Press release: If a law isn’t written down, does it count?

journalists writing in notepads

14 January 2024

If a law isn’t written down, does it count? Go back 2,000 years to Ancient Babylon and find out, thanks to free lecture from Gresham College 

Writing Laws: Hammurabi to Solon 6pm, Thursday, 23 January 

When and why did we start writing laws down? How did law in ancient societies even work before this happened? A new lecture from Gresham College will explore the fascinating history that you did not know you needed to know. 

Discussions around the law from ancient times are still happening today – with questions including how can we make the law easier to understand and navigate for the average citizen?  

We have access to ancient artefacts that are among the earliest examples of written law, such as the inscribed Code of Hammurabi and ancient Greek law inscriptions that were found in Dreros, Crete.  

The Code is a collection of 282 rules that set penalties and standards for commercial transactions. Devised between 1792 and 1750 BCE, these rules were rediscovered in 1901. The oldest Dreros legal inscription was found in 1936 and is thought to be the earliest surviving Greek law on stone, dating back to the seventh century BCE. 

How can we understand the function of these codes, and the relationship between the evolution of law and of writing? 

On Thursday, 23 January, Gresham College Professor of Rhetoric Melissa Lane will give a lecture entitled Writing Laws: Hammurabi to Solon. It will explore the history of written law, and how writing relates to the general functions of law itself. 

Professor Lane said: “Today we talk about writing laws down. But for ancient societies, laws were more commonly written up: inscribed, most often on stone. in monumental characters that served to impress as well as communicate. 

“While academics debate whether writing was necessary for the emergence of law it certainly shaped how laws could function. Writing made law both potentially uniform and potentially inflexible. These qualities are deeply relevant to debates about law today and how it can respond to the new and varied challenges of modern society.” 

The Code of Hammurabi is the longest and best-organised legal text from the ancient Near East and was found in what is now Iran.  

Its principal source is on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Inscribed on a basalt stele that is 2.25m tall, it comprises 282 laws over 4,310 lines of cuneiform, written in Akkadian. 

Professor Lane’s lecture will explore the roles of these and other ancient legal writings and will be given at Gresham College’s home in Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn, on Thursday, 23 January. 

Starting at 6pm, entry is free, and it is also broadcast online. It will last an hour.  

Gresham College is London’s oldest higher education institution. Founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, it has been delivering free public lectures for over 427 years from a lineage of leading professors and experts in their field who have included Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, Iannis Xenakis and Sir Roger Penrose.  

In-person places can be booked online via Gresham College’s website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/writing-laws 

ENDS

 

Notes to Editors  

Images available on request

For more information about this story or to arrange an interview with a Gresham Professor please contact: Phil Creighton press@gresham.ac.uk   

About Gresham College  
Gresham College has been providing free, educational lectures - at the university level - since 1597 when Sir Thomas Gresham founded the college to bring Renaissance Learning to Londoners. Our history includes some of the luminaries of the scientific revolution including Robert Hooke and Sir Christopher Wren and connects us to the founding of the Royal Society.  

Today we carry on Sir Thomas's vision. The College aims to stimulate intellectual curiosity and to champion academic rigour, professional expertise and freedom of expression. www.gresham.ac.uk  

Gresham College is a registered charity number 1039962 and relies on donations to help us encourage people's love of learning for many years to come. For more details or to make a gift, visit our website.