Issue Details

AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEATH PENALTY IS AN ANCIENT AUTHORITY

ABSTRACT

There is not a single nation exist in the world where the death penalty never given. The first exstablished law on death penalty is dated as far back as the 18th century B.C i.e. in the “Code of Hammarabi” of Babylon, which tabulated the death punishment for 25 different crimes. The ancient Hebrews’ Mosaic Code also identifies numerous crimes which are punishable by death like other ancient codes of law lex talionis, i.e. the “law of Retaliation”. The capital punishment was also part of different civilizations at different period of times such as Hittite Code of 14th century B.C, Draconian Code of Athens of 7th century B.C (621 B.C.E) according to which the death is the sole punishment for all type of crimes, and later the law of Athens famouslysanctioned the trial and death of Socrates; and Roman law of the twelve tablets of 5th century B.C according to which publishing of insulting songs or disturbing the night time peace of urban areas and later in history the Roman law famously authorised the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Death punishment was given by various types of means such as Crucifixion, Impalement, Shooting, Hanging etc. we can see with such early practices, the death penalty was seen and embodied within the authorisation of political rulers or kings, incarnated as a legal institution and used for a wide range of misconduct prescribed by law.

FULL TEXT