The development of the law of the countries of the Ancient East was historically determined. Reflecting the tendency inherent in the law of all peoples who were at the initial stage of development of legal thought, it remained common for a long time and only gradually became written. The law consisted mainly of records of the most frequently occurring cases from judicial practice. Expressing clearly a class orientation, it also retained a nationwide mission. The most important surviving monuments of the law of the Ancient East - the laws of Hammurabi (Babylon) and the laws of Manu (Ancient India) - confirm both the first and second. Moreover, the laws of Manu particularly clearly fix one of the first approaches in the history of jurisprudence to the problem of combining law and morality, law and religion. Violation of a legal norm was also considered as a violation of moral and religious regulations.
