Mayan Pottery and Hieroglyphics Describe- The Maya Law Code

A few of the surviving Maya codices and Mayan pottery pieces give hints concerning the Maya Law Code.

Maya Law Code

The Maya seemed to have imposed harsh and immediate penalties on those who committed crimes.  Adultery and murder were considered especially heinous. 

An obvious distinction between our view today concerning those who commit crimes and how the ancient Maya saw this matter concerns human free will.  The Maya did not believe that bad things could happen by accident; they viewed every event as the fulfillment of patterns.  These patterns had been set in motion by the gods.

A hunter who killed another man by accident in the forest was just as guilty of murder as a man who killed another in a quarrel in front of other witnesses.  The unfortunate dead hunter must have been elected by the gods to meet his end.  The perpetrator thus must have displeased the gods in some manner.

Similarly, a person who lost or damaged someone else’s belongings by accident was treated as if he or she had done the deed with intent and was required to compensate the victim immediately.

The punishment for murder was death.  The murderer was placed in stocks and put to death by the relatives of the person he had killed.  Indeed a fitting punishment was required to “neutralize” the harm that had been done.

Those who had no wealth of their own with which to pay compensation faced slavery.  But once the debt was paid off, the perpetrator would be freed.

A person caught stealing would be cast immediately into slavery to compensate the victim for his crime, but once the value of the theft was paid off, he was free to continue his life.

The Maya also had strict codes of conduct for protecting the jungle and the animals. It appears that killing an animal for no reason was seen akin to murder and subject to discipline.

Punishments seem to have been carried out immediately.  And since the punishment was supposed to be fitting for the crime, the Maya did not keep jails.

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