Discover how Canadian women first won the legal right to vote in 1918 — a landmark moment in Canada’s journey toward gender equality. Learn about the Wartime Elections Act, the 1918 Canadian Elections Act, and how voting rights initially excluded Indigenous and racialized women. This article offers clear, fact-based legal information backed by official sources.

Believed to be the world’s oldest written legal code, the Code of Ur-Nammu—dating back to around 2100 BCE in ancient Mesopotamia—opens with a striking first law: "If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed." This early declaration of capital punishment marks a foundational moment in legal history, illustrating how justice and social order were enforced nearly 4,000 years ago. The law reflects retributive justice principles and highlights the emergence of state-adminis

Explore the origins of Canadian law through the lens of Indigenous legal traditions and colonial legal systems. This article examines how Indigenous nations governed through oral laws and kinship-based justice before French and British settlers introduced European legal frameworks. Learn how these systems conflicted, the impact on Indigenous governance, and the growing movement to restore legal pluralism in Canada.