I have always been passionate about history. It is said that if you want to understand the reason for the present then you need to dig into the history. Most people who love to read or know about history would also love to follow the news as well. This is because history simply gives you a part of the story; the rest of the story is being written in the present. If you are a Christian, Jew or a Muslim you will know that this is very true when it comes to the story of the State of Israel and the conflicts it has with the rest of the world.
Law studies nowadays have come to a point where the development of the legal precedents and doctrines is largely skipped. The reason is simple – the history of law matters no more to institutions teaching law simply because the new state of the legal profession requires no knowledge on the past. Nevertheless, the history of law remains a fascinating and truly inspirational area of research for many law experts and it is more than thrilling seeing how some of the modern law techniques have not even evolved a bit for centuries after their initial establishment.
The source that is used to develop the most advanced legal theories in Europe nowadays was initially developed in Ancient Rome. Almost all legal concepts we are familiar with (including the incorporation of both common and continental law systems) have their beginning in the social order that Romans invented centuries before the formation of any of the current European legal monsters like the UK, France and Germany.
The Romans were creating laws in almost the same way as the British are issuing acts of Parliament nowadays. The Roman council, a democratically formed body of decision-makers, was discussing the impact of any intended and proposed legislation with the emperor being able to revoke or accept the final draft of the law in question. Deciding various cases was also quite usual for law-makers in the Empire and the outcome of such legal decisions was recorded to produce a common law approach of a precedent – once decided in a certain way, a case would be a foundation of reasoning in any future similar disputes.
Even though the Roman law introduced legal concepts that are nowadays widely rejected (such as slavery), the Romans managed to introduce key features of the family law in matters such as divorce and marriage. Furthermore, the Romans were among the inventors of the law of mortgage – where huge landowners gave land to ordinary people and as a return they either expected a percentage of the production grown on the land or a monetary percentage of the income that the land generates.
And even though we will remember the Romans for creating pieces of art sometimes compared to the modern days designer jewellery, we should also bear in mind the fact that out Courts of justice and legal systems all exist as a development of what was once the most advanced civilization known to men – the Roman Empire.
Believe it or not – and I’m sure you will – but I often come across people who say that history isn’t them. “It’s not cool,” they say or “it’s a load or rubbish,” which I have to admit just plain HURTS. Being a lover of history myself, nothing is more crushing on my heart than someone beating history with a great big stick.
But here’s something you might not realise. YOU DO LIKE HISTORY. That’s right, history pessimist, read those words again as much as you need to. And now, to prove my point, here is well…my point. What else?
You like history because you care about what happened last week in your life, right? And you like memories, yes? If you said Yes to either of those questions then you are a history lover and that is a fact. Everyone is a history lover, see; simply because history is what happened in the past and if you think about it, there’s an awful lot of past.
It tells us what works and what doesn’t, and we can apply that to the present and the future
Of course, the problem comes when trying to explain to people why OLD history is important to them, because on the surface I can see what they are thinking (history is boring as it has nothing in common with the age I live in). And here is the reason: old history is important to us all because it contains a lot of valuable lessons about various things. It tells us what works and what doesn’t, and we can apply that to the present and the future. This is why history matters: without it we’d have nothing of any consequence to learn from, which would mean making lots of mistakes all over again!
For examples of things we can learn from using history, see as follows:
We can look back in time and see how people solved neighbourly disputes (attacking neighbour with sword) or things like dodgy insurance claims or false horse equine claims during medieval times (such as, “someone stole my stud and it weighed as much as a full apple-loaded-cart!” when really it weighed as much as a large dog).
We can see what is unsafe and things which need to have an eye kept on them (roofs which are thatched are prone to fire, history tells us).
So really, history is incredible and without it we’d all be in a lot of trouble. If you’re not convinced now then you never will be!
The Line of Control can be listed as one of the most dangerous borders. The battle for Kashmir in 1971 still has some remainder of spark that caused conflict between India and Pakistan. This spark still exists today for a couple of reasons which I would like to point out.
The first being the most recent development. A certain mistrust between the two nations had always been in the picture but the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden More
On March of 1865 Abraham Lincoln became the president for a second term. The war was clearly in favor of the North however there were issues within the Republican Party about how to go about restoring the Union when the war was won. At the same time the Confederacy was becoming desperate just to hold onto its last gasping breath.
The President had signed a law that the Radical Republicans pushed through to provide clothing, food and shelter for the More
I was on my way to the laser hair removal wilmslow clinic where I was picked up the Catholic Reporter to read; in the reporter it said that there were wikileaks documents that revealed that the United States tried to pressure the Vatican to reverse their belief that the war in Iraq was unjust. The Vatican believed not only was the war unjust but also that it has served no purpose and ultimately was useless. Humanitarian aid was what the More
On March of 1865 Abraham Lincoln became the president for a second term. The war was clearly in favor of the North however there were issues within the Republican Party about how to go about restoring the Union when the war was won. At the same time the Confederacy was becoming desperate just to hold onto its last gasping breath.
The President had signed a law that the Radical Republicans pushed through to provide clothing, food and shelter for the More
The equitable rules in the English law have been wondered by many – what is their origin, where do they come from and how did they develop. Even the modern day equine insurance policies are coming from the developments in the Equity of the United Kingdom.
Firstly developed in Middle Ages, equity took its peak as a nwe theory of law application in the middle of the 16th century when people such as the promising Lords holding the Chancery seal More
When it comes to reading, we all have our diverse interest. Personally I love to read more of biographies and autobiographies. I am not much a fan of fiction based historical books but I will read anything that is a personal account of a great event in the past. For people like me who love ‘real history’, the best way to know more, learn and have fun is travelling to great historic locations. Practical history, nothing beats it! There are More
I’ve been having the great pleasure this week of re-reading some of my favourite books, the Patrick O’Brian series of novels that begins with Master and Commander. I thought I’d share with you some of the reasons why I love these books, and perhaps you might feel the need to head out to your local library and borrow one or more of them.
As many people probably know, having seen the Russell Crowe movie, these books are all set More
