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