# Who's the first lawyer?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2003, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896 "2003-11-29T10:40:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xtian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b487fb/32.png) [@xtian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtian)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/1 "2003-11-29T10:40:52Z")
Who was the world’s first lawyer? What was the first law about? ---
**Author:** ![myles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/2 "2003-11-29T10:45:26Z")
The Law of Thermodynamics? The first human law was pribably tribal and oral, prehistoric. A better question would need to be answered first: what is law? According to the loosest definitions, it could be whatever an alpha male of a band of chimpanzees says it is. But seriously, “A distinct class of legal specialists other than judges first emerged in the Greco-Roman civilization, and as with the law itself, the main contribution was from Rome in the period from 200 BC to AD 600.” (Encyc. Britannica) ---
**Author:** ![SeekingTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@SeekingTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeekingTruth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/3 "2003-11-29T11:00:21Z")
using the cite of Greco-Romans, I submit this. Considering the role of a lawyer, and knowing they weren’t called that centuries ago, couldn’t it be argued that anyone going before the Pharoes 4,000 years ago to plead the case of someone’s life, property, etc. be considered a lawyer? ---
**Author:** ![myles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/4 "2003-11-29T11:35:25Z")
Actually, in the book of Job, Satan means “The Accuser” in Hebrew and he takes on the position of prosecutor/d.a. in the Court of God, that at least is how Satan was originally conceived. So, you could easily say that Satan was the first lawyer. You’ll probably get a few lawyers upset for saying this though, 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/5 "2003-11-29T11:52:05Z")
Ha, indeed, **myles** they’d get upset? Tee Hee, so just let them try to sue for slander. And it would be nice to have that court case televised. 🙂 \ ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/6 "2003-11-29T12:10:56Z")
Does the OP mean lawyers in the sense of people who make a profession out of it? Does this include judges, or does he only mean professionals defending people in court cases? And is a lawyer necessarily someone who has had training in a complex system of law? Without further clarity this whole question is unanswerable in an unambigious way. In classical Athens there already were lawyers (sunegoroi) in the sense of people defending other people, even for pay. Examples are Lysias and Demosthenes. However, this was generally found suspect: it had to be explained why the person needed assistance in his defence (because he was young and inexperienced). It was not a good thing if it appeared that the defence was undertaken purely for money. An intermediate solution was to hire speech-writers. Since Athens never had the kind of fully developed legal system that the Romans had, it could be argued that they could never have professional lawyers in the modern sense of the word. In Roman law there were plenty of career lawyers. No way to find out who was the first. Source: - S.C. Todd, The Shape of Athenian Law, Oxford 1993, p. 94-97. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/7 "2003-11-29T12:15:37Z")
Hammurabi’s code (1700 BC) is often cited as the first code of law. However, [this site](http://www.duhaime.org/Law_museum/hist.htm) mentions two earlier ones: Urukagina’s Code of 2350 BC, to which references have been found, and Ur-Nammu’s Code of 2050 BC. There may have been earlier ones, but none that we know about, apparently. Incidentally, that site also lists the first known court case at 1850 BC. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/8 "2003-11-29T12:39:48Z")
First defence lawyer - [Daniel](http://www.ejmd.cwc.net/susanna.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-first-lawyer/215896/9 "2003-11-29T15:22:07Z")
A surgeon, an engineer and a lawyer are arguing who came first in the order of things. The surgeon says: “Mine was the first profession - what was the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib if not surgery?” The engineer responds: “Yes, but first the world had to be created out of chaos - what was that if not an engineering project?” The lawyer counters both: “How do you think Chaos came about?” Sorry, couldn’t resist