Legal parallels in the Book of Mormon, Bible

PROVO, Utah — For 28 years John Welch, a law professor at the J.

Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, researched ancient

legal systems, discovering parallels with Old Testament law in the Book

of Mormon.Some of the research came from his students and

assistants, and he credited to them the final publishing of his book,

"The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon."Speaking Wednesday at

Olivewood Book Store, which is affiliated with the Neal A. Maxwell

Institute for Religious Scholarship, Welch said his study of Babylonian

law shed light on passages in the Book of Mormon because those ancient

people also knew and lived by those laws, including the Law of Moses.His

findings, coupled with discoveries of other ancient law scholars, were

unknown to Joseph Smith, he said. Smith founded The Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints after publishing the Book of Mormon in 1830.Many of those legal discoveries weren't made until the 20th century, Welch said."It helps us understand (Book of Mormon people) as real people," he said. "It's important to know that Alma was a real person."Among

the legal cases in the Book of Mormon Welch details are the accusations

of Sherem, who taught against Jesus Christ in Jacob 7. Sherem accused

Jacob of blasphemy, leading people away from the truth and false

prophesy, all capital crimes in the ancient Old Testament world.Legal issues in the Bible, including the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, apply to the Book of Mormon, Welch said.For

example, under the ancient legal system, if an accuser loses the case,

then the punishment that would have been imposed on the accused is

given to the accuser, which was Sherem's fate, "a perfect legal