Random Fact of the Day! Topsail Beach ordinance that says hurricanes are not be permitted within the town limits; it is against the law. Topsail Beach ordinance that says hurricanes are not be permitted within the town limits; it is against the law.

Chapter 15, Section 1 Sources of Our Laws

Main Idea: Modern laws in the U.S. can be traced back to early laws that have been passed on from other countries. Modern laws in the U.S. can be traced back to early laws that have been passed on from other countries.

I. Functions of Law (pages ) A. Laws are rules that allow people to live peacefully in society. They guarantee individual liberties. ***People, organizations, and governments can deal with another because they know what is what is not permitted.***

***To discourage criminal acts, laws set punishments and establish a judicial system to enforce the laws.*** B. Laws must be fair and treat all people equally to be effective. ***Punishment must fit the crime!***

***Founding fathers based the nation’s system of laws on traditions and laws passed from previous generations.---Common Law***

II. Early Law ( ) A. Laws have been passed orally. B. The first known system of written law was the Code of Hammurabi ***a collection of 282 laws compiled by king Hammurabi of Babylonia in about 1760 B.C.***

C. The Hebrews of Palestine followed the Ten Commandments, found in the Bible.

D. The Romans called their law Jurisprudence (penalties were drastic!) 1. Jurisprudence- The study of law ***Torture***

***Roman emperors adopted many laws.*** E. The code of Justinian put Roman law in orderly manner. This also became part of the Roman Catholic Church.

***120. Men must marry. Rome, 131 B.C. (fr. 6 Malcovati. L) - “If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance; but since nature has so decreed that we cannot manage comfortably with them, nor live in any way without them, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure.”

***123. The consequences of adultery (Paul, Opinions , 10-12, L) 1. A father is permitted to kill with his own hands an adulterer caught in the act with his daughter in his own house or in that of his son-in-law, no matter what his rank may be. 2. A husband who kills his wife when caught with an adulterer should be punished more leniently, for the reason that he committed the act through impatience caused by just suffering. 3. It has been decided that a husband who does not at once dismiss his wife whom he has taken in adultery can be prosecuted as a pimp.

F. More than 1,000 years later, French emperor Napoleon updated the Justinian and called it the Napoleonic code.

***American laws are based mainly on the English system of Common Law*** G. Common Law- laws based on court decisions rather than legal code. *Precedents*

H. English judges blended Roman law and canon law into the body of common law. ***It included basic rights; such as trial by jury and innocent until proven guilty.*** I. English settlers brought their system of common law to the U.S. Today, it is the basis of our legal system.

MINI QUIZ!!! Jimmy Eat World- The Middle 1. Why do we have laws? 2. Early on, how were laws passed to one another? 3. The 1 st known system of written law was the code of? 4. “The study of law”---what is it? 5. What is common law? Where did we borrow this idea from?