frequently initiates long and drawn out hostilities between two groups of kinsmen. This pattern of repeated application of sanctions by two families against one another is a dominant preoccupation especially among the interior Jivaro. These feuds may be formally ended by payment to the deceased’s relatives, or when one of the eldest men on one side is killed, or when each group of kinsmen has lost a man.’
[1]
’After this idea took hold, they travelled upriver to the settlement of Bupátä’s brother Ungúmï, a húndach, or old one (although he is only about 45 years old), to seek his counsel. Then, Santü journeyed further north into Ecuador to converse with Mukwíngü, the mother’s brother of Bupátä and Ungúmï. Such counsel, as I have indicated, forms an important part of the protocol that characterizes the pattern of Achuarä hostilities. Not every death attributed to sorcery is avenged, especially in the case of young children. But, once a homicide is committed in retaliation for perceived sorcery-related deaths, it inevitably calls forth a revenge raid sometime in the future on the part of close relatives-brothers-in-law or sons-in-law, usually-of the victims. Should their retaliation prove successful, close relatives of the person whose death initiated the feud also become obligated to avenge the more recent killing. Each successive death draws greater numbers of relatives into the feud on each side, and more and more lives are placed in jeopardy.’
[2]
The material suggests that the Shuar population was not pulled into the settler court system during the early Ecuadorian period: ’In retaliation against the ravages of whites and such client Amerindians, some groups responded with force to outside efforts at settlement and exploitation. It is within this general context that our knowledge of Jivaroan warfare and feuding exists; and while the causes of Jívaro conflict lie in good part in environmental factors, this wider dimension cannot be ignored. As early as 1599, the Jivaroan peoples razed the Spanish gold-mining towns of eastern Ecuador and northern Peru, where Indian labor was being exploited to fill the coffers of the Spanish crown (Harner 1972:18-26; Izaguirre 1929/XI:11-19). Subsequent efforts to reestablish mines in the same region of the upper Santiago River have been persistently resisted as have other forms of occupation that have been attempted in or around the Jivaroan area.’
[3]
[1]: Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Jivaro [2]: Bennett Ross, Jane 1984. “Effects Of Contact On Revenge Hostilities Among The Achuará Jívaro”, 102 [3]: Bennett Ross, Jane 1984. “Effects Of Contact On Revenge Hostilities Among The Achuará Jívaro”, 84 |
||||||
|
No professional judges or lawyers.
[1]
Not present until Ptolemaic era.
Archival texts of court proceedings. [2] [1]: (McDowell 2001) [2]: (O’Connor 1983, 185) O’Connor, David. "New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period 1552-664 BC" in Trigger, B G. Kemp, B J. O’Connor, D. LLoyd, A B. 1983. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
There were judges in temples. However, one must infer that even if these judges were not also priests (which is unknown?) that due to an apparent lack of specialized court-infrastructure professional lawyers would be very unlikely.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
present: 168-30 BCE
Professional advocates are certainly documented in the second century bc. Among the more noteworthy aspects of the technical details revealed in a famous Demotic archive are the proceedings of a trial held at Asyut in the middle of the second century bc is the complexity of the Ptolemaic legal system. That complexity was caused by two main factors. First, the bureaucratic system operated in two languages, Greek and Demotic. Greek, or at least officials with Greek names, dominated state administrative offices (e.g. the epistates, the stratêgoi) while Egyptians, and the Egyptian language, dominated local temple administration. It is all of this complexity that I think provides us with one of the most interesting historical facts coming from this archive. The judges asked Chratianch the plaintiff: "Is there a man who speaks for you?" A man appears, with a non-Egyptian name, to answer a few technical points on behalf of the plaintiff. He was not a guardian (or a kurios in the Greek sense) because he would have been identified as such. Rather he is simply called a man, but it is difficult not to conclude that he was in fact functioning as an advocate on behalf of the woman. On an unrelated petition on the verso of the text that records the trial and its outcome, Tuot son of Petihor was specifically mentioned as an advocate for the priests of Isis at Aswan. This same man may have been involved in the recorded trial, and indeed this archive may have been his. Much is uncertain. But if it is a Ptolemaic institution, a second question emerges. Was it merely the result of the complexities of the Ptolemaic system, or did it develop under Greek influence? Finally, it seems clear that such reports of trials and the use of advocates, better documented from the Roman period, have their origin in the Ptolemaic bureaucratic administration of trials (Joe will write a paragraph with more details). |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"Today they are Muslims and have scholars, lawyers, and Koran readers and have become pre-eminent in these fields. Some of their chief leaders have come to al-Andalus... They have traveled to Makka ... and returned to their land to spend large sums on the Holy War."
[1]
Whilst the state was pagan, Muslims were permitted to be judged according to the Koran.
[2]
[1]: (Al-Zuhri c1130-1155 CE in Levtzion and Spaulding 2003, 25) [2]: (Kabore, P. http://lewebpedagogique.com/patco/tag/ouagadou/) |
||||||
|
specialist judges and courts might suggest a role for professional lawyers. a literate class of religious scholars already existed who could have fulfilled this role as specialist lawyer.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"In former times the people of this country professed paganism until the year 469/1076-1077 when Yahya b. Abu Bakr the amir of Masufa made his appearance."
[1]
"Today they are Muslims and have scholars, lawyers, and Koran readers and have become pre-eminent in these fields. Some of their chief leaders have come to al-Andalus... They have traveled to Makka ... and returned to their land to spend large sums on the Holy War."
[2]
[1]: (Al-Zuhri c1130-1155 CE in Levtzion and Spaulding 2003, 24-25) [2]: (Al-Zuhri c1130-1155 CE in Levtzion and Spaulding 2003, 25) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
four major schools of law
"In 1263, Sultan Baybars (1260-77) appointed a chief qadi for each of the four major schools of law, a chief shaykh (master, teacher) for the Sufis, and a syndic for the corporation of descendants of the Prophet (naqib al-ashraf). Under the Mamluks the state appointed judges, legal administrators, professors, Sufi shaykhs, prayer leaders and other Muslim officials." [1] [1]: (Lapidus 2012, 249) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
four major schools of law
"In 1263, Sultan Baybars (1260-77) appointed a chief qadi for each of the four major schools of law, a chief shaykh (master, teacher) for the Sufis, and a syndic for the corporation of descendants of the Prophet (naqib al-ashraf). Under the Mamluks the state appointed judges, legal administrators, professors, Sufi shaykhs, prayer leaders and other Muslim officials." [1] [1]: (Lapidus 2012, 249) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
four major schools of law
"In 1263, Sultan Baybars (1260-77) appointed a chief qadi for each of the four major schools of law, a chief shaykh (master, teacher) for the Sufis, and a syndic for the corporation of descendants of the Prophet (naqib al-ashraf). Under the Mamluks the state appointed judges, legal administrators, professors, Sufi shaykhs, prayer leaders and other Muslim officials." [1] [1]: (Lapidus 2012, 249) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"With the development of the state machine of the Zhou dynasty, under the leadership of the monarch, the central judicial organizations headed by "Si Kou" (the minister of justice) and "Shi Shi" (the official in charge of criminal affairs) were established, and the local judicial organizations, named "Xiang Shi", "Sui Shi", "Xian Shi", "Fang Shi", and "Ya Shi", had also been set up to deal with the judicial affairs."
[1]
[1]: (Zhang 2014, 155) Zhang, Jinfan. 2014. The Tradition and Modern Transition of Chinese Law. Springer Science & Business Media. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Lawyers are not mentioned in Loewe’s
[1]
detailed description of the legal process in Han times.
If there were no lawyers, what did the Superintendent of trials [2] and his departmental staff do? We can infer there were specialists working on law here. [1]: (Loewe 1968, 67-68) [2]: (Bielenstein 1986, 494-499) |
||||||
|
Highly literate society that had a Supreme Court of Justice and codified law code.
|
||||||
|
likely, very literate society with courts, judges and legal code attested.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"The Mongols apparently introduced greater leniency into the Chinese legal system. The number of capital crimes amounted to 135, less than one-half the number mandated in the Sung dynasty codes. Criminals could, following Mongolian practice, avoid punishment by paying a sum to the government. Khubilai could grant amnesties, and he did so, even to rebels or political enemies. Officials of the provincial or central government routinely reviewed local judicial decisions on serious crimes in order to prevent abuses of the rights of the accused. Because there have not been any careful studies of this code in operation, it is difficult to tell whether these statutory reforms translated into a more lenient and flexible system than under the earlier Chinese dynasties. Yet the legal ideals embodied in this code supported by Khubilai and the Mongols did indeed appear less harsh than earlier Chinese ones."
[1]
[1]: (Rossabi, M. 1994. The reign of Khubilai khan. In Franke, H. and D. Twitchett (eds) The Cambridge History of China, volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 710-1368 pp. 414-489. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P. 453-454) |
||||||
|
Lawyer not yet a recognized profession. According to Pils, the view of the government and social elite of legal advocacy in imperial China was largely that they were socially harmful -- a view espoused since c.6th century BCE. Some ’clever’ intellectuals were engaged in helping people involved in litigation before the magistrate. "Litigation masters" were tolerated even though they continued to be denounced: "Their role might be hushed up as something of an embarrassment to the system, and scholars of legal history have straightforwardly characterised their profession as an ’underground’ one."
[1]
[2]
Professional Lawyers emerge in the later Qing period.
[1]: (Pils, 2014, p.21, 28) [2]: (Du Jin, 2013) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
This passage points to a lack of a bureaucratic justice system, which would include lawyers: "The power of chanyu, highest commanders and tribal chiefs at local places was supported by strict but simple traditional ways. As the Xiongnu laws were estimated by the Chinese chronicles, the Xiongnu’s punishments were generally “simple and easily realizable” and were mainly reduced to strokes, exile, and death penalty. It provided an opportunity to quickly resolve conflict situations at different levels of the hierarchical pyramid and to maintain the stability of the political system as a whole. It is no mere chance that for the Chinese, accustomed from childhood to an unwieldy and clumsy bureaucratic machine, the management system of the Xiongnu confederation seemed to be extremely simple: “management of the whole state is similar to that of one’s body” (Sima Qian 1959, ch. 110; Zhongyang 1958, 17)."
[1]
[1]: (Kradin 2011, 92) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
This passage points to a lack of a bureaucratic justice system, which would include lawyers: "The power of chanyu, highest commanders and tribal chiefs at local places was supported by strict but simple traditional ways. As the Xiongnu laws were estimated by the Chinese chronicles, the Xiongnu’s punishments were generally “simple and easily realizable” and were mainly reduced to strokes, exile, and death penalty. It provided an opportunity to quickly resolve conflict situations at different levels of the hierarchical pyramid and to maintain the stability of the political system as a whole. It is no mere chance that for the Chinese, accustomed from childhood to an unwieldy and clumsy bureaucratic machine, the management system of the Xiongnu confederation seemed to be extremely simple: “management of the whole state is similar to that of one’s body” (Sima Qian 1959, ch. 110; Zhongyang 1958, 17)."
[1]
[1]: (Kradin 2011, 92) |
||||||
|
unknown for previous polity.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Legal scholars. "Under the Qarakhanids, the Hanafi school of law and Maturidi school of theology were established in Transoxania".
[1]
Legal documents."The purchase of milk [private property] was registered in the offices of the qadi (judge) through the issue of a wathiqa (legal deed) and was a secure form of property protected by the law." [2] [1]: (Lapidus 2012, 543) Lapidus, Ira M. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (Davidovich 1997, 147) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
“Among professionals, the lawyers and physicians did best. A successful barrister (criminal lawyer) might make £3,000–4,000 a year, an attorney £1,500. A prosperous country physician might bring in £500 a year. The average for both groups, however, was closer to £200 a year. In theory, legal professionals continued to be trained at the universities, followed, in the case of barristers, by instruction at the Inns of Court.”
[1]
“It should be obvious from this discussion why Catholicism, with its emphasis on hierarchy, ritual, and obedience, should have appealed to Henry VIII and much of the ruling elite. It should also be obvious why Protestantism, with its European origins and its emphasis on literacy, should have struck root in England among continental travelers, merchants, lawyers, and other literate professionals, usually based in port cities.”
[2]
“The wealthiest continued to dominate their local corporations as mayors and aldermen. Increasing numbers served as MPs: there were 55 merchants and a handful of lawyers in the Parliament of 1641; by 1754 there would be 60 merchants, but also 60 lawyers and 40 military or naval officers, albeit mostly younger sons of the gentry.”
[3]
“Although the Caroline attorneys-general lacked the political stature of their Elizabethan and Jacobean predecessors, they were none the less able lawyers: Sir Robert Heath (1625–31), Sir William Noye (1631–4) and Sir John Bankes (1634–41) all proved themselves men of integrity and ingenuity in prosecuting crown cases.37 As early as the 1580s, the crown lawyers determined on exemplary prosecutions in several great cases of state.”
[4]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 379-380) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U [2]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 96) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U [3]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 382) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U [4]: (Hindle 2002: 73) Hindle, Steve. 2002. The State and Social Change in Early Modern England, 1550–1640 (London: Palgrave https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GVIZDIC9 |
||||||
|
"During the Lombard and Carolingian periods, only the profession of notary survived in Italy, in the courts of bishops or counts. Along with the rediscovery of Roman law and the rise of canon law, the figure of the lawyer reappeared during the 12th-13th centuries, when, too, the profession of notary spread from Italy as it obtained from the pope, emperor or princes the privilege of certifying writs as authentic."
[1]
[1]: Jean-Louis Halpérin. Panorama historique des métiers du droit en France et à l’étranger. Annales des Mines - Enjeux Numériques, 2018, Les métiers du droit au défi du numérique, 3. halshs-03282138. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VMZMGQK2/library |
||||||
|
Lawyers have not been mentioned in the sources consulted
|
||||||
|
"During the Lombard and Carolingian periods, only the profession of notary survived in Italy, in the courts of bishops or counts. Along with the rediscovery of Roman law and the rise of canon law, the figure of the lawyer reappeared during the 12th-13th centuries, when, too, the profession of notary spread from Italy as it obtained from the pope, emperor or princes the privilege of certifying writs as authentic."
[1]
[1]: Jean-Louis Halpérin. Panorama historique des métiers du droit en France et à l’étranger. Annales des Mines - Enjeux Numériques, 2018, Les métiers du droit au défi du numérique, 3. halshs-03282138. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VMZMGQK2/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"During the Lombard and Carolingian periods, only the profession of notary survived in Italy, in the courts of bishops or counts. Along with the rediscovery of Roman law and the rise of canon law, the figure of the lawyer reappeared during the 12th-13th centuries, when, too, the profession of notary spread from Italy as it obtained from the pope, emperor or princes the privilege of certifying writs as authentic."
[1]
[1]: Jean-Louis Halpérin. Panorama historique des métiers du droit en France et à l’étranger. Annales des Mines - Enjeux Numériques, 2018, Les métiers du droit au défi du numérique, 3. halshs-03282138. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VMZMGQK2/library |
||||||
|
"During the Lombard and Carolingian periods, only the profession of notary survived in Italy, in the courts of bishops or counts. Along with the rediscovery of Roman law and the rise of canon law, the figure of the lawyer reappeared during the 12th-13th centuries, when, too, the profession of notary spread from Italy as it obtained from the pope, emperor or princes the privilege of certifying writs as authentic."
[1]
[1]: Jean-Louis Halpérin. Panorama historique des métiers du droit en France et à l’étranger. Annales des Mines - Enjeux Numériques, 2018, Les métiers du droit au défi du numérique, 3. halshs-03282138. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VMZMGQK2/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Evidence for full-time professional lawyers is not mentioned by sources.
|
||||||
|
inferred present under Seleucids. may have been present at start then lost.
|
||||||
|
No specialized lawyers.
"Not only were rulings passed and policies determined in tribal councils, but also misdemeanours might be heard and their perpetrators examined: ’Excellent is the man upon whom you can call for defence when the plaintiff in the council brings his charge’ (’Amr ibn Qami’a 1)." [1] "Among the wealthier sedentary polities of Arabia there existed a more elaborate legal system with more of an institutional framework. A number of the cities of south Arabia had a council (mswd), and at each of the capital cities there was a supreme council where the king sat along with delegates from a certain number of tribal groups, representing the whole nation and issuing edicts on its behalf." [2] [1]: (Hoyland 2001, 122) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. [2]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
No specialized lawyers.
"Not only were rulings passed and policies determined in tribal councils, but also misdemeanours might be heard and their perpetrators examined: ’Excellent is the man upon whom you can call for defence when the plaintiff in the council brings his charge’ (’Amr ibn Qami’a 1)." [1] "Among the wealthier sedentary polities of Arabia there existed a more elaborate legal system with more of an institutional framework. A number of the cities of south Arabia had a council (mswd), and at each of the capital cities there was a supreme council where the king sat along with delegates from a certain number of tribal groups, representing the whole nation and issuing edicts on its behalf." [2] [1]: (Hoyland 2001, 122) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. [2]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
The following quotes that, in the Islamic world, professional lawyers began to appear at the end of the ninth century.
“In order to deal with the essential conditions that Claude Cahen and Gabriel Baer laid down so well in their articles, I would like to take as an example of an Islamic guild the Islamic legal professions, called madhhabs, and their institutional organization of legal education, as of the second half of the ninth century. The first steps toward the pro- fessionalization of legal studies were taken after the Inquisition, Mihna, which ended at the midpoint ofthe ninth century. The Inquisition was the culmination of an on-going struggle between two movements: one, of phil- osophical theology, the other, of juridical theology. It was fought over a theological question: whether the Koran was the created or uncreated word of God? We need retain here only that the philosophically-oriented movement entered the Inquisition supported by the central power; which power fifteen years later, made an about-face and came out in support of the juridically-oriented movement. To put it in simple terms: law won out over philosophical speculation. In the century following the Inquisition, the available sources make possible the recognition of the first colleges where law was taught. In the eleventh century, legal professions reached the height of their development with yet a new set of colleges, and a clear-cut structure of scholastic personnel, with various grades and functions.” [1] [1]: (Makdisi 1985) Makdisi, G. 1985. The Guilds of Law in Medieval Legal History: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Inns of Court. 34 Clev. St. L. Rev. 3: 3-16. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4CNJ8Q5/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
“In order to deal with the essential conditions that Claude Cahen and Gabriel Baer laid down so well in their articles, I would like to take as an example of an Islamic guild the Islamic legal professions, called madhhabs, and their institutional organization of legal education, as of the second half of the ninth century. The first steps toward the pro- fessionalization of legal studies were taken after the Inquisition, Mihna, which ended at the midpoint ofthe ninth century. The Inquisition was the culmination of an on-going struggle between two movements: one, of phil- osophical theology, the other, of juridical theology. It was fought over a theological question: whether the Koran was the created or uncreated word of God? We need retain here only that the philosophically-oriented movement entered the Inquisition supported by the central power; which power fifteen years later, made an about-face and came out in support of the juridically-oriented movement. To put it in simple terms: law won out over philosophical speculation. In the century following the Inquisition, the available sources make possible the recognition of the first colleges where law was taught. In the eleventh century, legal professions reached the height of their development with yet a new set of colleges, and a clear-cut structure of scholastic personnel, with various grades and functions.”
[1]
"In legal matters, Patricia Crone points out, "there is no trace of the Prophetic tradition until about 770" and it was the lawyers in particular who created the stories about Mohammed simply to back up their own arguments in law. "Numerous Prophetic traditions can be shown to have originated as statements made by the lawyers themselves ... it was the lawyers who determined what the Prophet said, not the other way around." Bukhari is said to have accumulated as many as 600,000 traditions, of which he only accepted as authentic 7,000, or just over one per cent!" [2] -- these are religious scholars not lawyers as this variable codes? lawyers do "red tape", defend, prosecute, submit claims etc. [1]: (Makdisi 1985) Makdisi, G. 1985. The Guilds of Law in Medieval Legal History: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Inns of Court. 34 Clev. St. L. Rev. 3: 3-16. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4CNJ8Q5/library [2]: (Pickard 2013, 432) Pickard, J. 2013. Behind the Myths: The Foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. AuthorHouse. |
||||||
|
jurists, Shi’i legal scholars (Modaressi 1991)
[1]
[1]: (https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RARUQPN6/item-list) |
||||||
|
Highly literate and scholarly society.
"While the Seljuks themselves belonged to the Hanafi school of law, they, through their famous vizier Nizam al-Mulk, established a wide network of madrasahs (colleges) and mosques which promoted Sunnism, mainly in the form of the Shafii school of law and Asharite theology." [1] [1]: Ahmed H. al-Rahim in ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010) |
||||||
|
specialist judges and courts might suggest a role for professional lawyers. a literate class of religious scholars already existed who could have fulfilled this role as specialist lawyer.
|
||||||
|
There were ulama religious scholars
[1]
but these do not count as specialist lawyers. Were there any law specialists whose only job was the paperwork or processing of law cases?
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Imami Shi’i jurists (faqīh) "Already by the 14th century the Shi’ite jurists developed an elaborate legal system of private law based on ijtihad, the exercise of logical reasoning by utilizing the sources of the law to form qualified legal opinion within a specific timeframe. The exercise of ijtihad in turn led to the development of an elaborate methodology of jurisprudence, the science of the usul al-fiqh. Some of the best legal minds articulated complex linguistic debates on legal semantics and phenomenological discussions on the authority of the text" (Amanat 2003, 3)
[1]
Debate between Usuli and Akhbari scholars over use of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad)
[2]
[1]: (A. Amanat, ‘From Ijtihad to wilayat-i faqih: The Evolution of the Shi‘i Legal Authority to Political Power’, in A. Amanat and F. Griffel (eds.), Shari‘a: Islamic Law in the Contemporary Context (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007)) [2]: (Abisaab, R.J., 1994. The Ulama of Jabal ‘Amil in Safavid Iran, 1501-1736: marginality, migration and social change. Iranian Studies, 27(1-4), pp.103-122. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZCSEN5RI/item-list) |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Specialist lawyers require a culture of high degree of literacy not present at this time.
|
||||||
|
Specialist, full-time lawyers highly unlikely given no data for courts or judges or a law system, and the low levels of education and literacy at this time.
|
||||||
|
"In terms of legal systems, its implement and practical application in the dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou had all centered on the will of the monarchs. As a result, the law was overtopped by the imperial power, and both law and punishment were made by the rulers. For example, the law of the Xia Dynasty was generously referred to as Yu Xing (The Penal Code of Yu), which was named after the emperor."
[1]
[1]: (Zhang 2014, 154) Zhang, Jinfan. 2014. The Tradition and Modern Transition of Chinese Law. Springer Science & Business Media. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
In Jenne-Jeno there is no evidence for a state bureaucracy, priesthood, military or a king.
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh, 31) McIntosh, Roderick J. Clustered Cities of the Middle Niger: Alternative Routes to Authority in Prehistory. in Anderson, David M. Rathbone, Richard. eds. 2000. Africa’s Urban Past. James Currey Ltd. Oxford. |
||||||
|
Islamic lawyers?
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Not enough data, though it seems to reasonable infer absence.
|
||||||
|
Lawsuits were one of the many responsibilities held by bu chiefs. "The chiefs of bu, tribes or simple chiefdoms, fulfilled the following functions: [...] Judicial: the settlement of disputes concerning the territories where nomads live, stealing of livestock, violation of customs, mutilation, murders, etc. When Tanshihuai came to power he laid out ‘law rules for disposition of cases between innocent and guilty and nobody dared to break them’ (Ibid.: 75, 330). The same duties are also mentioned with respect to his son, Helian (Ibid.: 80). One of the reasons for Kebineng’s election as a chief was his equitable investigation of lawsuits (Ibid.: 324). However, it is unlikely that these actions were based on written law; "
[1]
[1]: (Kradin 2011, 199) |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Legal code, courts and judiciary existed, but the literature consulted does not confirm the existence of lawyers. Perhaps the fact that they are not mentioned in otherwise surprisingly detailed descriptions of the Mongol legal system at the time suggests that figures we may recognise as lawyers did not exist at the time.
Existence of courts: "Organizationof the Courts: The courts were organized as state insti- tutions. Among the Western Mongols there were two courts of justice, the Khoton and the High Court. Two courts also evidently existed among the Northern Mongols, but among them the courts were more closely connected with the Khoshun and Aimak administration. Definite, although not detailed, rules of procedure existed. The number of cases in which Mongols were permitted to take the law into their own hands was considerably diminished." [1] Existence of judges (though unclear how professional they may have been): "During this period the adminstration was centered in the headquarters of the appanage or Hoshun (Ulus) prince, where there were special officials concerned with the conduct of military, administrative, and judicial functions."" [1] However, may not have existed before establishment of legal codes starting in late 16th century. Late 16th century: “Tümen Jasaghtu Khan tried to unify the country administratively and so included in his government not only Abtai, Altan and Khutughtai Sechen, but also other influential nobles from all the tümens and from the Oirat regions. He compiled a new code that was supposed to be based on Chinggis Khan’s Great Ya ̄sa ̄ or Jasaq (see Volume IV, Part One). Subsequently, Altan Khan, Abtai Khan and, most likely, several others followed his example and adopted their own laws and codes in their respective tümens. But only some of these have been preserved, whether wholly or partially. They were written in the old Mongol script, which had been borrowed from the Uighur, and adopted under Chinggis Khan as the official script of the Mongols. » [2] "Records of Law: The basic records of the law of this period were the Ancient Tsaadjin Bichik, the Mongol-Oirat Regulations of 1640, the Great Code of the Seven Khoshuns, and the Khalkha-Djirom of 1709. Of these records, the Mongot-Oirat Regulations of 1640 were the most important, being, for a time, the effective code in both Northern and Western Mongolia (Khalkha and Djungaria) After the disintegration of the alliance of the "Forty and Four," this code remained effective in Djungaria until the promulgation of the Chinese Code or Regulations of 1789 and among the Rusian Kalmucks until 1917 In Northern Mongolia the Mongol-Oirat Regulations of 1640 were replaced by the Great Code of the Seven Hoshuns and later by the Khalkha-Djirom, which also retained its effectiveness until 1789. The Khalkha-Djirom also continued to function among the herdsmen Shabinars of the Urga Gegen until superseded in 1925." [3] [1]: (Riasananovsky 1948: 172) Riasanovsky, V. A. 1948. Mongol Law—A Concise Historical Survey. Wash. L. Rev. & St. B.J. 166: 160-178. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9JCNB66X/library [2]: (Ishjamts 2003, 214) [3]: (Riasananovsky 1948: 170) Riasanovsky, V. A. 1948. Mongol Law—A Concise Historical Survey. Wash. L. Rev. & St. B.J. 166: 160-178. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9JCNB66X/library |
||||||
|
not mentioned in the literature.
|
||||||
|
The sources reviewed make no mention of lawyers and other professional advocates.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
No information found in sources so far.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"During the Lombard and Carolingian periods, only the profession of notary survived in Italy, in the courts of bishops or counts. Along with the rediscovery of Roman law and the rise of canon law, the figure of the lawyer reappeared during the 12th-13th centuries, when, too, the profession of notary spread from Italy as it obtained from the pope, emperor or princes the privilege of certifying writs as authentic."
[1]
[2] [1]: Jean-Louis Halpérin. Panorama historique des métiers du droit en France et à l’étranger. Annales des Mines - Enjeux Numériques, 2018, Les métiers du droit au défi du numérique, 3. halshs-03282138. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VMZMGQK2/library [2]: (Fouracre in Wood ed. 1998, 286-289) |
||||||
|
"During the Lombard and Carolingian periods, only the profession of notary survived in Italy, in the courts of bishops or counts. Along with the rediscovery of Roman law and the rise of canon law, the figure of the lawyer reappeared during the 12th-13th centuries, when, too, the profession of notary spread from Italy as it obtained from the pope, emperor or princes the privilege of certifying writs as authentic."
[1]
[1]: Jean-Louis Halpérin. Panorama historique des métiers du droit en France et à l’étranger. Annales des Mines - Enjeux Numériques, 2018, Les métiers du droit au défi du numérique, 3. halshs-03282138. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VMZMGQK2/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"The urban community, n’b—nàf, had rights of its own in Sogdiana. This is specified in the legal texts."
[1]
. A lawsuit is mentioned: "Without mentioning the case of Maniakh, who mounted an expedition from the Altai to Byzantium, and to whom I will return at greater length below, it is enough to recall the case of Nanai-vandak, who wrote to Samarkand from Guzang/Wuwei, and to compare it with the lawsuit of the Cao family against the Chinese merchant Li of Chang’an: the range of activity in this instance was from Almalig, in the Ili valley north of the Tianshan, to Chang’an, which is not exactly local!"
[2]
"The contract for the lease of the bridge at Panjikent shows that relatively complex legal and commercial formulae were in contemporary use in Sogdiana."
[3]
"On the other hand, we do not possess the texts of any Sogdian laws. We know of their existence from a reference in an inscription on the great painting of Samarkand, but nothing of them has reached us.44 Further to the south, Syriac texts have preserved scraps of the commercial regulations of the Sassanid Empire, and testify to a developed organization of commerce. A detailed jurisprudence made allowances for the risks of long-distance trade (shipwreck, fire, confiscations or plundering) in the rules of compensation in case of bankruptcy, organized the collective ownership of merchandise and the distribution of the shares in case of a separation of the partners, and fixed the rates of interest for merchants providing themselves with credit and counting on the profits from sales for their reim- bursement.45 We can only suppose the existence of such rules among the Sogdians, but the proofs are lacking."
[4]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 168) [2]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 165) [3]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 170-171) [4]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 171) |
||||||
|
No professional advocates were present on the informal village level: ’In every Sheng Miao village there is a set of rules and regulations which are voluntarily observed. In case of violation the offense is quickly adjudged by the public and an elder is invited to execute the punishment. Before it is carried out, however, he would tell the accused in a solemn manner the myths of their ancestors. Also in the case of a serious dispute the elder would summon both parties together, and first tell them the story of their ancestors before settling the dispute. After a decision is rendered in this fashion both parties would show compliance and would not carry the case to the law courts. Although the mythology handed down from mouth to mouth does not have religious contents, it becomes a kind of prophecy to those people who hold everything pertaining to their ancestors in the highest respect. It is entirely due to this inherent respect for their ancestors that the ancestral myth is recounted before carrying out the punishment or at the time of settling a dispute. The idea is to employ the will of the ancestors to restrain the actions of their descendants. It is interesting to note that the mythology of the Sheng Miao, meant originally to inform posterity of the stories of their ancestors’ life, has also assumed the corrective and preventive functions of law.’
[1]
’If a certain village has a most serious affair, such as banditry, the meeting would then be different from that stated above. The Tung-chia call this meeting “Ch’uan-k’uan” /summoning for conditions/, which means to summon all elders from various villages to discuss conditions. The meeting place is still at the drum tower. The procedure of “Ch’uan-k’uan” consists of the dispatch of a piece of wood (known in the Tung-chia language as ch’a) about one foot long and as large as a staff, on which is written the name of the elder to be summoned and the nature of the business. Those qualified for summoning are all village leaders who can direct the villagers. Ordinarily, such contacts have been established before and so on receipt of the wooden tablet the leaders would come immediately at the specified time. The purpose of such summons is for collective defense against brigandage. Therefore at the time of the summons, each village would send over all its young men. But there are also evil elements who use the summon for ulterior purposes. The decisions reached by the participants at the meeting are final, and no one can oppose them. The wronged party has to swallow the bitter pill: he may become angry but he may not protest. He who violates the decision of the summoned assembly not only subjects his life to danger but also his property to confiscation. Mob psychology is blindfold, and often at such a meeting some cunning and wicked person would accuse a victim, declaring that he should be killed or his house searched and his property confiscated. If the mob should cry out assent, the matter is not further inquired into and the decision is carried out. The original intention of the summoned assembly is good, but it can be easily abused by the cunning and the wicked. Therefore the system is fraught with grave dangers, and has created many conflicts and crimes. It is hoped that the government would step in to outlaw the system.’
[2]
The sources claim a great deal of litigation for the Hmong area: ’The Miao are addicted to kuei and to litigation. Sometimes litigation may last a year, and the court, unable to decide the case, may ask both parties to eat blood. This serves as a deterrent. Yen Ju-yü in his Miao Fang-pei Lan says: “Those who enter the temple to drink blood move on their knees and bellies, not daring to look up; those who are in the wrong dare not drink it, but repent and yield.” In the course of our investigations in the Miao frontier area, the private secretary of the hsien government at Feng-huang, Mr. Wang Yüeh-yen told us: “The T ’ien Wang temple is the Supreme Court of the Miao area. When a Miao is not satisfied with the decision of the hsien government, then he is ordered to go to the T ’ien Wang temple to drink blood. Whatever the litigation, big or small, it receives immediate settlement.” It can be seen that the Miao’s awe of kuei is greater than their awe of the law.’
[3]
So far no mention of professional lawyers has been made when referring to the Chinese court system in the Hmong area.
[1]: Che-lin, Wu, Chen Kuo-chün, and Lien-en Tsao 1942. “Studies Of Miao-I Societies In Kweichow", 76 [2]: Che-lin, Wu, Chen Kuo-chün, and Lien-en Tsao 1942. “Studies Of Miao-I Societies In Kweichow”, 109 [3]: Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 228 |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"The court procedure entailed appearing before a judge or judges, who may have been paid for hearing the case, and hiring a bailiff, whose task it was to schedule the trial and assemble the parties and witnesses at the right time and place, for which he too received a fee. A scribe was needed to draw up a summary of the case and finding. No doubt he received a fee as well."
[1]
[1]: (Foster 2016, 39) Foster, Benjamin R. 2016. The Age of Agade. Inventing Empire In Ancient Mesopotamia. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"The court procedure entailed appearing before a judge or judges, who may have been paid for hearing the case, and hiring a bailiff, whose task it was to schedule the trial and assemble the parties and witnesses at the right time and place, for which he too received a fee. A scribe was needed to draw up a summary of the case and finding. No doubt he received a fee as well."
[1]
[1]: (Foster 2016, 39) Foster, Benjamin R. 2016. The Age of Agade. Inventing Empire In Ancient Mesopotamia. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
Evidence for full-time professional lawyers is not mentioned by sources.
|
||||||
|
Evidence for full-time professional lawyers is not mentioned by sources.
|
||||||
|
Evidence for full-time professional lawyers is not mentioned by sources.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"ulama (scholars), both in Baghdad and the outlying provinces."
[1]
"The Qur’an and all the sciences related in one way or another to the study of this sacred book of Islam found a place in the teaching carried on in the cathedral mosques : traditions (hadīth), exegesis (tafsīr), law and legal theory (fiqh, usūl al-fiqh), grammar (nahw), adab (literature). There, also, professors gave legal opinions (fatwā) and sermons (wa’z), and held disputations on matters of law (munāzara)...On the other hand, a class on law was smaller. For law was a more specialized religious science attracting principally those who were preparing for a professional career"
[2]
Ibn al-Sa’i mentions female benefactors who built law schools. [3] [1]: (Hanne 2007, 22) Hanne, Eric J. 2007. Putting the Caliph in His Place: Power, Authority, and the Late Abbasid Caliphate. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. [2]: (Makdisi, G., 1961. Muslim institutions of learning in eleventh-century Baghdad. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 24(1), pp.1-56. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3D6X5HUM/item-list) [3]: (Bray 2015, xiv) Toorawa, Shawkat M ed. 2015. Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad. NYU Press. |
||||||
|
"the Sumerian civilisation which flourished before 3500 BC. This was an advanced civilisation building cities and supporting the people with irrigation systems, a legal system, administration, and even a postal service. Writing developed and counting was based on a sexagesimal system, that is to say base 60."
[1]
[1]: J J O’Connor, J J. Robertson, E F. December 2000. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Babylonian_mathematics.html |
||||||
|
"the Sumerian civilisation which flourished before 3500 BC. This was an advanced civilisation building cities and supporting the people with irrigation systems, a legal system, administration, and even a postal service. Writing developed and counting was based on a sexagesimal system, that is to say base 60."
[1]
[1]: J J O’Connor, J J. Robertson, E F. December 2000. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Babylonian_mathematics.html |
||||||
|
"the Sumerian civilisation which flourished before 3500 BC. This was an advanced civilisation building cities and supporting the people with irrigation systems, a legal system, administration, and even a postal service. Writing developed and counting was based on a sexagesimal system, that is to say base 60."
[1]
[1]: J J O’Connor, J J. Robertson, E F. December 2000. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Babylonian_mathematics.html |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"When discussing Iranian legal education, one should bear in mind that teaching law in so-called ’secular’ schools has not been in place for very long. In the post-Islamic period, traditional religious schools, or madrasa, were the main institutions to teach Sharia, or Islamic law. During the Safavids dynasty (1500-1722), many Islamic schools were funded to teach religious law as a higher education discipline. Schools had their own campuses with libraries and student residences. The Advanced Law School ... was established in 1919."
[1]
[1]: (Maranlou 2016, 144-145) Sahar Maranlou. Modernization Prospects For Legal Education In Iran. Mutaz M Qafisheh. Stephen A Rosenbaum. eds. 2016. Experimental Legal Education in a Globalized World: The Middle East and Beyond. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Newcastle upon Tyne. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
unknown.
|
||||||
|
unknown
|
||||||
|
not present Middle Kingdom. inferred present Old Kingdom.
|
||||||
|
not present Middle Kingdom. inferred present Old Kingdom.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Considering the small size of polities, full-time lawyers were probably absent. Coded as absent as sources do not suggest there were legal writings or buildings for legal proceedings.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London. [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1983). "The Cloud People." New York. |
||||||
|
Coded as absent as sources do not suggest there are written records of a legal code or buildings for legal proceedings. Considering the small size of the polities, full-time lawyers would be very unlikely.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London. [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1983). "The Cloud People." New York. |
||||||
|
A formal legal system, as associated buildings and lawyers, is assumed absent as the only evidence for writing during this period is from the carved stone slab (Monument 3) at San José Mogote
[1]
and the largest buildings were used as temples and elite residences.
[2]
[1]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London, p130 [2]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London, p131-4 |
||||||
|
Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a formal legal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a formal legal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a formal legal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a formal legal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a formal legal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"Almost all the inhabitants of pre-Islamic Arabia were members of a tribe, that is, a mutual aid group bound together by a notion of kinship. As one pre-Islamic poet astutely observed (‘Amr ibn Qami‘a 8), ‘a man’s tribe are his claws [with which he fends off enemies] and his props [which support him]’. Unlike a state, tribes have no specialised institutions of law and order, so a person’s life, honour and goods were protected by his relatives, who were obliged to assist him in trouble and to avenge or seek compensation for him if he was wronged. ‘When fighting comes, your kinsman alone is near; your true friend your kinsman is, who answers your call for aid with good will, when deeply drenched in bloodshed are sword and spear’ (H. am. 225)."
[1]
"So tribal law was customary law, deter- mined by ancient practice. It is therefore inherently conservative; ‘We found our fathers on a path and we follow in their footsteps’ was the reply of most Meccans to the Prophet Muhammad’s new message (Quran 43.22, 24). And it is echoed by pre-Islamic Arab poets: ‘We follow the ways of our forefathers, those who kindled wars and were faithful to the ties of kinship’ (‘Abid 20). It could only be updated either by such aforementioned paragons of tribal virtue, who won the approval of all, or by the consensus of all full members of the community meeting together." [2] "Among the wealthier sedentary polities of Arabia there existed a more elaborate legal system with more of an institutional framework. A number of the cities of south Arabia had a council (mswd), and at each of the capital cities there was a supreme council where the king sat along with delegates from a certain number of tribal groups, representing the whole nation and issuing edicts on its behalf. Such an edict might begin as follows: ‘Thus have ordered and directed and decreed Shahr Yagill Yuhargib, the son of Hawfa‘amm, the king of the Qatabanians, and the Qatabanians, the council, having its full complement. . . . ’ (RES 3566). In this particular text it would appear that Shahr Yagill had to fight to maintain his position, for he goes on to complain that ‘some people from the council and community of landowners determined and enforced their decisions by swearing oaths between themselves in that temple in their very self-willed and loutish manner without the sanction of [me] their lord’." [3] [1]: (Hoyland 2001, 113) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list [2]: (Hoyland 2001, 121-122) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list [3]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list |
||||||
|
Traditional Islamic law does not recognize professional lawyers.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Need to confirm exact time period this quote relates too: "Maintaining this coherence was a diverse class of jurists made up of scholars, lawyers, and judges, who provided a practical and theoretical framework capable of assuring the effectiveness and continuity of the system."
[1]
Need to confirm exact time period this quote relates too: "... the defendant’s father presented the peace agreeement and a defense document, clearly drafted by a lawyer. In the end, the judge imposed on all the defendants only small monetary penalties." [2] [1]: (Povolo 2014, 518) Claudio Povolo. Liturgies of Violence: Social Control and Power Relationships in the Republic of Venice between the 16th and 18th Centuries. Eric Dursteler. ed. 2014. A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797. BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Povolo 2014, 513) Claudio Povolo. Liturgies of Violence: Social Control and Power Relationships in the Republic of Venice between the 16th and 18th Centuries. Eric Dursteler. ed. 2014. A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797. BRILL. Leiden. |
||||||
|
Need to confirm exact time period this quote relates too: "Maintaining this coherence was a diverse class of jurists made up of scholars, lawyers, and judges, who provided a practical and theoretical framework capable of assuring the effectiveness and continuity of the system."
[1]
Need to confirm exact time period this quote relates too: "... the defendant’s father presented the peace agreeement and a defense document, clearly drafted by a lawyer. In the end, the judge imposed on all the defendants only small monetary penalties." [2] [1]: (Povolo 2014, 518) Claudio Povolo. Liturgies of Violence: Social Control and Power Relationships in the Republic of Venice between the 16th and 18th Centuries. Eric Dursteler. ed. 2014. A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797. BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Povolo 2014, 513) Claudio Povolo. Liturgies of Violence: Social Control and Power Relationships in the Republic of Venice between the 16th and 18th Centuries. Eric Dursteler. ed. 2014. A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797. BRILL. Leiden. |
||||||
|
Inferred from continuity between immediately preceding and succeeding polities. Also the final paragraph of the following quote seems to suggest the existence of lawyers.
"Both in terms of ideology and organization, therefore, Theoderic sought and largely maintained the institutions and administrative procedures of the later western imperial administration as he found them. The same can be said of Rome’s laws. Several letters within the collection stress the need to preserve the rule of Roman law, demand respect for it, reflect upon its fundamental correctness, or even cite it. "[...] "Despite the fact that the justice system was by its nature an imperfect one, biased in favour of the wealthy and well connected, it was nevertheless a legitimate system. Where its integrity came under threat was in the actions of the judges and court officials responsible for putting otherwise abstract rules into effect. As in the later empire, the courts were administered by the central administration through provincial governors and their staff, as well as officers of the local municipalities, including the Roman defensores, duumviri, quinquennales, and the ubiquitous decurions, who had the authority to deal with civil and minor criminal matters. Also at the local level was the bishop’s court (episcopalis audientia), which had jurisdiction over cases involving ecclesiastic officials. But it is clear from our sources that this was a much simplified and watered-down version wherein the bulk of cases were dealt with by the provincial governor irrespective of the type of case or considerations of a person’s ethnicity or status. "Outside the courtroom there existed several less formal (but by no means less-legal) methods of dispute settlement. Arbitration, or other forms of dispute resolution such as mediation, negotiation, or self-help, offered an important alternative to formal litigation, which could be an expensive, unpredictable, and even risky endeavour. Unfortunately, the law took little notice of these, and what references we have in the Variae to such informal methods of dispute resolution reveal no more than one stage in what was, in most cases, a lengthy and protracted process." [1] [1]: (Lafferty 2016: 148, 162) Lafferty, S. The Law. In Arnold, Bjornlie and Sessa (eds) A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy pp. 147-172. Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VQ8MC72F/item-list |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
“New courts of general jurisdiction under Joseph II operated on the first and second levels of adjudication and appeal and ignored ständisch differences; all citizens became subject to the same criminal code, with local inhabitants having a theoretical right of appeal from manorial courts to the royal courts. Local judges were forced to know the law, since appeals to royal courts were written, not oral. The regional Estates were nearly powerless to resist—they had no army, the great aristocrats had torn loyalties, and the provinces did not trust each other.”
[1]
“Over the course of the 1870s generational tensions became apparent as younger Liberals began to act out their ambitions and frustrations against their elders, which contributed to the instability of the regime by 1879. The Liberals were heavily juristic and academic in their occupational backgrounds, from the state service as well as private lawyers and university professors, as well as encompassing a large number of property owners and independent businessmen.”
[2]
“Of the men elected to the City Council in Vienna on anti-Semitic/anti-Liberal election slates between 1886 and 1891 most were wealthy artisans or owners of middle-sized businesses or stores, lawyers, schoolteachers (mostly senior teachers), and public or private employees.”
[3]
[1]: (Boyer 2022: 8) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD [2]: (Boyer 2022: 119) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD [3]: (Boyer 2022: 237) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD |
||||||
|
“In part, election results like this heralded a significant shift in liberal politics that would become much clearer in the 1860s and 1870s, as artisans, manufacturers, and other members of the economic middle classes entrusted their political fates no longer to the bureaucrat with his legal education, but rather to another legally educated white-collar professional: the lawyer. “Th e lawyer,” argues Thomas Götz, “embodied the prototypical educated citizen (Bildungsbürger) like no other; his specialized knowledge and fluent speaking abilities gave this professional enormous potential usefulness for the new legal functions assigned to the newly set-up civic communes.”69 Although the bureaucrats and lawyers shared much in common, particularly a common educational background, they occupied professions that related quite differently to the public. In Innsbruck, for example, those communal elections of 1850 constituted a breakthrough for lawyers who, as an occupational group, now replaced state bureaucrats— also educated in law—as the acknowledged political voice of the middle classes. When constitutional life resumed in the 1860s, lawyers would dominate elected institutions at all levels of government, from village councils to Imperial Parliament.”
[1]
[1]: (Judson 2016: 248) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW |
||||||
|
“In the political thought of the 13th and 14th centuries, the idea of the transpersonal nature of the kingdom was further elaborated to the point of regarding kingdoms as entities existing in themselves… The concept of mystic body (corpus mysticum) was at the same time adopted by lawyers to refer figuratively to some kind of legal entity—a corporation or society.”
[1]
“This raises the obvious question about Jan of Jesenice. He was a legal expert and Hus’ lawyer. Unfortunately, had Jesenice been able to advise Hus directly, at every turn in the legal process, Hus would have fared much better. But Jesenice left Prague in late 1410 and went to Rome as Hus’ representative.”
[2]
[1]: (Antonin 2017: 27) Antonín, Robert. 2017. The Ideal Ruler in Medieval Bohemia, trans. Sean Mark Miller, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450. Leiden; Boston: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/G2S9M8F6 [2]: (Fudge 2010: 130) Fudge, Thomas A. 2010. Jan Hus: Religious Reform and Social Revolution in Bohemia. London; New York: I. B. Tauris. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z325C95F |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
“In 1771, for example, the former Jesuit Colegio Imperial de Madrid became the Reales Estudios de San Isidro, with a new curriculum stressing experimental physics, logic, and the law of nature and nations, all to be taught “according to the lights given by modern authorities and without scholastic disputes.” The king decreed that study of natural law was to be a prerequisite for a law career…”(Bergamini 1974: 92) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF “The Conspiracy of San Bias uncovered just before that saint’s day in February, 1795, was an exception: a schoolmaster, a lawyer, and a doctor were involved in a pathetically private effort to collect arms and print propaganda in favor of a Spanish republic. Nonetheless, such conspiracies on top of the military defeats decided Godoy to make peace.”(Bergamini 1974: 120) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Prior to the judicial reforms of 1864, the legal profession in the Russian Empire was not as formally structured or professionalized as it later became.
The administration of justice was primarily carried out by local authorities and the nobility, with a less distinct separation between the roles of administrators and legal professionals. The period from 1864 to 1917 is known as "The Golden Age" of Russian law and the legal profession, primarily due to judicial reforms and the establishment of the "Advokatura", a professional society of legal professionals representing litigants. These reforms were a culmination of earlier efforts towards the professionalization of the Russian civil service under Alexander I and the establishment of law faculties in urban centers, leading to a cadre of Russian jurists in administrative, judicial, and academic roles. The reforms initiated under Alexander II in 1864 marked a significant shift, creating a more formal and professional legal environment and contributing to the evolution towards a constitutional monarchy by 1906. [1] [1]: Peter H. Solomon, ed., Reforming Justice in Russia, 1864-1996: Power, Culture, and the Limits of Legal Order (Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge, 2015). Zotero link: 6F93JTAI |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Prior to the judicial reforms of 1864, the legal profession in the Russian Empire was not as formally structured or professionalized as it later became.
The administration of justice was primarily carried out by local authorities and the nobility, with a less distinct separation between the roles of administrators and legal professionals. [1] [1]: Peter H. Solomon, ed., Reforming Justice in Russia, 1864-1996: Power, Culture, and the Limits of Legal Order (Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge, 2015). Zotero link: 6F93JTAI |
||||||
|
The following reconstruction of small communities consisting of extended families based in autonomous homesteads suggests minimal social diffrentiation. ”For the first 400 years of the settlement’s history, Kirikongo was a single economically generalized social group (Figure 6). The occupants were self-sufficient farmers who cultivated grains and herded livestock, smelted and forged iron, opportunistically hunted, lived in puddled earthen structures with pounded clay floors, and fished in the seasonal drainages. [...] Since Kirikongo did not grow (at least not significantly) for over 400 years, it is likely that extra-community fissioning continually occurred to contribute to regional population growth, and it is also likely that Kirikongo itself was the result of budding from a previous homestead. However, with the small scale of settlement, the inhabitants of individual homesteads must have interacted with a wider community for social and demographic reasons. [...] It may be that generalized single-kin homesteads like Kirikongo were the societal model for a post-LSA expansion of farming peoples along the Nakambe (White Volta) and Mouhoun (Black Volta) River basins. A homestead settlement pattern would fit well with the transitional nature of early sedentary life, where societies are shifting from generalized reciprocity to more restricted and formalized group membership, and single-kin communities like Kirikongo’s house (Mound 4) would be roughly the size of a band.”
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 27, 32) |
||||||
|
The following quote suggests the emergence of social differentiation in this period, but little appears to be understood about this phenomenon apart from the appearance of specialised smiths and the formation of senior and cadet social segments. "During Yellow II, the inhabitants of Mound 4 began a process that eventually led to centralization of iron production, as described in detail above. Iron ore extraction involves profound digging in the earth, the realm of spirits, and historically in Bwa society the practice is reserved solely for specialized smiths, who also excavate burials (see discussions below). The mid first millennium A.D. therefore witnessed a transformation from redundant social and economic roles for houses to specialization in at least one craft activity. While houses were still highly independent, even producing their own pottery, a formalized village structure was likely present with both cadet and senior social segments, founded upon common descent with a common ancestor."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 28) |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
"The need for integration and cohesion was felt even within a trade organisation like the VOC, as is apparent from the official survey that the lawyer of the Company Pieter van Dam started writing in 1693 on behalf of the administrators, who were keen to have an orderly overview."
[1]
[1]: (Emmer and Gommans 2020: 84) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/AI9PPN7Q/collection. |
||||||
|
“Near the palace lived court interpreters, lawyers and musicians and other entertainers.”
[1]
It is unclear from the quote whether these lawyers were full-time professionals.
[1]: (Lewis 2001, 70) Lewis, Herbert S. 2001. Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NRZVWSCD/collection |
||||||
|
The quote below suggests that legal affairs were informal matters for local leaders rather than carried out through Sharia law. “As power devolved to local leaders, customary rather than Sharia’atic law dominated political relations at the local level. We saw in the previous section how the saints of Somali tradition contributed to the evolution of xeer (customary law) in the various communities where they settled. They mediated disputes, helped assess blood-wealth (diya) payments, and assisted at rituals of reconciliation. Such mediation was particularly critical in the evolving Rahanwiin confederations, which typically consisted of lineages of diverse genealogical origins and perhaps different marriage and inheritance customs.
[1]
[1]: (Cassanelli 1982, 130) Cassanelli, Lee. V. 1982. The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKPH7Z89/library |
||||||
|
The following quote suggest that there was not a formal legal code with courts, professional judges and lawyers, but instead there was a group of local arbitrators for various communal disputes. “Every gafo (aggregate of houses) had its clan elder, called duke niho, father of the people, who was a functionary only in the most general sense of the word, acting as an arbitrator in disputes and as a link between his gafo and that of the rashe showo. In fact, all of the positions lower than rashe showo were engaged primarily in matters of justice. The duke niho was considered to be a nali areto or ari gecho, ‘one who knows’. The tatikisho and the gudo were also in the category of ‘those who know,’ and they were asked to arbitrate and to sit in judgement in all cases affecting a gafo or subdistrict. Usually the duke niho was asked his opinion, but a binding judgement was left to the tatikisho. If this judgement was not acceptable to either of the parties, they could appeal to the gudo. Up to this level decisions could involve the division of a piece of land or compensation for damages. The rashe showo represented the next level of appeal, although the right to arrest people or to lock them in irons was reserved for the worabi rasho.”
[1]
[1]: (Orent 1970, 292) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection |
||||||
|
"Contexts that could shed light on the dynamics of social structure and hierarchies in the metropolis, such as the royal burial site of Oyo monarchs and the residences of the elite population, have not been investigated. The mapping of the palace structures has not been followed by systematic excavations (Soper, 1992); and questions of the economy, military system, and ideology of the empire have not been addressed archaeologically, although their general patterns are known from historical studies (e.g, Johnson, 1921; Law, 1977)."
[1]
Regarding this period, however, one of the historical studies mentioned in this quote also notes: "Of the earliestperiod of Oyo history, before the sixteenth century, very little is known."
[2]
Law does not then go on to provide specific information directly relevant to this variable.
[1]: (Ogundiran 2005: 151-152) [2]: (Law 1977: 33) |
||||||
|
“Let us note that in the Igbo traditional setting, the oracle held executive, legislative, and judicial powers.”
[1]
[1]: Innocent, Rev. (2020). A Critical Study on the Ibini Ukpabi (Arochukwu Long Juju) Oracle and its Implications on the International Relations During the 20th Century. London Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, 20(10): 6. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZXZGZSM3/collection |
||||||
|
"As there existed no codified law, no formal tribunals, no structure for appealing judicial decisions, no separation between civil and criminal law, no distinction between a judicial session and a general audience, the king and the queen mother settled disputes according to their own wishes. When they felt they had been slighted or wronged, they summoned the culprits and sentenced them without further ado."
[1]
[1]: (Vansina 2004: 89-90) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection. |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it. “But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such. “Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.” [1] [1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
There were lawyers throughout the various countries of the Empire.
[1]
In the 1090s lawyers were tasked with piecing together old Roman Empire laws. There were law schools in Italy and France.
[2]
[1]: Wilson 2016: 604. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N5M9R9XA [2]: Wilson 2016: 606. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N5M9R9XA |
||||||