Sometimes religions and secular law are one, as in Sharia law and the codes of the colonial American Puritans. A major focus is the role that religious values, indirectly or directly, have played in legal systems. Within the various legal traditions and the societies that embodied them, Roth develops several themes. Since crime is defined by law, how civilizations define crimes and punishments and establish enforcement mechanisms is the foundation of each of these traditions. Roth adds a fifth tradition, maintained only by the Chinese among large nations, the socialist tradition. Contemporary traditions are the Roman or civil law tradition of continental Europe and its former colonies the English common law tradition adopted by old and newer colonies as well and the Islamic and the Chinese or Confucian traditions. Although Middle Eastern codes like Hammurabi’s allowed for compensation of victims, the state set the terms of the compensation. It is important that the state extract the eye of the offender rather than the victim or his or her family. Law codes are a major development in civilization, replacing individual vengeance with the authority of the state. Chapter five is the heart of the book, because it identifies different legal traditions that serve as an implicit organizing principle for the vast amount of information Roth presents. This book is certainly global, spanning time from prehistory to the present and space from Afghanistan to Van Demien’s Land (Zanzibar is not mentioned). An Eye for an Eye: A Global History of Crime and Punishment
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