History of Law - 1300 BC

 A Short History of Law and Legal Systems 

1300 BC: The Ten Commandments

According to the Bible, it was in approximately 1300 BC that Moses
received a list of ten laws directly from God. These laws were
known as the Ten Commandments and were transcribed as part of the
Book of Moses, which later became part of the Bible. Many of the
Ten Commandments continue in the form of modern laws such as "thou
shalt not kill" (modern society severely punishes the crime of
murder), "thou shalt not commit adultery" (modern society allows a
divorce on this grounds) and "thou shalt not steal" (modern
society punishes theft as a crime). The Bible chapter that
contains the Ten Commandments (Exodus) follows the recitation of
the Commandments with a complete set of legal rules, which are
based on the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" legal philosophy
of Hammurabi's Code.

An interesting and lengthy discussion of the Decalogue on
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_commandments