Law Timeline

Timeline

  • 2350 BCE
    First code of laws by Urukagina, king of Lagash.
  • c. 2100 BCE - c. 2050 BCE
    The Code of Ur-Nammu (the oldest extant code of laws) is written.
  • c. 1772 BCE
    The Code of Hammurabi: One of the earliest codes of law in the world.
  • c. 621 BCE
    Draco produces a new law code in Athens.
  • 450 BCE
    The laws of the 'Twelve Tables', the basis of Roman law, are compiled.
  • c. 450 BCE
    The Law Code of Gortyn is written.
  • c. 242 BCE
    Special magistrates (praetor peregrinus) begin to oversee legal disputes concerning non-Roman citizens.
  • 131 CE
    The Praetor's Edict is first codified, an annual pronouncement on alterations to Roman law.
  • 212 CE
    Caracalla's edict grants Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Roman Empire.
  • c. 292 CE
    The 'Codex Gregorianus' is compiled, a collection of summaries of Roman legal documents.
  • 295 CE
    The 'Codex Hermogenianus' is compiled, a collection of summaries of Roman legal documents.
  • c. 430 CE - 439 CE
    The 'Theodosian Code', a collection of over 2,700 Roman laws is compiled.
  • 528 CE - 534 CE
    The 'Codex Iustinianus' is compiled, a collection of summaries of Roman legal documents.
  • 533 CE
    The 'Digest' part of the 'Corpus Iuris Civilus' is composed and summarises over 2000 Roman legal documents.
Membership