This book is a study of the beginnings of law and the 'primitive' stages of its development, from the first rudimentary rules of conduct to the codes of the legal systems. Its scope extends to both cultures and legal systems from the ancient and medieval past: those of the Babylonians and Assyrians, Hittites, Hebrews, Romans, Hindus, English and other German peoples, and those of Africa, Australia and America. Correlating early economic and legal development, the book illustrates how laws change with the development of material culture. Originally published in 1971.

Comprehensive and accessible, this book offers a concise synthesis of the evolution of the law in Western Europe, from ancient Rome to the beginning of the twentieth century. It situates law in the wider framework of Europe’s political, economic, social and cultural developments.

Originally published: 5th ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1956.

The first comprehensive survey of the world's oldest known legal systems, this collaborative work of twenty-two scholars covers over 3,000 years of legal history of the Ancient Near East. Each of the book's chapters represents a review of the law of a particular period and region, e.g. the Egyptian Old Kingdom, by a specialist in that area. Within each chapter, the material is organized under standardized legal categories (e.g. constitutional law, family law) that make for easy cross-referencing. The chapters are arranged chronologically by millennium and within each millennium by the three major politico-cultural spheres of the region: Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia and the Levant. An introduction by the editor discusses the general character of Ancient Near Eastern Law.

An engaging look at how ancient Greeks and Romans crafted laws that fit--and, in turn, changed--their worlds