The Mikado
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« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2018, 01:13:59 PM » |
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In the 18th century, Moses would've been more held up as an archetypal "ancient lawgiver" than anything else: that is to say, he'd be grouped with Solon, Lycurgus, King Numa, etc. in the category of "figures from the dawn of civilization who gave law codes to their peoples." He's more of an inspirational "great lawmaker/legislator" archetype than a source of direct legal inspiration, at least for the Constitution, which doesn't mandate, say, blue laws (prohibiting business on the Sabbath) or create ecclesiastical courts to try religious offenses the way the Bible would prescribe.
EDIT: It is in the same sort of spirit that the picture of Moses is in the modern House of Representative chambers...accompanied by 22 other great "lawgiver" figures of the past, like Solon, Justinian, Napoleon, and Thomas Jefferson.
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