Fifty Questions That Christians Can't Answer

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Modern law based on Christian principles

Really, Frodo? I'm sorry, but if you thought about it for a minute, you would realize that it is ridiculous to say that modern law is based on Christian principles. Unless, of course, your scope of the world and law is limited to "Christian" nations.

What modern law? American? French? Chinese?

French is based on the code Napoleon, and is specifically anti Christian. Napoleon did all he could to destroy the power of the Church in France,one of his remaining positive legacies.

Chines law is based on Confucionism.

American Law is based on British Law, which comes from Magna Carta. (1215 CE) Magna Carta is not based on Christian principles;its sole purpose was to limit the king's power over the nobles.



"Christian principles" are taken from Mosaic law (more strictly the Commandments Saul chose to keep;a total of 10 out of 613)

The principles of Mosaic law were lifted from earlier Sumerian Law,most notably from the Code Of Hammurabi.

English law is the legal system of England and Wales,[1] and is the basis of common law[2] legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries[3]and the United States (as opposed to civil law or pluralist systems in other countries, such as Scots law). It was exported to Commonwealth countries while the British Empire was established and maintained, and it forms the basis of the jurisprudence of most of those countries. English law prior to the American revolution is still part of the law of the United States through reception statutes, except in Louisiana, and provides the basis for many American legal traditions and policies, though it has no superseding jurisdiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_common_law

Magna Carta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum (the Great Charter of Freedoms), is an English legal charter, originally issued in the year 1215. It was written in Latin and is known by its Latin name. The usual English translation of Magna Carta is Great Charter.

Magna Carta required King John of England to proclaim certain rights (pertaining to freemen), respect certain legal procedures, and accept that his will could be bound by the law. It explicitly protected certain rights of the King's subjects, whether free or fettered — and implicitly supported what became the writ of habeas corpus, allowing appeal against unlawful imprisonment.

Magna Carta was arguably the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today in the English speaking world. Magna Carta influenced the development of the common law and many constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution.[1] Many clauses were renewed throughout the Middle Ages, and continued to be renewed as late as the 18th century. By the second half of the 19th century, however, most clauses in their original form had been repealed from English law.

Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects (the barons) in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded by the 1100 Charter of Liberties in which King Henry I voluntarily stated that his own powers were under the law.

In practice, Magna Carta in the medieval period mostly did not limit the power of Kings; but by the time of the English Civil War it had become an important symbol for those who wished to show that the King was bound by the law.

Magna Carta is normally understood to refer to a single document, that of 1215. Various amended versions of Magna Carta appeared in subsequent years however, and it is the 1297 version which remains on the statute books of England and Wales.

Note below,specifically "an eye for an eye,a tooth for a tooth"

Examples

Here are seventeen example laws, in their entirety, of the Code of Hammurabi, translated into English:

* If anyone ensnares another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

* If anyone brings an accusation against a man, and the accused goes to the river and leaps into the river, if he sinks in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river proves that the accused is not guilty, and he escapes unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

* If anyone brings an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if a capital offense is charged, be put to death.

* If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then the builder shall be put to death.(Another variant of this is, If the owner's son dies, then the builder's son shall be put to death.)

* If a son slaps his father, his hand shall be cut off.

* If a man give his child to a nurse and the child dies in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and mother nurses another child, then they shall convict her of having nursed another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off.

* If anyone steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

* If a man takes a woman to wife, but has no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him.

* If a man strikes a pregnant woman, thereby causing her to miscarry and die, the assailant's daughter shall be put to death.

* If a man puts out the eye of an equal, his eye shall be put out.

* If a man knocks the teeth out of another man, his own teeth will be knocked out.

* If anyone strikes the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.

* If a freeborn man strikes the body of another freeborn man of equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina [an amount of money].

* If the slave of a freed man strikes the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.

* If anyone commits a robbery and is caught, he shall be put to death.

* If anyone opens his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water floods his neighbor's field, he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.

* If a judge tries a case, reaches a decision, and presents his judgment in writing; and later it is discovered that his decision was in error, and it was his own fault, he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case and be removed from the judge's bench.

There are 282 such laws in the Code of Hammurabi, each usually no more than a sentence or two. The 282 laws are bracketed by a Prologue in which Hammurabi introduces himself, and an Epilogue in which he affirms his authority and sets forth his hopes and prayers for his code of laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi%27s_Code