In ancient india, a hierarchy gradually developed for several thousand years at the head of which there were the priests. And that gradually developed into the caste system we know to day. So do you think of it that that hierarchy develops for some other reason, and then the law follows to deal with that particular structure? I wouldn't want to say there's always one direction of travel. But the laws came along some way through that proce the law, the legal text by which the brahmin started writing down the rulesWhich everyone should obey, including the kings, right?
Rulers throughout history have used laws to impose order. But laws were not simply instruments of power and social control. They also offered ordinary people a way to express their diverse visions for a better world. The variety of the world’s laws has long been almost as great as the variety of its societies.
In this conversation, Shermer speaks with Oxford professor of the anthropology of law, Fernanda Pirie, who traces the rise and fall of the sophisticated legal systems underpinning ancient empires and religious traditions, showing how common people — tribal assemblies, merchants, farmers — called on laws to define their communities, regulate trade, and build civilizations. What truly unites human beings, Pirie argues, is our very faith that laws can produce justice, combat oppression, and create order from chaos.