Justinian Code Essay

543 Words3 Pages
Based on the excerpts from the Justinian Code of law and the American laws, it is evident that they have various similarities regarding, the subjects of marriage, assault and battery, robbery, and wills and inheritance. To begin with, according to the Justinian code, “All women can own property, make Contracts, wills, and bring a lawsuit.” In our code of laws, all women are created equal in society, and thus, are guaranteed the same rights as men. However, there are several differences between the American and Justinian code as well. In America, those people that commit murder are sentenced to prison or depending on the severity of the act, are put to death. On the contrary, according to the Justinian code, the result of murder is only banishment. The Justinian code definitely changed the laws to reflect the period of time, in an attempt to modernize the Roman law. When the Justinian code was being established, the idea of slavery was gradually being transformed, thus enabling it to create a noble class, priest class, and a peasant class. It was apparent that only some societies deprived slaves of their human rights, but overall, the people recognized that slaves or peasants were human as well, and their status was quite evident amongst the others. Some of the slaves were granted the right to own property, protection for the women and their children, as well as, the right to education. However, a majority of the laws that were established in the Justinian code were based on gender, and had different importance for men than it did for women at that time. Officially, women were not able to perform as judges or advocates or in any official capacity in a court of law. In the book, The Medieval Reader, The emperor Justinian makes it known that when “his imperial majesty renders an opinion in the presence of the parties of interest, then that law will apply to
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