The Fourteen Rock Edicts of Ashoka
Asoka, who called himself Piyadasi, “Beloved of the Gods,” was the third king of the Mauryan Dynasty in the region corresponding to northern India, where…
Read moreLaws (4)
Prologue and Epilogue to the Code of Hammurabi
While not the first code of laws, the Code of Hammurabi, who was king of the city-state of Babylon c.1792–1750 BCE, is the the earliest…
Read moreHow the Jizya is to be Collected and from Whom
The jizya was the annual tax that all Christians and Jews (and some members of other religions) were required to pay to the Muslim government…
Read moreGaius: Excerpts on Slavery from Institutes
In the second century C.E., an otherwise unknown jurist named Gaius wrote a textbook of Roman law for students. In it, he set out clearly…
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