How a 3,800-year-old stone tablet helped create modern legal systems
'Innocent until proven guilty' isn't that new of a concept.

Kind of looks like the Matrix code...
The modern justice system is certainly not without its flaws, however most can agree that the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” is one that (when not abused) stands as the foundation of what fair due process looks like. This principle, it turns out, isn’t so modern at all. It can actually be traced all the way back to nearly 3,800 years ago.

English barrister Sir William Garrow is known for coining the "innocent until proven guilty" phrase between the 18th and 19th century, after insisting that evidence be provided by accusers and thoroughly tested in court. But this notion, as radical as it seemed at the time, can, in fact, be credited to an ancient Babylonian king who ruled Mesopotamia.
During his reign from 1792 to 1750 B.C., Hammurabi left behind a legacy of accomplishments as a ruler and a diplomat. His most influential contribution was a series of 282 laws and regulations that were painstakingly compiled after he sent legal experts throughout his kingdom to gather existing laws, then adapted or eliminated them in order to create a universal system.
Those laws were inscribed on a large, seven-foot stone monument, and they were known as the Code of Hammurabi.
The Code of Hammurabi was extensive and included rules and penalties pertaining to economic, family, criminal and civil law. On top of the stone sits a carving of the king receiving the laws from Shamash, the Mesopotamian god of justice and equity, implying that the laws are divinely ordained.

Nothing says official like a picture of you next to a god.
en.wikipedia.org
Historians only know of one earlier recorded law collection, created just 300 years before Hammurabi, and it was much less detailed by comparison. As Dawn McCormack, associate dean of the College of Graduate Studies at Middle Tennessee State University, explains, this was most likely due to the growing group of different peoples conquered during Hammurabi’s reign. “As the population diversified, the law codes adapted to meet the new circumstances.”
Some of the laws in the Code of Hammurabi might be seen as barbaric by today's standards, with punishments being the removal of the guilty party’s tongue, hands, breasts, eye or ear. On the other hand, many laws were quite progressive. Kelly-Anne Diamond, an assistant teaching professor of history at Villanova University, told History, the code provides the first recorded alimony payment law.
Diamond also notes that Mesopotamians “put a lot of emphasis on getting to the truth of a case,” and therefore mandated the use of witnesses, oral testimony and written evidence to prove guilt. They also established having individuals swear they were telling the truth by oath. “Oaths were particularly effective because of the people's profound belief that the gods would punish them if they lied under oath,” she explained.
Presuming innocence in today’s legal system has had its fair share of negative impact on victims, primarily in sexual harassment cases, not to mention the heavy use of media coverage for court cases of public figures, which can certainly sway public opinion. Still, the fact that evidence-based, fair and impartial justice has been a goal throughout history offers an encouraging outlook for humanity as a whole. Perhaps it’s an ideal that will never fully be achieved, but the fact that people continue to pursue integrity is something worth noting.



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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.