Emperor Justinian wanted to save in writing all the laws that began in ancient Rome. In ancient Rome, those laws were called the Twelve Tables. Emperor Justinian collected up all the old laws,  and added new ones that gave his people even more rights. He called this body of law the Code. 

One of the laws in Justinian's Code stated that a person was innocent until proven guilty. Can you think of any country today that has this same law? Well, sure - we do! Many countries do, including the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, and others. 

It is not easy to write laws that are fair for everyone. Our founding fathers did a great job with the Bill of Rights, but then they some great teachers, one of which was Justinian!  

Justinian wrote laws that were fair for everyone because he thought about the needs of all the people. He did such a good job way back in 500 CE that new and existing governments still refer to his laws as guides when creating laws for their own countries today!

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