Editing Constitution (section)

====Ancient====
[[File:Hammurabi.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail from [[Hammurabi]]'s [[stele]] shows him receiving the laws of [[Babylon]] from the seated [[sun deity]].]]
Excavations in modern-day [[Iraq]] by [[Ernest de Sarzec]] in 1877 found evidence of the earliest known [[code of justice]], issued by the [[Sumer]]ian king [[Urukagina]] of [[Lagash]] {{Circa|2300 BC}}. Perhaps the earliest prototype for a law of government, this document itself has not yet been discovered; however, it is known that it allowed some rights to his citizens. For example, it is known that it relieved tax for widows and orphans, and protected the poor from the [[usury]] of the rich.

After that, many [[Forms of government|governments]] ruled by special codes of written laws. The oldest such document still known to exist seems to be the [[Code of Ur-Nammu]] of [[Ur]] (c. 2050 BC). Some of the better-known ancient law codes are the [[code of Lipit-Ishtar]] of [[Isin]], the [[code of Hammurabi]] of [[Babylonia]], the [[Hittite laws|Hittite code]], the [[Assyrian law|Assyrian code]], and [[613 Commandments|Mosaic law]].

In 621 BC, a scribe named [[Draco (lawgiver)|Draco]] codified the oral laws of the [[city-state]] of [[Athens]]; this code prescribed the [[death penalty]] for many offenses (thus creating the modern term "draconian" for very strict rules). In 594 BC, [[Solon]], the ruler of Athens, created the new ''[[Solonian Constitution]]''. It eased the burden of the workers and determined that membership of the ruling class was to be based on wealth ([[plutocracy]]), rather than on birth ([[aristocracy]]). [[Cleisthenes of Athens|Cleisthenes]] again reformed the Athenian constitution and set it on a democratic footing in 508 BC.

[[File:Aristotle's constitutions diagram.png|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Diagram illustrating the classification of constitutions by [[Aristotle]]]]
[[Aristotle]] (c. 350 BC) was the first to make a formal distinction between ordinary law and constitutional law, establishing ideas of constitution and [[constitutionalism]], and attempting to classify different forms of constitutional government. The most basic definition he used to describe a constitution in general terms was "the arrangement of the offices in a state". In his works ''[[Constitution of the Athenians (Aristotle)|Constitution of Athens]]'', ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]'', and ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', he explores different constitutions of his day, including those of Athens, [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Sparta]], and [[Carthage]]. He classified both what he regarded as good and what he regarded as bad constitutions, and came to the conclusion that the best constitution was a mixed system including monarchic, aristocratic, and democratic elements. He also distinguished between citizens, who had the right to participate in the state, and non-citizens and slaves, who did not.

The Romans initially codified their constitution in 450 BC as the ''[[Twelve Tables]]''. They operated under a series of laws that were added from time to time, but [[Roman law]] was not reorganized into a single code until the ''[[Codex Theodosianus]]'' (438 AD); later, in the Eastern Empire, the ''[[Corpus Juris Civilis|Codex repetitæ prælectionis]]'' (534) was highly influential throughout Europe. This was followed in the east by the ''Ecloga'' of [[Leo III the Isaurian]] (740) and the ''Basilica'' of [[Basil I]] (878).

The ''[[Edicts of Ashoka]]'' established constitutional principles for the 3rd century BC [[Maurya Empire|Maurya]] king's rule in [[History of India|India]]. For constitutional principles almost lost to antiquity, see the [[code of Manu]].