Sacred beginnings and the content of the principle of justice in the law of ancient States

The article attempts to trace the features of the formation and legal consolidation in ancient Eastern law of one of its most important principles - the principle of justice. For this purpose, the corresponding written monuments of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Babylon, and Ancient Israel were studied through the prism of ancient non-Eastern social concepts of justice. The author's judgments are illustrated by references to specific norms of ancient Eastern law, which most clearly expressed the idea of justice as the religious and moral principle of the laws of the ancient Eastern States. The article shows that in the worldview and legal culture of the peoples of the Ancient East, justice had, first of all, an exceptional sacred significance, acting as a sacred and unshakable Foundation of the universe and world order. This quality of justice allowed it to be reborn in the earliest period of state construction into a legal principle as a basis for the stability of law, on the one hand, and evidence of its continuity with the more ancient norms of religion and morality, on the other hand, to be enshrined in ancient legislation and sanctify it by its connection with the highest divine principle.

ancient Oriental law, religion and law, law of Ancient Egypt, law of Ancient Babylon, law of Ancient Israel, the principles of law, the principle of equity, history of law