GLOBAL THEMES AND SOURCES

Law Codes in the Context of First States and Pastoral Nomads

In addition to charismatic monarchs and complex bureaucracies, one of the ways territorial states brought order to the large regions under their control was through clear codes of law. These could range from elaborate legal codes, such as that of Hammurabi, to more general instructions to leaders on how to administer justice. Pastoral nomadic groups, like the Hebrews and Vedic peoples, also developed law codes, especially as they began to settle down.

The logic of the law codes is as varied as their historical context. Some law codes operated on an “if/then” formula (if a certain crime is committed, then a certain punishment is to be meted out), others laid out clear and forceful rules for proper behavior, and others deliberated on procedure and punishment. Some law codes mention gods specifically, while others appear to focus primarily on human interactions and appeal to earthly authority. Many of the law codes reveal distinctions based on class, occupation, and gender.

What is unclear from the laws themselves is the extent to which they describe ideal behavior or the realities of everyday life in the communities to which they applied. For instance, scholars do not know how often either the penalties of Hammurabi’s Code in Mesopotamian Babylon or the Punishments of Tang in Shang China were applied. Nor do scholars know for sure how frequently the scene of supplicants assembling before the vizier in New Kingdom Egypt played out or how true to life the husband-wife relations and attitudes toward women in the Code of Manu were. These law codes do, however, allow us to compare the varied historical contexts from which they come and to consider what the laws suggest about power and community in the second millennium BCE.

Analyzing the Context of Early Law Codes

  • What issues do territorial states, such as those of Babylon, New Kingdom Egypt, and Shang China, attempt to legislate? What sorts of issues appear to matter to the nomadic Hebrews and Vedic peoples?
  • What sorts of social distinctions (class, gender, occupation) are evident in the codes?
  • What do the variations in the laws—with respect to issues such as source of authority, punishment, and enforcement—suggest about the source of power at the heart of these societies?
  • What can you generalize about the concerns of a settled territorial state as compared with those of a more nomadic group?

PRIMARY SOURCE 3.1

Hammurabi’s Code (c. eighteenth century BCE)

From a Babylonian territorial state in Mesopotamia, Hammurabi’s Code, with its 282 laws covering everything from property ownership to marriage, is one of the earliest recorded law codes. Dating to the eighteenth century BCE, the code was produced in the context of the blending of Amorite herders and Mesopotamian urbanites. While the prologue to the law code describes how the gods have invested Hammurabi with the power to establish this code of laws and “to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and evil-doers, so that the strong should not harm the weak,” the laws themselves are focused primarily on humans’ relationships with one another.

  • What are some of the crimes outlined in these laws? What are the punishments for those crimes?
  • What evidence do you see in Hammurabi’s laws for the relationship between men and women? Between parents and children? Between different levels of society?
  • What do these laws suggest about the eighteenth-century BCE Mesopotamian context from which they come? What sorts of issues seem to matter to this community (or its ruler)?

§1. If a man bring an accusation against a man, and charge him with a (capital) crime, but cannot prove it, he, the accuser, shall be put to death.

§2. If a man charge a man with sorcery, and cannot prove it, he who is charged with sorcery shall go to the river, into the river he shall throw himself and if the river overcome him, his accuser shall take to himself his house (estate). If the river show that man to be innocent and he come forth unharmed, he who charged him with sorcery shall be put to death. He who threw himself into the river shall take to himself the house of his accuser.

§3. If a man, in a case (pending judgment), bear false (threatening) witness, or do not establish the testimony that he has given, if that case be a case involving life, that man shall be put to death.

§4. If a man (in a case) bear witness for grain or money (as a bribe), he shall himself bear the penalty imposed in that case.

§5. If a judge pronounce a judgment, render a decision, deliver a verdict duly signed and sealed and afterward alter his judgment, they shall call that judge to account for the alteration of the judgment which he had pronounced, and he shall pay twelve-fold the penalty which was in said judgment; and, in the assembly, they shall expel him from his seat of judgment, and he shall not return, and with the judges in a case he shall not take his seat.

§6. If a man steal the property of a god (temple) or palace, that man shall be put to death; and he who receives from his hand the stolen (property) shall also be put to death.

§7. If a man purchase silver or gold, manservant or maid servant, ox, sheep or ass, or anything else from a man’s son, or from a man’s servant without witnesses or contracts, or if he receive (the same) in trust, that man shall be put to death as a thief.

§8. If a man steal ox or sheep, ass or pig, or boat—if it be from a god (temple) or a palace, he shall restore thirtyfold; if it be from a freeman, he shall render tenfold. If the thief have nothing wherewith to pay he shall be put to death.

***

§14. If a man steal a man’s son, who is a minor, he shall be put to death.

§15. If a man aid a male or female slave of the palace, or a male or female slave of a freeman to escape from the city gate, he shall be put to death.

§16. If a man harbor in his house a male or female slave who has fled from the palace or from a freeman, and do not bring him (the enslaved man) forth at the call of the commandant, the owner of that house shall be put to death.

§17. If a man seize a male or female slave, a fugitive, in the field and bring that (person) back to his owner, the owner of the slave shall pay him two shekels of silver.

***

§38. An officer, constable or tax-gatherer shall not deed to his wife or daughter the field, garden or house, which is his business (i.e., which is his by virtue of his office), nor shall he assign them for debt.

§39. He may deed to his wife or daughter the field, garden or house which he has purchased and (hence) possesses, or he may assign them for debt.

§40. A woman, merchant or other property-holder may sell field, garden or house. The purchaser shall conduct the business of the field, garden or house which he has purchased.

§41. If a man have bargained for the field, garden or house of an officer, constable or tax-gatherer and given sureties, the officer, constable or tax-gatherer shall return to his field, garden, or house and he shall take to himself the sureties which were given to him.

§42. If a man rent a field for cultivation and do not produce any grain in the field, they shall call him to account, because he has not performed the work required on the field, and he shall give to the owner of the field grain on the basis of the adjacent (fields).

§43. If he do not cultivate the field and neglect it, he shall give to the owner of the field grain on the basis of the adjacent (fields); and the field which he has neglected, he shall break up with hoes, he shall harrow and he shall return to the owner of the field.

***

§45. If a man rent his field to a tenant for crop-rent and receive the crop-rent of his field and later Adad (i.e., the Storm God) inundate the field and carry away the produce, the loss (falls on) the tenant.

§46. If he have not received the rent of his field and he have rented the field for either one-half or one-third (of the crop), the tenant and the owner of the field shall divide the grain which is in the field according to agreement.

***

§128. If a man take a wife and do not arrange with her the (proper) contracts, that woman is not a (legal) wife.

§129. If the wife of a man be taken in lying with another man, they shall bind them and throw them into the water. If the husband of the woman would save his wife, or if the king would save his male servant (he may).

§130. If a man force the (betrothed) wife of another who has not known a male and is living in her father’s house, and he lie in her bosom and they take him, that man shall be put to death and that woman shall go free.

§131. If a man accuse his wife and she has not been taken in lying with another man, she shall take an oath in the name of god and she shall return to her house.

§132. If the finger have been pointed at the wife of a man because of another man, and she have not been taken in lying with another man, for her husband’s sake she shall throw herself into the river.

§133. If a man be captured and there be maintenance in his house and his wife go out of her house, she shall protect her body and she shall not enter into another house.

§133A. [If] that woman do not protect her body and enter into another house, they shall call that woman to account and they shall throw her into the water.

§134. If a man be captured and there be no maintenance in his house and his wife enter into another house, that woman has no blame.

§135. If a man be captured and there be no maintenance in his house, and his wife openly enter into another house and bear children; if later her husband return and arrive in his city, that woman shall return to her husband (and) the children shall go to their father.

§136. If a man desert his city and flee and afterwards his wife enter into another house; if that man return and would take his wife, the wife of the fugitive shall not return to her husband because he hated his city and fled.

§137. If a man set his face to put away a concubine who has borne him children or a wife who has presented him with children, he shall return to that woman her dowry and shall give to her the income of field, garden and goods and she shall bring up her children; from the time that her children are grown up, from whatever is given to her children they shall give to her a portion corresponding to that of a son and the man of her choice may marry her.

§138. If a man would put away his wife who has not borne him children, he shall give her money to the amount of her marriage settlement and he shall make good to her the dowry which she brought from her father’s house and then he may put her away.

§139. If there were no marriage settlement, he shall give to her one mana of silver for a divorce.

§140. If he be a freeman, he shall give her one-third mana of silver.

§141. If the wife of a man who is living in his house, set her face to go out and play the part of a fool, neglect her house, belittle her husband, they shall call her to account; if her husband say “I have put her away,” he shall let her go. On her departure nothing shall be given to her for her divorce. If her husband say: “I have not put her away,” her husband may take another woman. The first woman shall dwell in the house of her husband as a maid servant.

§142. If a woman hate her husband, and say: “Thou shalt not have me,” they shall inquire into her antecedents for her defects; and if she have been a careful mistress and be without reproach and her husband have been going about and greatly belittling her, that woman has no blame. She shall receive her dowry and shall go to her father’s house.

§143. If she have not been a careful mistress, have gadded about, have neglected her house and have belittled her husband, they shall throw that woman into the water.

***

§148. If a man take a wife and she become afflicted with disease, and if he set his face to take another, he may. His wife, who is afflicted with disease, he shall not put away. She shall remain in the house which he has built and he shall maintain her as long as she lives.

§149. If that woman do not elect to remain in her husband’s house, he shall make good to her the dowry which she brought from her father’s house and she may go.

§150. If a man give to his wife field, garden, house or goods and he deliver to her a sealed deed, after (the death of) her husband, her children cannot make claim against her. The mother after her (death) may will to her child whom she loves, but to a brother she may not.

***

§162. If a man take a wife and she bear him children and that woman die, her father may not lay claim to her dowry. Her dowry belongs to her children.

§163. If a man take a wife and she do not present him with children and that woman die; if his father-in-law return to him the marriage settlement which that man brought to the house of his father-in-law, her husband may not lay claim to the dowry of that woman. Her dowry belongs to the house of her father.

§164. If his father-in-law do not return to him the marriage settlement, he may deduct from her dowry the amount of the marriage settlement and return (the rest) of her dowry to the house of her father.

***

§194. If a man give his son to a nurse and that son die in the hands of the nurse, and the nurse substitute another son without the consent of his father or mother, they shall call her to account, and because she has substituted another son without the consent of his father or mother, they shall cut off her breast.

§195. If a son strike his father, they shall cut off his fingers.

§196. If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.

§197. If one break a man’s bone, they shall break his bone.

§198. If one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman, he shall pay one mana of silver.

§199. If one destroy the eye of a man’s slave or break a bone of a man’s slave he shall pay one-half his price.

§200. If a man knock out a tooth of a man of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth.

§201. If one knock out a tooth of a freeman, he shall pay one-third mana of silver.

§202. If a man strike the person of a man (i.e., commit an assault) who is his superior, he shall receive sixty strokes with an ox-tail whip in public.

§203. If a man strike another man of his own rank, he shall pay one mana of silver.

§204. If a freeman strike a freeman, he shall pay ten shekels of silver.

§205. If a man’s slave strike a man’s son, they shall cut off his ear.

Source: The Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon, about 2250 B.C., 2nd ed., translated by Robert Francis Harper (Union, New Jersey: University of Chicago Lawbook Exchange, 1999): pp. 11, 13, 17, 25, 27, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 57, 59, 73, 75.

PRIMARY SOURCE 3.2

Instruction to Vizier Rekhmire (c. fifteenth century BCE)

No comprehensive law codes survive from Middle or New Kingdom Egypt, but a set of instructions from Thutmosis III (stepson of, and co-ruler with, Hatshepsut, before his solo reign) to Rekhmire, a pharaoh’s vizier (chief minister), from around 1450 BCE, gives a keen sense of how judgments were made at the Egyptian court. These instructions, along with a biography of Rekhmire, were preserved in hieroglyphs on the wall of the mortuary chapel of Rekhmire in Thebes, along with beautifully painted scenes of the collection of taxes and tribute, the labors of workers and other craftspeople, and funerary practices.

  • What scene does the opening of these instructions conjure? How does this scene help you imagine the social and political context in which the instructions were meant to be followed?
  • Over what issues does the vizier have authority?
  • How does this administration of authority and justice by the vizier align with your understanding of the post-Hyksos territorial state context of New Kingdom Egypt?

667. Mayest thou see to it for thyself, to do everything after that which is in accordance with law; to do everything according to the right thereof.

***

669. Be not enraged toward a man unjustly, but be thou enraged concerning that about which one should be enraged; show forth the fear of thee; let one be afraid of thee, (for) a prince is a prince of whom one is afraid. Lo, the true dread of a prince is to do justice. Behold, if a man show forth the fear of him a myriad of times, there is something of violence in him. Be not known to the people; and they shall not say: “He is (only) a man.”

670. Lo, one shall say of the chief scribe of the vizier: “A scribe of justice,” shall one say of him. Now, as for the hall, wherein thou holdest hearings there shall be a broad-hall therein. [He who dispenses] justice before all the people, he is the vizier. Behold, a man shall be in his office, (as long as) he shall do things according to that which is given to him.

***

675. Arrangement of the sitting of the governor of the (residence) city, and vizier of the Southern City, (and) of the court, in the hall of the vizier. As for every act of this official, the vizier while hearing in the hall of the vizier, he shall sit upon a chair, with a rug upon the floor, and a dais upon it, a cushion under his back, a cushion under his feet, a — upon it, and a baton at his hand; the 40 skins shall be open before him. Then the magnates of the South (shall stand) in the two aisles before him, while the master of the privy chamber is on his right, the [receiver of income] on his left, the scribes of the vizier at his (either) hand; one [corresponding] to another, with each man at his proper place. One shall be heard after another, without allowing one who is behind to be heard before one who is in front. If one in front says: “There is none being heard at my hand,” then he shall be taken by the messenger of the vizier.

***

681. Let not any official be empowered to judge [against a superior] in his hall. If there be any assailant against any of these officials in his hall, then he shall cause that he be brought to the judgment-hall. It is the vizier who shall punish him, in order to expiate his fault. . . .

682. As for every messenger whom the vizier sends with a message for an official, from the first official to the last, let him not be [swerved], and let him not be conducted; the official shall repeat his vizierial message while he stands before the official, repeating his message and going forth to wait for him. His messenger shall seize the mayors and village sheiks for the judgment-hall; . . . saying: “I have been sent with a message for the official so and so; he caused that I be conducted, and he caused that something be entrusted to me.

683. He who has not disproved the charge at his hearing, which takes place [], then it shall be entered in the criminal docket. He who is in the great prison, not able to disprove the charge of his messenger, likewise; when their case comes on another time, then one shall report and determine whether it is in the criminal docket, and there shall be [executed] the things concerning which entry was made, in order to expiate their offense.

***

698. It is he who dispatches the official staff, to attend to the water-supply in the whole land.

699. It is he who dispatches the mayors and village sheiks to plow for harvest time.

700. It is he who [appoints] the overseers of hundreds in the hall of the king’s-house.

701. It is he who [arranges] the hearing of the mayors and village sheiks who go forth in his name, of South and North.

702. Every matter is reported to him; there are reported to him the affairs of the southern fortress; and every arrest which is for seizing — — —.

703. It is he who makes the [] of every nome; it is he who “hears” it. It is he who dispatches the [district] soldiers and scribes to carry out the [administration] of the king. The records of the nome are in his hall. It is he who hears concerning all lands. It is he who makes the boundary of every nome, the field [], all divine offerings and every contract.

704. It is he who takes every deposition; it is he who hears the rejoinder when a man comes for argument with his opponent.

705. It is he who appoints every appointee to the hall of judgment, when any litigant comes to him from the king’s-house. It is he who hears every edict.

Source: Ancient Records of Egypt: Historical Documents from the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest, vol. 2, translated by James Henry Breasted (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1906), pp. 269–70, 273, 275–76, 279.

PRIMARY SOURCE 3.3

The Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1–17 and Leviticus 26:14–17

The Ten Commandments are perhaps the clearest, most direct statement of the laws binding the nomadic Hebrew peoples with their god and with one another. Hebrew scriptures describe the scene in which God delivers the Ten Commandments to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai during the Hebrews’ sojourn from Egypt. A more elaborate set of laws touching on a wider range of issues, including dietary concerns, sexuality, blasphemy, and religious observances, is contained in the priestly Levitical Code of Hebrew scripture, especially in Leviticus 17–26. Examined together, the Ten Commandments and the Levitical Code give a better context for the laws and penalties by which the Hebrew peoples lived and governed their community.

  • What are the range of behaviors addressed by the Ten Commandments? What, if any, rationale is offered in Exodus for why these rules should be followed and the penalty for not doing so?
  • How do the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1–17) compare with the punishments for disobedience in Leviticus 26?
  • What do the concerns addressed in the Ten Commandments and the punishments described in Leviticus suggest about the context of the community living by these rules?

Exodus 20: 1And God spoke all these words, saying,

2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3“You shall have no other gods before me.

4“You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

8“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; 10but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; 11for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

13“You shall not kill.

14“You shall not commit adultery.

15“You shall not steal.

16“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

***

Leviticus 26: 14 “But if you will not hearken to me, and will not do all these commandments, 15if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16I will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it; 17I will set my face against you, and you shall be smitten before your enemies; those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. 18And if in spite of this you will not hearken to me, then I will chastise you again sevenfold for your sins, 19and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like brass; 20and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.

21“Then if you walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring more plagues upon you, sevenfold as many as your sins. 22And I will let loose the wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number, so that your ways shall become desolate.

23“And if by this discipline you are not turned to me, but walk contrary to me, 24then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will smite you sevenfold for your sins. 25And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant; and if you gather within your cities I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and shall deliver your bread again by weight; and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.”

Source: The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 92–93, 156–57.

PRIMARY SOURCE 3.4

The Code of Manu (c. 200 BCE)

The Code of Manu is thought to represent some of the earliest legal ideas of the nomadic Vedic peoples of South Asia. The code’s nearly 2,700 verses were written down in Sanskrit sometime after 200 BCE, but the laws about social interactions in the excerpt here may well date to a much earlier time. They are presented in the form of a dialogue between the legendary first man, Manu, and wise men who come before him to hear his ideas about social order.

  • How does the opening of this code engage the class distinctions you might expect in a Vedic South Asian context?
  • What expectations for behavior are outlined in this code?
  • What do these “eternal laws for a husband and his wife” suggest about the relationship between men and women in a Vedic context?

Chapter I. 1. The great sages approached Manu, who was seated with a collected mind, and, having duly worshipped him, spoke as follows:

2. ‘Deign, divine one, to declare to us precisely and in due order the sacred laws of each of the (four chief) castes (varna) and of the intermediate ones.

3. ‘For thou, O Lord, alone knowest the purport, (i.e.) the rites, and the knowledge of the soul, (taught) in this whole ordinance, which is unknowable and unfathomable.

4. He [Manu] whose power is measureless, being thus asked by the high-minded great sages, duly honoured them, and answered, ‘Listen!’

***

Chapter IX. 1. [Manu] will now propound the eternal laws for a husband and his wife who keep to the oath of duty, whether they be united or separated.

2. Day and night women must be kept in dependence by the males (of) their (families), and, if they attach themselves to sensual enjoyments, they must be kept under one’s control.

3. Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.

4. Reprehensible is the father who gives not (his daughter in marriage) at the proper time; reprehensible is the husband who approaches not (his wife in due season), and reprehensible is the son who does not protect his mother after her husband has died.

5. Women must particularly be guarded against evil inclinations, however trifling (they may appear); for, if they are not guarded, they will bring sorrow on two families.

6. Considering that the highest duty of all castes, even weak husbands (must) strive to guard their wives.

7. He who carefully guards his wife, preserves (the purity of) his offspring, virtuous conduct, his family, himself, and his (means of acquiring) merit.

***

9. As the male is to whom a wife cleaves, even so is the son whom she brings forth; let him therefore carefully guard his wife, in order to keep his offspring pure.

10. No man can completely guard women by force; but they can be guarded by the employment of the (following) expedients:

11. Let the (husband) employ his (wife) in the collection and expenditure of his wealth, in keeping (everything) clean, in (the fulfilment of) religious duties, in the preparation of his food, and in looking after the household utensils.

12. Women, confined in the house under trustworthy and obedient servants, are not (well) guarded; but those who of their own accord keep guard over themselves, are well guarded.

13. Drinking (spirituous liquor), associating with wicked people, separation from the husband, rambling abroad, sleeping (at unseasonable hours), and dwelling in other men’s houses, are the six causes of the ruin of women.

***

46. Neither by sale nor by repudiation is a wife released from her husband; such we know the law to be, which the Lord of creatures (Pragâpati) made of old.

***

76. If the husband went abroad for some sacred duty, (she) must wait for him eight years, if (he went) to (acquire) learning or fame six (years), if (he went) for pleasure three years.

77. For one year let a husband bear with a wife who hates him; but after (the lapse of) a year let him deprive her of her property and cease to cohabit with her.

***

81. A barren wife may be superseded in the eighth year, she whose children (all) die in the tenth, she who bears only daughters in the eleventh, but she who is quarrelsome without delay.

82. But a sick wife who is kind (to her husband) and virtuous in her conduct, may be superseded (only) with her own consent and must never be disgraced.

***

95. The husband receives his wife from the gods, (he does not wed her) according to his own will; doing what is agreeable to the gods, he must always support her (while she is) faithful.

96. To be mothers were women created, and to be fathers men; religious rites, therefore, are ordained in the Veda to be performed (by the husband) together with the wife.

***

101. ‘Let mutual fidelity continue until death,’ this may be considered as the summary of the highest law for husband and wife.

Source: The Laws of Manu, Translated with Extracts from Seven Commentaries, translated by Georg Bühler (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886), pp. 1–2, 327–29, 335, 341–42, 344–45.

PRIMARY SOURCE 3.5

Adviser Zichan of Zheng’s Compilation of Laws (c. sixth century BCE)

The Chinese text included here describes the first set of formal laws in China, dating to the sixth century BCE. The text comes from the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), whose latter years also produced the thoughtful musings of Confucius. This passage, however, describes a series of earlier contexts for how law worked in early China and offers reflections on rule by king versus rule of law. It suggests that Shang kings did not publicize a penal code, but rather created a clear system of punishments for disorderly conduct brought before the king.

  • What are the problems with law codes, according to this text?
  • How does this text suggest that Chinese kings established order before there were laws?
  • Based on this text, what do you imagine was the second-millennium BCE legal context of the Shang territorial state? Would people living under Shang authority have known the laws that governed them? Explain.

In the third month, the people of Zheng cast a penal text. Shu Xiang dispatched to Zichan a text. It stated, “Formerly, I had hope for you, but have now given it up. In the past, former kings consulted on affairs to decide them but did not make penal compilations, for they feared that the people would grow litigious. Still unable to control them, they restrained them with rightness, bound them with [good] governance, and raised them with humanness. They institutionalized emoluments and ranks to encourage their obedience and determined strict punishments so as to overawe their perversity. Fearing that that was not enough, they taught them of loyalty, rewarded good conduct, instructed them in their duties, deployed them with harmony, supervised them respectfully, supervised them with might, and adjudged them with firmness. Still they sought sagacious and erudite superiors, intelligent and astute officials, loyal and trustworthy elders, and kind and beneficent masters. It was only under such conditions that the people could be employed without disaster or disorder resulting. When the people are aware of a legal compilation, they will have no wariness of their superiors. All become contentious, appealing to the texts, and achieve their goals through lucky conniving. They cannot be governed. When the Xia had a disorderly government, they composed the Punishments of Yu. When the Shang had disorderly administration, they composed the Punishments of Tang. When the Zhou had disorderly administration, they composed the Nine Punishments. All three of these penal compilations arose in terminal ages. Now as advisor to the kingdom of Zheng you have rectified fields and ditches, established a reviled administration, instituted the tripartite compilation, and cast the penal text [in bronze], in order to calm the populace. Is this not difficult?

Source: Zuozhuan, translated by Earnest Caldwell, in “Social Change and Written Law in Early Chinese Legal Thought,” Law and History Review 32 (February 2014): 15.