You have 10 minutes to read the following text and to remember as much as you can about the given personalities and their contributions to the development of the law. Below the text you have a Reading Comprehension activity which will check your understanding and memory. You will have just 10 minutes to do it, therefore read the information carefully.
People Who Have Had A Great Influence On The Development Of The Law
| Person | Achievement | Effect |
| Alfred the Great | introduced the idea that all crimes were an offence against the king | crimes are still prosecuted by the government not by private citizens |
|
Sir William Blackstone |
wrote the Commentaries on the Laws of England | important foundation of both US and English law |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | was the Emperor when the French Civil Code was written | brought into law the ideals of the French revolution |
| Cicero | member of the Roman Senate who wrote about the principles of justice | established the idea of rights and duties in natural law |
| Sir Edward Coke | champion of the common law; wrote Coke's law reports | challenged the arbitrary power of the monarch |
| Clarence Darrow | defended trade union leaders in the United States | helped to establish the right to form a trade union under US law |
| Lord Denning | an English 20th century judge responsible for finding ways to avoid the rigidity of the common law | many of his judgments have now become part of statute law |
| Draco | was responsible for the first written laws in Greece | introduced state justice rather than private justice |
| Thomas Jefferson | author of the US Declaration of Independence in 1776 | introduced legal reforms on taxation to provide free education |
| Justinian | codified Roman Law in Corpus Juris Civilis | his work inspired the modern concept of justice |
http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-46/The-Laws-Hall-of-Fame.aspx