The Birth of Written Law in Ancient Mesopotamia

课文

1. Around 2350 BCE, the city-state of Ur created one of humanity’s earliest legal codes.

   约公元前2350年，城邦乌尔制定了人类最早的一批法典之一。

2. This code listed clear rules about property, marriage, and punishments for different crimes.

   该法典明确列出了关于财产、婚姻及各类犯罪惩处的规则。

3. Judges used it to make fairer decisions instead of relying only on tradition or royal whim.

   法官据此作出更公正的裁决，而非仅依赖传统或君主一时之念。

4. Scribes carved these laws onto clay tablets using cuneiform script, which scholars can still read today.

   书吏用楔形文字将这些法律刻在泥板上，学者至今仍可识读。

5. The code treated people differently based on social rank, but it still set a vital precedent.

   法典依社会等级区别对待民众，却仍确立了至关重要的先例。

6. Later civilizations, like Babylon, built upon this idea when Hammurabi wrote his famous code.

   后来的巴比伦等文明在此基础上发展，汉谟拉比由此写下其著名法典。

7. Writing down laws helped societies grow larger and more complex over time.

   成文法推动社会随时间推移变得更大、更复杂。

8. It also showed that justice could be public, predictable, and shared by all citizens.

   它也表明，正义可以是公开、可预期且由全体公民共享的。