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History of justice

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The history of justice, the struggle to obtain and enforce it, the methods of doing so, and various struggles for legal recognition and civil rights are of interest to many travellers. This article lists a few of the sites associated with the History of Justice and the struggles to obtain it.


Code of Hammurabi

Whilst, human society has had laws since the beginning of civilisation if not before, the Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest (around 1750 BCE) written legal codes. It is from originally Babylon but the stele was moved in ancient times and found by archeologists at Susa in Iran; the original is now in the Louvre and there are copies in several other museums. Over the millennia since the composition of that document, "justice" and the laws, rights and responsibilities that back it up have changed greatly. The "rule of law" is for many is a hard won battle, that continues to the present day.

In the 7th century BCE, Athens got its first constitution and codified system of law, both written by Draco. Many of the penalties were extremely harsh — slavery for unpaid debt to someone of higher social standing, death for minor thefts, and so on — so much so that "draconian" is still used to describe harsh laws. Most of his laws were repealed by Solon in the next century, but one part of his code survives in modern law. As far as is known, he was the first to make a legal distinction between deliberate murder and unintentional homicide.

With the founding of the Roman Empire, Athenian law would serve as the inspiration for Roman law, which would in turn serve as the basis for the civil law system that eventually became the official legal system in the whole of continental Europe, especially since the Napoleonic Code was adopted by many countries during the Napoleonic Wars. Civil law would eventually spread to the rest of the world due to colonialism from the 16th to 20th centuries.

England, on the other hand, would instead develop its own legal system that differed significantly from the Roman legal system following the fall of the Roman Empire. This system had its origins in the Norman conquest of England in the 12th century, during which King Henry II tried to adopt a set of laws that was "common" throughout the whole of England, thus the name common law. This was achieved in part by requiring the king's judges to base their decisions on each other's previous decisions, thus leading to an emphasis on precedents, and less emphasis on codified law; a difference which endures to this day between common law and civil law systems. English common law would also give rise to the jury system, in which citizens with no legal background would be called upon to intervene in disputes and pass verdicts. Eventually, with the formation of the United Kingdom, common law would spread beyond England and be adopted throughout the British Isles (though Scotland continues to use a hybrid system with both common law and civil law elements), and eventually beyond that to the rest of the British Empire. While not as widespread as civil law, common law continues to be the legal system used in much of the former British and American colonial empires.

In China, the first unified legal system was developed during reign of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi (259 BC - 210 BC), based on a philosophy known as Legalism (法家 fǎ jīa), which was developed by various Chinese philosophers during the Warring States Period (475 BC - 221 BC). However, as the punishments prescribed in Legalism were extremely harsh, they caused a lot of resentment, leading to principles from Confucianism replacing many Legalist principles with the founding of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). This hybrid system combining principles from both Legalism and Confucianism served as the basis for Chinese law until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, when the nascent Republic of China replaced it with a system based on civil law. Due to a history of Chinese influences in these areas, Chinese law would also heavily influence Japanese and Korean law until the end of the Edo Period (1603 - 1868) and Joseon Dynasty (1392 - 1910) respectively, when these were also replaced with systems based on civil law. The legal systems in modern China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are based primarily on civil law, albeit with influences from traditional Chinese Legalist and Confucian principles.

As a general rule, most countries have a legal system that broadly fall into one of three categories; Roman Civil Law, English Common Law and Islamic Sharia Law. Islamic Sharia Law is followed most prominently by Saudi Arabia, but also many other Muslim countries in the Middle East. Countries often adopt mixed systems which use different legal systems in different contexts; for instance, Israel usually follows the common law system, but uses Sharia law when dealing with marriages and family affairs for Muslims. Federal countries may also adopt different legal systems at different levels of government; although the U.S. and Canadian federal governments both follow common law, the state government of Louisiana and provincial government of Quebec follow civil law based on the French model.

Another distinction between different judicial systems is the adversarial and inquisitorial system, with civil law jurisdictions typically adopting the inquisitorial system, and common law jurisdictions typically adopting the adversarial system. The main difference is that in the inquisitorial system, the court itself plays an active role in the investigation process, while in the adversarial system, the court serves as a impartial referee whose only role is to pass verdicts based on the evidence presented, and the role of investigation is largely left to both parties. In the European Middle Ages, trial by combat was used in Germanic law, in which both parties, or their representatives (known as champions) would fight to the death in single combat, and the winning party would be declared right. When it was abolished in early modern times, duelling remained an extralegal method to resolve disputes, until it was criminalized.

Sentences have varied between times and places. While capital punishment was common in ancient times, the long-term trend has been to abolish it, or to reserve it for murder, or crimes against national security. Outlawing was an option used in Germanic law, meaning that the condemned lost all legal protections, and could be killed without consequence. Amputation of hands, feet or other body parts has been a humiliating and incapacitating punishment used around the world, phased out in most countries in modern times. Corporal punishment such as whipping has been used especially in less formal jurisdictions, such as the military, against slaves, and in schools.

While prisons have existed in most legal systems, they have mainly been used for remanding people until trial, to hold prisoners of war for ransom, or for death row. Prison time became a commonly used sentence in itself only in the 19th century.

Major Courts of the modern Era[edit]

Map of History of justice

Most national capitals have the nation's Supreme Court, and often there are tours or a museum. In addition the national capital will typically be where the national assembly or parliament or Congress sits, such locations also sometimes offering tours. Federal countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia will usually also have state/provincial supreme courts in their respective state/provincial capitals.

Some of the notable courts are:

  • The International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands
  • The European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg
  • The Supreme Court, Washington D.C, United States.
  • The Royal Courts of Justice, London
  • The Central Criminal Court (aka The Old Bailey), London
  • Middlesex Guildhall, London – home to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which was formed in 2009 to take over the judicial role of the House of Lords as the highest court of appeal.

Depending on the jurisdiction, a few courts, will allow interested parties, such as journalists and law students, to view a small number of live sessions of the court, from a public gallery. Admission is typically by advance application, and for important cases, with very heavy security. If seats are available in the public gallery, most common law jurisdictions will allow members of the public to view court proceedings live except when the judge decides otherwise (eg. juvenile cases or cross-examining a vulnerable witness), but require them to remain silent throughout the proceedings. Not all cases that come before a court will be of general interest, though; many can be highly technical and seem impenetrable to a lay observer.

Historical Sites[edit]

  • 1 Þingvellir National Park (Iceland). Before modern times the home to the Alþing; founded in 930, it is the world's oldest surviving legislature, and was also Iceland's highest court for centuries.



  • 3 RCMP Museum. The Mounties have a museum in Regina, Sakatchewan. The city is also the location of their main training base, Depot Division, and tours of that can be booked at the museum in summer months. RCMP Heritage Centre (Q3944745) on Wikidata RCMP Heritage Centre on Wikipedia


  • 4 Glasgow Police Museum, 30 Bell St (Glasgow), +44 141 552-1818. Apr-Oct: M-Sa 10:30-16:30, Su 12:00-16:30; Nov-Mar: Tu 10:00-16:30, Su 12:00-16:30. The Glasgow police force was the first in the world, dating back to 1779. It's dealt with a number of famous cases and many of the paraphernalia relating to some of these are in this museum. There's also a section dealing with the history of police forces throughout the world. Free.
  • 6 National Emergency Services Museum, West Bar, Sheffield, S3 8PT, +44 114 2491 999, . W–Su, bank holidays 10AM–4PM. Also open M and Tu during school holidays. The world's largest collection of vehicles, uniforms and memorabilia from the police force, fire brigade and ambulance service. Adults: £8; Children 3–15 years old: £6; Children under 3 years old: free; Families: £22; Concessions: £7; 999 staff: free. Sheffield Fire and Police Museum (Q7492666) on Wikidata National Emergency Services Museum on Wikipedia
  • 8 Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, Dorchester Road, Tolpuddle, Dorset, DT2 7EH, +44 1305 848 237. April to October: Tues-Sun: 1100-1700; Closed Mondays. A museum charting the history of the Tolpuddle martyrs and their struggle for labour rights in the early Nineteenth Century


  • 13 Museum of Colorado Prisons, 201 N 1st St, +1 719 269-3015. The Museum of Colorado Prisons, located on the grounds of the "Old Max," a prison still in operation, tells the story of Canon City's colorful prison history. See old photographs and prison implements, including the old gas chamber Museum of Colorado Prisons (Q16203658) on Wikidata Museum of Colorado Prisons on Wikipedia


Visiting prisons[edit]

Most jails and prisons allow visits by friends and relatives of prisoners and some have tours.

A prison in Cebu City in the Philippines has a monthly event where inmates put on a performance and often dance with visitors.

Historical prisons[edit]

Some sites where people were imprisoned during World War II are covered in other articles. See Holocaust remembrance for the German concentration camps and Pacific War for both Japanese prisons and US internment of Japanese Americans.

Château d'If, with Marseille in the background
  • The Château d'If was a French fortress and later prison on an island just off Marseille. In Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo the protagonist Edmond Dantès is imprisoned there and escapes. There are tours available.
  • Alcatraz, in the San Francisco bay is perhaps the best known former prison in the US, and whilst active was long considered escape proof. There are tours available.
In the film The Rock, the authorities need to break into Alcatraz to stop some terrorists threatening to fire chemical weapons at San Francisco, and they enlist the aid of a British agent (played by former James Bond actor Sean Connery) who has been in another prison for decades since shortly after becoming the only man to escape Alcatraz.
  • The Bastille was a fortress in Paris that served as the main prison for the King's political prisoners. The French national day is July 14th, commemorating the storming of the Bastille in 1789, an event that has come to symbolize the French Revolution even though only seven people were imprisoned at the Bastille at that moment. The building itself has long since been torn down; today the Place de la Bastille is a fashionable area of bars and shops but the history is far from forgotten.
  • In Stalin's era (1920s-40s) many Russia political prisoners were sent to gulag work camps, mainly in Kolyma. Towns with relevant museums include Magadan and Perm. The Russian Far East was a destination for exile, forced settlement and colonization before, and modern Russia still tries to entice people to go there - sometimes as punishment for a crime.
  • The Old Melbourne Gaol in Melbourne is a former maximum security prison where some of Australia's most famous outlaws, such as the famous bushranger Ned Kelly, were incarcerated and hanged.

Prison colonies[edit]

In the era when European Powers ruled much of the world many of them established penal colonies and criminals, or political troublemakers, were often sentenced to "transportation".

From the 1600s to the late 1700s, Britain's preferred destinations for prisoners were the North American colonies that today form part of the United States of America, in particular the colonies of Maryland and Virginia. With the start of the American War of Independence in 1775 and subsequent independence of the colonies, this practice became untenable and an alternative penal colony had to be found.

  • With the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, convict transportation to Australia began and would continue until the last convict ship departed Britain for Western Australia in 1868. Although descendants of the transported convicts are a minority in modern Australia, this convict heritage has been embraced as part of the Australian national identity; having some convicts among your ancestors is something of a status symbol, much as having ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower is in the US.
The UNESCO World Heritage List has a listing for eleven Australian convict sites; one of the largest is Port Arthur (Tasmania) and among the most isolated is Norfolk Island. Fremantle Prison near the city of Perth is also on the UNESCO list; it originally served as a detention centre for transported convicts, then as Western Australia's maximum security prison until it was closed down in the 1990s. Many convict descendants get married in the prison chapel as a homage to their convict heritage.
  • The Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean were used by the British Raj as a penal colony, mainly for native prisoners. The Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of the Four revolves around four Britons imprisoned there.
  • The French had several penal colonies near Cayenne in French Guiana, including Devil's Island which had political prisoners such as the famous victim of anti-Semitism Albert Dreyfus. The novel and film Papillon describe an escape from these.

Neither was solely a prison colony, but two islands are famous as places of exile for Napoleon Bonaparte. He was first sent to Elba in the Mediterranean, but escaped and returned to France. After Waterloo he was exiled again, this time to Saint Helena, an isolated island in the middle of the South Atlantic.

Prison hotels[edit]

In some places, former prisons, have been refurbished after their judicial use, and are now used as tourist accommodation of all things. Most are youth hostels offering only rather spartan facilities.

  • 2 Långholmen, Långholmsmuren 20 (Stockholm/Södermalm, T Hornstull), +46 8 720 85 00, . Spectacular hostel built in an old prison where you actually stay in the old cells (making them limited to the size). The place is clean, and the staff is nice and friendly. The atmosphere is really one of a kind. It is also a hotel and the breakfast buffet holds top-standard and costs 75 SEK. They have a guest kitchen, internet terminals, washing machine/dryer, and there are a lot of green areas and bathing opportunities around. The Hornstull Metro station is about 800 metres away. dorm bed from SEK 265, double cell from SEK 640.
  • 3 Visby Fängelse Vandrarhem, Skeppsbron 1 (Visby, Sweden). A former prison turned into a hostel.
  • 4 Ottawa Jail Hostel. The former county jail building is now a hostel and visitors sleep in the cells. See listing in the Ottawa article for details.
  • 5 Fremantle Prison YHA, 6A The Terrace (Perth/Fremantle, Western Australia), +61 8 9433 4305. 202 bed hostel in the former prison - some beds are in old cells and some are in a new building $28 for a bed, $68 for your own cell, $112 for an ensuite double..
  • 6 Jailhouse Accommodation, 338 Lincoln Rd, Addington (Christchurch, New Zealand), +64 3 982-7777, toll-free: 0800 524 546, . Check-out: 10:00. Newly renovated heritage backpacker accommodation with a colourful history - the former Addington Prison (closed to inmates in 1999). The Jailhouse has single, double, twin, dorm and family rooms. Wi-Fi and free parking. Dorms from $32, rooms from $89.

See also[edit]

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