ANCIENT LAWS

Slaves were at the very bottom of the Egypt social triangle they worked in very harsh conditions and were often beaten just for disobeying the smallest orders. I think this is a little unfair because the slaves helped build the cities. When you think about it these slaves were very important to Egypt's growth. Although because they were not high in the social triangle they were ignored as important. Sometimes slaves would have to work for hours straight with no food or water most of them would get sick and eventually die. This also proves that the pharaoh did not value the slaves that help build his empire. Slaves were tied to each other to keep them from escaping. If they tried to escape it would result in punishment this is what the slaves owners thought was fair.

This is a picture of someone's hands being tied together, this represent the harsh treatment of Egyptian slaves.

Criminal law
Every woman and man has equal rights, except slaves. These rights were very civilized and brought more happiness. Each town or village had a court. In the New Kingdom there was a council called kenbet. The kenbet handled small cases involving small crimes. This means that even though the kenbet had more power they were still the tip of the iceberg in social power. Having a court made the villages a lot better because it would give the criminal a chance to not get punished for something he or she did not do. There are no lawyers in these courts. Each person has to speak for himself. If the jury did not like what the person said they would probably end up being found guilty.

Anyone who is thought to be lying in court would be beaten. This rule was very harsh and very unfair. All of this matters because without criminal law. Thieves would keep stealing, chaos would ensue the town. This is also important because every criminal deserves a fair trial guilty or not. The court was very unfair but it still could help. Without the court then people would not get a trial which is as unfair as it gets.

Punishment
The punishment for stolen items would be the thief would have to give back a fine of several times of the value of the item. In my opinion this is fair for a minor crime. If the punishment was more severe, they would exile, cut of body parts, or make them go blind. In extreme cases, they would put a stake in them, burn them alive, drown them, or they would be beheaded. This is very scary to think about because it is not nearly as civilized as death involved punishments in the modern day. This had a positive yet negative impact. The laws were very strict which helped keep people in order. Also this is bad because this means that these laws would fear the people into order.

Some punishments involved being whipped a hundred times. This was a severe punishment. One of the worst punishments in my opinion is sometimes they would be branded as a mark of dishonor. This in my opinion is pushing the limit of right and wrong in Egypt

CITATIONS

• touregypt.net/featurestories/law.htm
• Bancroft-Hunt, Norman. Living in ancint egypt. New York: Chelsea House, 2009. Print.
• Reshaping.org.il.N.p.,Aug. 2000. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
• touregypt.net. AKN Solutions, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.