Professor Barbieri-Low gave the presentation “Legal Principles of Ancient China and New Kingdom Egypt as Seen through Excavated Legal Cases” on Friday, October 16, 2015. This presentation is the second in a series talks specifically comparing ancient China and Egypt. In this talk, Professor Barbieri-Low looked at the core legal principles of each civilization, focusing on Qin and Han China and New Kingdom Egypt. He then explored four pairs of legal cases, that showed how these principles were embodied in the judicial process. Topics included infringement on sacred property, fornication, judicial torture, and testaments.
Scholars in attendance included Marc Van de Mieroop, John Major, Li Feng, Guo Jue, Roderick Campbell, Ethan
Harkness, and Elizabeth Childs Johnson. Questions from the audience explored the comparability of Qin and Han China with New Kingdom Egypt, and the context and genre of the documents used for the analysis.
