Law 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.