ABSTRACT
The roots of much contemporary law can be traced back to the Bible due to its importance in (Western) thought, generally, and in jurisprudence, more specifically, given certain developments in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although the Bible’s legal legacy is vast, this chapter attends to “private law,” which is typically understood as pertaining to those matters wherein legal resolution is largely left to private parties. Private law may thus be contrasted with “public law,” which requires the involvement of official entities like government agents. The effects of the geographical location and divine placement of biblical law are several, but one primary one is to problematize any notion of law, or bit of law, in the Bible as entirely devoid of larger, more public or official agents—that is, as private.
