Writing Laws: Hammurabi to Solon - Melissa Lane

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/t6kkq6dI6hc

When and why do written laws emerge in ancient societies? This lecture will consider these questions in light of evidence including the law code of Hammurabi; the earliest attestation of written laws in Greek (found in Dreros on Crete); and the full-blown commitment to written laws by the Athenian lawgiver Solon. Such cases will be used to explore how writing bears on the the functions of law more generally, in light of debates in contemporary legal philosophy.

This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 23rd January 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.

Melissa Lane is Gresham Professor of Rhetoric.

Melissa is also the Class of 1943 Professor of Politics, Princeton University and is also Associated Faculty in the Department of Classics and Department of Philosophy. Previously she was Senior University Lecturer at Cambridge University in the Faculty of History and Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.

Having previously held visiting appointments at Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford, she will be Isaiah Berlin Visiting Professor in the History of Ideas in the Faculties of Philosophy and History at Oxford University, and a Visiting Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in Michaelmas Term 2024.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/writing-laws

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