Judicial System in Pharaonic Era

Pharaonic civilization was mainly based on law and justice.

The Goddess Maat was responsible for enacting laws, fostering harmony and maintaining order in the society.

In this context, the Egyptologist Hussein Abdel Bassir stated that justice prevailed between people in all field and it was a significant part of the society’s mentality and culture.

Decisions of the court were highly respected and outlaws used to receive deterrent punishment.

Kings used to select judges carefully from across Egypt as well as taking all precautions to ensure the court’s integrity.

Ancient kings used to handle all legal affairs in Egypt and release legal decrees.

Ministers were working under the authority of pharaohs, and both of them were delegating their tasks to the local officials.

The process of developing the Egyptian law took place very slowly and laws were considered to be in force for a very long time.

Despite knowing the administrative structure in ancient Egypt, examples of ancient laws have not been uncovered yet.

On the other hand, little number of contracts, commandments, royal decrees and trial records that belong to the Pharaonic era are available.

Fortunately, workers in Deir Al Madina area at the modern state era managed to prepare dozens of documents over the centuries.

These documents include important information about those workers’ daily lives and the judicial system in ancient Egypt.

The criminal code wasn’t clear in the ancient judicial system, but a little bit more clear system was adopted among workers in Deir Al Madina.

According to their documents, sanctions for all offenses were almost the same.

Theft offenses seemed to exist in this region and their penalties were confined to refunding the stolen goods to the owner besides paying an extra compensation which may cost 4 times the value of the stolen staff. If the stolen staff is owned by the country, more severe penalty was imposed.

Moreover, thieves used to pay from 80 to 10 times the value of the stolen item if it was owned by the king.

Physical punishment like beating or execution were also applied in this case.

Sanctions of rapes crimes weren’t clear enough in the uncovered documents, but ancient Egyptians were certainly scorning these behaviors and handling them inside courts.

Regarding other sexual misbehaviors like homosexuality and prostitution, they didn’t fall within criminal offences.

On the other hand, execution was the prevailed sanction for grave robbery crimes which were handled by the superior court.

It’s worth noting  that at the end of King Ramses III’s ruling, a plot was hatched to kill him.

Those who were involved in this crime were detected at the last minute and a special committee was formed to set their proper sanctions.

These few excerpts of the judicial system in the Pharaonic era demonstrate how Egypt took the lead in application of justice world-wide.

Contributed by Salma Yassin