Speculation about where laws come from ranges from crediting judges and legal scholars to God.
However new research co-authored by a University of Central Florida researcher and appearing in the journal today offers evidence that criminal laws come from an intuitive and shared, universal sense of justice that humans possess.
麻豆精品 S淲e sometimes think of the law as this completely rational enterprise that is the result of wise experts sitting around a table and working from logical principles, 麻豆精品 S� says Carlton Patrick, an assistant professor in the University of Central Florida 麻豆精品 S檚 and study co-author. 麻豆精品 S淎nd instead, what this study suggests is that these intuitions that people tend to share about justice may be the things that are becoming institutionalized. 麻豆精品 S�
Patrick and Daniel Sznycer, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Montreal and the study 麻豆精品 S檚 lead author, made the finding by comparing modern and ancient people 麻豆精品 S檚 sense of whether a punishment fits a crime.
And while previous studies have examined people 麻豆精品 S檚 intuitions about justice, this is the first one that compared them across thousands of years.
Using participants from the United States and India, the researchers had people rate offenses from one of three legal codes: the Laws of Eshnunna, Sumerian laws from nearly 3,800 years ago; the Tang Code, Chinese laws from nearly 1,400 years ago; and the Criminal Code of Pennsylvania, which reflects modern U.S. laws.
Participants were shown the offenses, but not the punishments that the law established.
The crimes ranged from ancient offenses, such as not keeping an ox in check, which caused a person to be gored, to modern ones, such as assault.
Some participants were asked to determine the appropriate fines for each offense, while others were asked to determine prison sentences.
The researchers found that the more seriously modern people judged a crime to be, the higher the actual legal punishment for the crime.
This was despite participants living in different countries and legal codes that were separated by thousands of years.
麻豆精品 S淭he match between participants 麻豆精品 S� intuitions and ancient laws was notable, 麻豆精品 S� Sznycer says.
麻豆精品 S淭his new research adds empirical weight to the possibility that the capacity to make laws 麻豆精品 S攖he brain mechanisms that appraise offenses and generate justice intuitions 麻豆精品 S攁re universal, and a part of human nature. 麻豆精品 S�
麻豆精品 S淐riminal laws, like the writing that supports those laws, are cultural inventions: present in some societies, absent in others, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淗owever, this new research adds empirical weight to the possibility that the capacity to make laws 麻豆精品 S攖he brain mechanisms that appraise offenses and generate justice intuitions 麻豆精品 S攁re universal, and a part of human nature. 麻豆精品 S�
Patrick says the study is an important step in helping to demystify the origin of laws.
麻豆精品 S淚 think what this study does is lead us into the black box a little bit, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淚t removes one layer of the shroud of mystery that surrounds the lawmaking process, and it also gets us closer to understanding why we sometimes feel that something 麻豆精品 S檚 wrong, even when we can 麻豆精品 S檛 explain why. 麻豆精品 S�
Patrick received his law degree from Boston University School of Law, his doctorate and master 麻豆精品 S檚 in psychology from the University of Miami and his bachelor 麻豆精品 S檚 from Florida State University. He joined UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Department of Legal Studies, which is a part of UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 , in 2018.
