The Cambridge History of Rights. Volume 1, The Ancient World / edited by Clifford Ando, Mirko Canevaro, Benjamin Straumann.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Ando, Clifford, editor.

Canevaro, Mirko, editor.

Straumann, Benjamin, editor.

Series:

The Cambridge History of Rights.

The Cambridge History of Rights

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (432 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

The ancient world existed before the modern conceptual and linguistic apparatus of rights, and any attempts to understand its place in history must be undertaken with care. This volume covers not only Greco-Roman antiquity, but ranges from the ancient Near East to early Confucian China; Deuteronomic Judaism to Ptolemaic Egypt; and rabbinic Judaism to Sasanian law. It describes ancient normative conceptions of personhood and practices of law in a way that respects their historical and linguistic particularity, appreciating the distinctiveness of the cultures under study whilst clarifying their salience for comparative study. Through thirteen expertly researched essays, volume one of The Cambridge History of Rights is a comprehensive and authoritative reference for the history of rights in the global ancient world and highlights societies that the field has long neglected.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Series page

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

Contributors to Volume I

General Introduction

Introduction to Volume I

Contribution Summaries

1 To Claim to Protect Claims: The Generative Discourse of Mesopotamian Legal Rights

Introduction

Notes on the Law Collection of Hammurabi

Durable Rights?

The Limits of LH as "Law"

Creating Expectations

Conclusion

Further Reading

2 The Individual and the Communal: Early Confucian Resources for Human Rights

The Concept of "Rights" in Chinese

Confucianism: One among Many Chinese Traditions

Discussions of Confucianism and Human Rights

Confucianism and Asian Values Contrasted with Western Values

Rival Views of the Compatibility between Humaneness and Human Rights

Individual Freedom and/or Harmony with the Community in Early Confucians

Mencius's View of the Self and Prerequisites for Cultivating Virtues

Individual Reflection as Prerequisite of Perfection

The Limits of Harmony

Confucian Resources for Human Rights: Emphasis on the Individual and Communal

Liberal Values in Confucianism

3 Human Rights in the Hebrew Bible?

Human Rights in the Creation of Man in the Image of His God(s)?

Personal Status and Social Hierarchies in the Pentateuch

A Widow's Rights in Levirate Marriage?

Human Rights for the Israelite Slave?

The Relational and Covenantal Nature of Biblical Law

Human Rights in Deuteronomy's Counter-Program to Assyrian Royal Ideology?

4 Greek Subjective Rights?: Justice, Legal Discourse, and Legal Institutions

The Greek Language of Rights: Problems and False Starts

Axia: "Worth," "Value," "Dignity,"… and Claims

Toward a Greek Vocabulary of Dignity and Rights: timē and timai.

Timai as Claim Rights

Timai as Privileges, Powers, and Immunities

Rights, Performance, and Duties

Human Rights? Inalienable Rights?

What Comes First? Legal Rights and Normative Rights

5 Aristotle on Subjective Rights

Legal Rights

Natural Rights

Justice as Fairness

"Equality for Those Who Are Equal"

6 Do Rights Exist in Hellenistic Philosophy?

Historical Preliminaries

Conceptual Considerations

Skeptics on Rights: Law and Autonomy

Epicurus on Rights: Laws of Nature and Persons

Cynics on Rights: Cosmopolitanism?

Stoics on Rights: Natural Law

7 Rights in Ptolemaic Egypt

Sources and Research

Concepts Equivalent to Rights as Subjective Right or Claim between Private Persons

Rights as Obligations

Rights as Legal Institutions or Guarantees

Rights of Individuals Facing Power

Rights of Officials?

Universality of Rights and Differentiation

Ground of Validity

8 Rights in Roman Republican Thought

Power and Personhood

Roman Rights

The Rights to Free Speech and Property

The actio popularis

9 Ius in the Subjective Sense in Classical Roman Law

Rights in the Thing of Another (iura in re aliena)

Property Rights in Broader Contexts

Rights in the Law of Persons

Rights in Public Law

Procedural Rights

Obligation

ius naturale

10 Rights and Dignity in Late Ancient Thought

Rights and Dignity in Pre-Christian Thought

Dignity in Late Antiquity

Conclusions

11 Rights in Late Ancient Law?

Preliminary Observations on Rights Discourse in Modern Law

The Disruptive Force of Christianity

Freedom of Religion.

Freedom from Enslavement: An Unrealized Ideal

Liberation Discourse and the Ransoming of Captives and Prisoners

12 Rabbinic Judaism

Subjective Rights

Property Rights

Rights in re aliena (in the Property of Another)

Tort

Robbery and Theft

Obligations

Debtor and Creditor

Householder and Laborer

Rights and the Law of Persons

Women and Men in Marriage

Fathers and Sons

The Poor

Slaves

Gentiles

Rights without Correlative Duties

A Right to Life

13 Sasanian Law

The Religious Dimension of Sasanian Law

Sasanian Conceptions of Legal Rights

Animal Rights

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Feb 2026).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-108-94584-8

1-108-94508-2

1-108-93893-0

OCLC:

1574117093