A Comparison Of Babylonian And Chinese Conceptions — страница 3

is the King s duty to swiftly administer justice according to the penal code of King Wen, punishing them severely without compromising the letter of the law. This displayed that Chinese rulers, though wise and compassionate were stern when it came to the basics of maintaining social order. To the Chinese, law was not only a way of maintaining order but also one that is to dictate moral conduct of its citizens. It does not make its citizens fearful of committing a mistake unknowingly even when that person sets out with good intention, but rather questions himself in what is moral and ethical. This allowed room for improvement and allowed the sentiments of the people and their concepts of morality to play a major role that led to the further evolution of what is just. We can also

see its influence in today s society in that we are able to amend our laws through the will of the majority. Today s legal ideology is founded upon the three concepts, justice, morality and fairness. The Babylonians focused on the fairness and equality, while the Chinese stressed morality and ethics. It is a combination of the ideals seen in these ancient civilizations which makes our legal system superior. Our ability to question and change laws based on different circumstances is a great improvement of the sometimes biased and one-sidedness of more primitive forms of law. And it is our realization and awareness of this that allows us to live in one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Author’s Note: This was a B+ paper only because I added personal

opinion. Quotes were from a UCLA History 20 reader with selections from Law Code of the Babylonian King Hammurabi and “The Announcement to the Prince of Kang” in the book of documents of Zhou China.