Term | Definition |
Rule of Law | a principle of justice stating that the law is necessary to regulate society, that law applies equally to everyone, and that people are not governed by arbitrary power |
Code of Hammurabi | one of the earliest-known sets of recorded laws, written by a Babylonian King. |
codified | arranged and recorded systematically |
retribution | justice based on vengeance and punishment |
restitution | payment made by the offender to the victim of a crime |
Mosaic Law | laws given to Moses to guide the Hebrew people, and recorded in the Bible |
Ten commandments | the ten laws at the beginning of Mosaic law |
Justinian's Code | the clarification and organization of Roman law commissioned by Justinian 1. |
Napoleonic Code | the civil law of France completed in 1804 (Also called the French Civil Code) |
trial by ordeal | requiring a person to undergo torture to determine guilt or innocence |
trial by oath helping | requiring friends of the accused to swear on the Bible that he or she is innocent |
trial by combat | determining guilt or innocence by having the parties fight a duel |
adversarial system | the judicial process whereby evidence is presented by two opposing parties to an impartial judge or jury |
divine right | the concept that monarchs and their successors derived their power to rule from God and were accountable only to God |
assizes | traveling courts |
circuit judges | judges of traveling courts |
case law | method of deciding cases based on recorded decisions of similar cases |
common law | law that developed in English courts, relies on case law, and is common to all people |
stare decisis | a Latin phrase meaning "to stand by the decision" |
rule of precedent | applying a previous decision to a case that has similar circumstances |
Magna Carta | a charter of political and civil rights signed in 1215 at Runnymede in England |
habeus corpus | a court order designed to prevent unlawful arrest by ensuring that anyone detained is charged before a court within a reasonable amount of time |
Great Binding Law | the constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy |
Quebec Civil Code | the system of law used in Quebec for resolving private matters |