Time Line of Western Legal History

• Settlements of Sumer and Akkad in Tigris and Euphrates valley.
• Egyptians settled in Nile valley.
• First written records.
• Development of agriculture

• Sumerian cities of Ur, Kish, Erech, and Nippur founded.
• Earliest phase of construction of Stone Henge
• 2800-2200 B.C. Old Kingdom of Egypt.
• Pyramids built

• Sumer conquered by Sargon I of Akkad.

• Middle Kingdom of Egypt.

• First Babylonian Empire
• Code of Hammurabi
• 1670 B.C. Hyksos conquer Egypt.
• 1650 B.C. Hebrews move into areas controlled by Egypt.
• 1580-1525 B.C. New Kingdom of Egypt
• Book of the Dead

• 1391-1350 B.C. King Akhenaten ruler of Egypt
• 1350 B.C. King Tutankhamen ruler of Egypt
• 1350-1115 B.C. Rameses Dynasty - Egypt
• Mycenaean Period in Greece
• Dorian invasion destroys Mycenaean civilization
• 1250 B.C. Hebrews leave Egypt, establish religious state in Canaan (Israel) [Exodus]
• 1200 B.C. Trojan War [Homer, Iliad] [Aeschylus, Eumenides]

• 800 B.C. Homer, Iliad
• 776 B.C. First Olympic Games (traditional date)
• 753 B.C. Foundation of Rome (traditional date)
• 624 B.C. Draco's Code (Athens)
• 593 B.C. Solon's Code (Athens)
• Council of Four Hundred in Athens
• 546-410 B.C. Age of Tyrants (Athens)
• 509 B.C. Rome becomes a republic

• 480 B.C. Greeks defeat Persian invasion
• Socrates (469-399 B.C.)(Athens) [Plato, Apology, Crito]
• 451-448 B.C. Laws of the Twelve Tables
• 431 B.C. Pelopponesian War between Athens and Sparta
• Plato (427-347 B.C.) Gorgias

400 B.C.

• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
• 370 B.C. Roman reforms give greater voice to plebeians
• Alexander the Great (350-323 B.C.)

• Hebrew Law collected
• 287 B.C. Hortensian Law (Rome): plebiscites become binding on senate
• 264-202 B.C. First and Second Punic Wars (Rome v. Carthage); Defeat of Hannibal

• 146 B.C. Roman conquest of Greece
• Destruction of Corinth & Carthage

• 58-50 B.C. Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul
• 44 B.C. Assassination of Julius Caesar
• 40-43 B.C. Cicero, De Legibus
• 30 B.C. Suicide of Antony and Cleopatra
• 27 B.C. Augustus Caesar named Emperor of Rome
• 4-6 B.C. Birth of Christ

• 14-37 A.D. Tiberius Emperor of Rome
• 43 A.D. Roman Conquest of Britain
• 61 A.D. Queen Boadicea's Revolt
• 70 A.D. Romans take Jerusalem
• 79 A.D. Destruction of Pompeii by eruption of Vesuvius

• Plutarch
• 117-138 A.D. Hadrian Emperor of Rome
• 120 A.D. Institutes of Gaius

• Diocletian Emperor of Rome, 285-305 A.D.

• 313 A.D. Constantine recognizes Christianity as official religion of the Roman Empire
• 330 A.D. Constantinople founded as capital of Roman Empire in East
• 354-430 A.D. Augustine

• Western Europe invaded by Goths, Vandals, and Franks
• 410 A.D. Sack of Rome by Alaric
• 410-450 A.D. Withdrawal of Romans from Britain
• 433 A.D. Europe invaded by Huns, led by Attila
• 455 A.D. Sack of Rome by Vandals
• Anglo-Saxon conquest of England
• 476 A.D. End of Roman Empire in West

• 529 A.D. Justinian closes Plato's Academy as pagan
• 540 A.D. Institutes of Justinian

• 602 A.D. Earliest Anglo-Saxon code of law: Laws of Aethelberht

• Moslem invasion of North Africa, Spain, and France

• 800 A.D. Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor
• 878 A.D. Defeat of Danish invasion of England by King Alfred of Wessex
• 890-92 A.D. Laws of Alfred

• 924-39 A.D. Laws of Aethelstan

• 1016 A.D. Canute of Denmark crowned King of England
• 1042 A.D. Edward the Confessor crowned
• 1066 A.D. William the Conqueror of Normandy invades and conquers Britain
• Bayeux Tapestry
• 1086 A.D. Domesday Book
• 1095 A.D. First Crusade

• 1147 A.D. Second Crusade
• Henry II King of England
• beginning of trial by jury
• 1164 A.D. Constitutions of Clarendon
• 1166 A.D. Assize of Clarendon
• 1170 A.D. Murder of Thomas a Becket
• 1184 A.D. Assize of the Forest
• 1188 A.D. Saladin Tithe
• 1189 A.D. Third Crusade
• Richard the Lionhearted (1189-1199 A.D.)

• King John (1200-1216 A.D.)
• 1201 A.D. Fourth Crusade
• 1212 A.D. Children's Crusade
• 1215 A.D. Magna Carta
• 1215 A.D. Fourth Lateran Council forbids priests to participate in trial by ordeal
• Henry II (1216-1272 A.D.)
• 1233 A.D. Inquisition established
• 1274 A.D. Aquinas, Summa Theologica

• 1336 A.D. Outbreak of Hundred Years' War between France and England
• 1348 A.D. Outbreak of Black Death
• Chaucer

• 1429 A.D. Siege of Orleans
• Joan of Arc (1412-1431 A.D.)
• 1453 A.D. End of Hundred Years' War
• Fall of Constantinople to Turks
• 1455-85 A.D. Wars of the Roses
• 1492 A.D. Columbus arrives in West Indies

• 1509 A.D. Henry VIII King of England [A Man for All Seasons]
• 1517 A.D. Luther, 95 Theses
• Calvin
• 1534 A.D. Church of England breaks from Rome
•  Act of Supremacy
• 1535 A.D. Queen Mary ("Bloody Mary")
• 1558 A.D. Elizabeth I Queen of England
• 1588 A.D. Defeat of Spanish Armada by Britain

• 1603 A.D. James I King of England; asserts divine right of kings
• 1628 A.D. Petition of Right
• 1629-40 A.D. Charles I rules without Parliament
• 1649 A.D. Trial of Charles I for treason; Charles beheaded
• 1649-1660 A.D. Interregnum; rule of Oliver Cromwell
• 1651 A.D. Hobbes, Leviathan
• 1660 A.D. Restoration of Charles II
• 1670 A.D. Bushell's Case
• 1688 A.D. Glorious Revolution; James II deposed
• 1689 A.D. Reign of William & Mary; English Bill of Rights
• 1690 A.D. Locke, Second Treatise of Government
• 1692 A.D. Salem Witch Trials

• 1702 A.D. Queen Anne (1702-14)
• 1714 A.D. George I (1714-1727)
• 1727 A.D. George II (1727-1760)
• 1760 A.D. George III (1760-1820)
• 1776 A.D. American Revolution
• 1787 A.D. U.S. Constitution
• 1789 A.D. French Revolution; U.S. Bill of Rights