The Origins of Our Law: From Ancient Times to the Declaration of Independence and Constitution
Date: Dec 17, 2026 9:00 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.
Location: New Jersey Law Center, New Brunswick, and Online
Member Price: $177.00
Non-Member Price: $209.00
Section Price: $0.00
Areas of Law: Civil, For All Attorneys
Earn up to 4 credits, including 1.9 in Ethics! (More Information)
Featured Speaker
Moderator
- Justice Michael Noriega
- New Jersey Supreme Court
Presenters
- Justice Barry T. Albin, (Ret.)
- Lowenstein Sandler LLP
- Hon. Natalie S. Watson, J.S.C.
- Superior Court of New Jersey, Monmouth County
- Hon. Nelson Johnson, J.S.C. (Ret.)
- Author and Historian
Every argument in court has a backstory - and some of them are 4,000 years old.
This year, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, join us for The Ancient Origins of the Law You Practice: Before the Bench, a special history-meets-CLE program tracing the ideas behind modern law from the ancient world to the American founding.
Moderated by Justice Michael Noriega, this distinguished panel - Justice Barry Albin (Ret.), Hon. Natalie Watson and Hon. Nelson Johnson (Ret.) - will follow the path of legal thought from Hammurabi’s Code through Greece and Rome to the Iroquois Confederacy, whose Great Law of Peace put principles such as separation of powers, checks and balances, and the authority of women into practice long before Philadelphia.
Along the way, you'll hear how the Founders understood the legal and political traditions they inherited, in their own words, as they drafted the Declaration and framed the Constitution. The result is more than a history lesson: it is a clearer view of why our law is built the way it is, and what that means for those who practice it today.
Program Agenda:
- 9 a.m. | Introduction
- 9:05 a.m. | Ancient Mesopotamia - Hammurabi’s Code; The Ten Commandments; Ethics - Judge Johnson and Panel Discussion
- 9:35 a.m. | Ancient Greece; Ancient Rome; Ethics - Justice Noriega and Panel Discussion
- 10:10 a.m. | The Iroquois Confederacy - Judge Watson and Panel Discussion
- The role of clan mothers and the Counsel of Clans
- Chosen democratically, responsible for selecting the chiefs to serve on the Council of Clans
- 10:40 a.m. | Break
- 10:50 a.m. | Celebrating the 250th Birthday of the Declaration of Independence - Creation of the Declaration of Independence - Justice Albin and Panel Discussion
- Similarities in the Great Law of Peace - themes of separation of powers, checks and balances, and freedom
- Women’s Rights - Abigail Adams
- 11:55 a.m. | Creation of the U.S. Constitution - Justice Albin and Panel Discussion
- 12:35 p.m. | Adjourn
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