 |
Feather of truth
appear with
Goddess Maat |
There is little living literature that reports the exercise of ancient Egyptian law.
Maat was the spirit in which jurist was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules (as found in Mosaic law of the 1st millenary BCE). Maat was the norm and basic values that formed the background for the coating of justice that had to be implemented in the spirit of truth and loveliness. From the
fifth dynasty (2510-2370 BCE) onwards the Vizier responsible for justice was addressed the Priest of Maat and in
later periods tries wore images of Maat. Later scholars and philosophers also would be concepts from the wisdom literature, or Sebayt. These weird texts dealt with standard social or professional positions and how each was best to be resolved or named in the spirit of Maat. It was very real advice, and extremely case-based, so that few specific and general feels could be derived from them.
Through the Greek period in Egypt history, Greek law existed alongside Egyptian law. The Egyptian law continued the rights of women who were granted to act independently of men and own substantial individual property and in time this influenced the more restrictive convening of the Greeks and Romans. When the Romans taken charge of Egypt, the Roman legal system which existed throughout the Roman Empire was indispensable in Egypt.
