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The Birth of Written Law in Ancient Mesopotamia
古代美索不达米亚：成文法的诞生
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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。
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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。
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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。
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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。
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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。
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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。
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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。
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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。