Definition of the 12 Tables

We had three long tables that Liszt arranged according to his wishes, with his own seat in the middle. The influx of talent behind the tables and in the showrooms was undeniable. Around 450 BC J.-C., the first Decemviri (Decemvirats, president of the «Ten Men») were responsible for creating the first ten tables. According to Livy, they sent a message to Greece to study the legislative system of Athens, known as the Salonic Constitution, but also to learn more about the legislation of other Greek cities. [7] [8] Some scholars deny that the Romans imitated the Greeks in this regard[9] or suggest that they only visited the Greek cities of southern Italy and did not travel to Greece. [10] In 450 BC. J.-C., the second Decemviri begins to work on the last two tables. In addition to these early problems, some specific laws in the original tables were not very durable, such as the one that forbade mixed marriages between patricians and plebeians. This law was repealed in 445 BC. J.-C. with the adoption of the lex Canulia. Other laws within the Twelve Tablets were modified over time and from the 3rd century BC they were gradually replaced by laws more relevant to the development of Roman society and the dramatic expansion of the Republic. Although some scholars insist that the Twelve Tables were not quite «all equal before the law» that tradition claimed, and that they alone were not sufficient to be defined as a complete code of law, they nevertheless undeniably laid the foundation for what would become a fully codified system of law in the Roman world.

Decemviri must also be credited with creating laws that had practical value, distinct from any religious considerations, visible to all, and described in precise language with explicit definitions. Thus, the Romans created an approach to legal issues that has since been copied by countless other societies and governments. This is the traditional view of events, although, perhaps more realistically, the composition of the tables was an attempt by the elite to govern themselves better and prevent abuse within their own social group. Anyway, the result was a list of written laws (legibus scribundis) presented on ten tables, and two more were added the following year to bring the total to twelve. As a result, laws became law, that is, they were promulgated only after the first decision of a legislative body and were no longer based on mere customs and traditions. They had now moved away from the tables and walked very slowly along the room. The Twelve Tables are so complete that their substance has been described as a «code»[4], although modern scholars consider this characterization to be exaggerated. [2] The tables were a series of definitions of various private rights and procedures. They usually took for granted things like family institutions and various rituals for formal transactions.

The provisions were often very specific and diverse. [5] The Twelve Tables are said to have been written by 10 commissioners (decemvirs) at the insistence of the plebeians, who felt hindered in their legal rights by the fact that court decisions had been rendered according to unwritten customs, which were kept only in a small group of learned patricians. With the beginning of work in 451, the first group of commissioners produced 10 tables, which were then supplemented by 2 additional tables. In 450, the code was officially displayed on the Roman Forum, probably on bronze plates. The written account of the law in the Twelve Tablets allowed the plebeians both to become familiar with the law and to protect themselves from the abuses of power of the patricians. This section of the paintings makes it illegal for anyone to define what a citizen of Rome is, with the exception of the largest assembly or the Maximus comitatus. It also prohibits the execution of persons who have not been convicted, the bribery of judges and the extradition of a citizen to hostile powers. [15] The weight percentage can be determined from the Purdy tables given below. These two paintings deal with the Roman court case. Table I includes proceedings between the defendant and the plaintiff with reactions to possible situations, such as when age or illness prevent the defendant from appearing, and then transportation must be arranged to assist him.

[14] It`s also about this: Grindr currently has twelve «tribes,» and for some people, it`s simply not enough. Since only random quotations from the Twelve Tables are preserved, knowledge of their contents is largely derived from references in later legal writings. Revered by the Romans as the most important legal source, the Twelve Tablets were replaced by later changes in Roman law, but never officially abolished. The fourth table of the Twelve Tables deals with the specific rights of the patriarchs of the family. One of the first proclamations in Table IV is that «terribly deformed» children must be promptly euthanized. He also explains that sons are born into their family`s inheritance. Babies with physical and mental illnesses must be killed by the father himself. If a husband no longer wishes to be married to his wife, he can remove her from his household and «order her to take care of his own affairs.»[15] Not all the codes in Table IV only benefit the patriarch. If a father tries three times to sell his son, then the son deserves his release from the father.

According to tradition, 451 BC. J.-C. a committee, decemviri, under public pressure, charged with writing a code of law that would better represent the interests of ordinary (plebeian) people and reduce the undue influence of aristocrats (patricians) and priests (pontificates) on Roman law. They had sat exclusively on a board that interpreted the law as they saw fit. In preparation for this task, a delegation of three men was sent to Athens, where they studied the laws of the famous legislator Solon (c. 640 – c. 560 BC). Then ten men, all patricians, were given consular power (imperium) and were allowed to draw up a list of laws which they deemed most necessary and useful.

In the forum «The Twelve Tables», the rights and duties of the Roman citizen were indicated. Their formulation was the result of considerable excitement on the part of the plebeian class, which until then had been excluded from the superior advantages of the Republic. The law had not previously been written and interpreted exclusively by the priests of the upper class, the Pontifices. Part of the importance with which later Romans viewed the Twelve Tablets is recorded in Cicero`s remark (106-43 BC) that the «Twelve Tablets. seems to me, with certainty, to surpass the libraries of all philosophers, both in the weight of authority and in the abundance of benefits. Cicero hardly exaggerated; the Twelve Tablets formed the basis of Roman law for a thousand years. [3] The Twelve Tablets of Roman society are said to have been created by the Romans as a result of the long social struggle between patricians and plebeians. After the expulsion of the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, in 509 BC.

The republic was governed by a hierarchy of judges. Initially, only patricians had the right to become judges, which, among other plebeian complaints, was a source of dissatisfaction for plebeians. In the context of this unequal status, the plebeians would take steps to obtain concessions by taking advantage of the threat of secession. They threatened to leave the city, with the result that it would stop, because the plebeians of Rome were workers. Tradition has it that one of the most important concessions obtained in this class struggle was the establishment of the Twelve Tables, which established fundamental procedural rights for all Roman citizens in relation to each other. [6] The elaboration of the Twelve Tables may have been sparked by the patricians` desire for self-regulation or for other reasons. [2] In the book The Twelve Tables, written by an anonymous source because its origins were heard through a series of translations of ancient panels and references, P.R. Coleman-Norton arranged and translated many important features of the debt that the Twelve Tables adopted in the 5th century.