Codified law

Timeline of adoption

Likely independent adoption    Adopted after contact with an earlier adopter

Full list, earliest first

1. Akkadian Empire Mesopotamia 2,334 BCE – 2,154 BCE Independent
2. Old Babylonian Empire Mesopotamia 1,894 BCE – 1,595 BCE Independent
3. Hittite Empire Anatolia 1,600 BCE – 1,178 BCE Post-contact
4. Neo-Assyrian Empire Mesopotamia and the Near East 911 BCE – 609 BCE Independent
5. Carthaginian Empire North African coast and western Mediterranean 814 BCE – 146 BCE Independent
6. Achaemenid Persian Empire Iranian Plateau to the Indus 550 BCE – 330 BCE Post-contact
7. Roman Republic Italian Peninsula, expanding to Mediterranean 509 BCE – 27 BCE Post-contact
8. Classical Athens Attica, Greece 508 BCE – 322 BCE Post-contact
9. Maurya Empire Indian subcontinent 322 BCE – 185 BCE Post-contact
10. Qin Dynasty Yellow River to Yangtze, East Asia 221 BCE – 206 BCE Independent
11. Han Dynasty East Asia 206 BCE – 220 CE Independent
12. Roman Empire Mediterranean basin and Western Europe 27 BCE – 476 CE Post-contact
13. Sassanid Empire Iranian Plateau and Mesopotamia 224 CE – 651 CE Post-contact
14. Gupta Empire Northern Indian subcontinent 320 CE – 550 CE Independent
15. Byzantine Empire Eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia 330 CE – 1453 CE Post-contact
16. Aztec (Mexica) Empire Central Mexico 1428 CE – 1521 CE Independent
17. Inca Empire Andean South America 1438 CE – 1533 CE Independent