- Twelve Tables: Their origin
One of the main reasons for the political strife between patricians and plebeians during the early years of the Republic was the dissatisfaction of the plebeians with the law and its administration. The law was uncertain and knowledge of it was not available to the plebeians. Judgements were often given on the basis of customs which were unwritten and preserved by a small group of patrician scholars. Plebeian customs relied for their enforcement on magistrates who were patricians, and the administration of the law by Consuls drawn from the patrician class was often harsh and tended to favour patrician interests, particularly in the matter of the occupation of public lands.
The Tribune Gaius Terentilius Arsa suggested in 462 B.C. that the powers of the Consuls should be defined by a committee of five. The plebeians supported this measure but the Senate would not give its support. In 452 B.C. three representatives visited Greece and the Greek settlements in Sicily and Lower Italy to investigate Solon's Code of Laws. After their return to Rome, a group of ten patricians (the Decemvirs) was appointed and compiled ten tables of laws which were later given approval by the Senate and the Comitia Centuriata.
In 450 B.C. another commission, including plebeian members, was appointed and produced a further two tables. These, together with the ten produced by the Decemvirs were known as the XII Tables (Lex XII Tabularum). They were inscribed, on bronze tablets, or on wood faced with stucco, and were posted in the Forum. It is assumed that the tablets were destroyed in the sack of Rome by the Gauls (390 B.C.).
- XII Tables: Their content
The contests of the Tables are not available in their entirety and our knowledge of them is culled from references in legal literature and the writings of Cicero and others. The Tables did not form a complete code in our sense of that phrase, since, for example, some aspects of private law were not dealt with. The laws in the surviving text are peremptory in tone; often very harsh ("False witnesses are to be hurled from the Tarpeian rock"; "Deformed children may be destroyed immediately by the father"), often seemingly trivial ("Slaves bodies may not be embalmed"; "Not more than ten flute-players may be hired for a funeral"), but often, given their historical context, of great significance ("No law shall be passed which affects an individual only: all laws must have general application"; "No one may put to death except after formal trial and sentence").
It would seem that the Tables included no new law, but declared the existing customary law which had been a major cause of patrician-plebeian disputes. It is believed that the Tables were set out as follows:
Tables I, II, III: Civil procedure and execution.
Table IV: Patria Potestas.
Tables V, VI, VII: Guardianship, inheritance, property.
Table VIII: Crimes.
Table IX: Public law.
Table X: Sacred law.
Tables XI, XII: Supplementary laws.
- The Law of the Twelve Tables: Their importance
Romans venerated them as the origin of their legal history.
They represented an important step in the replacement of customary law by written law.
They were known to large numbers of persons as a result of being displayed publicly.
They symbolised an advance in the struggle to secure equality before the law for plebeians and patricians.
They were not entirely superseded for about a thousand years.
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- The codification of Roman Law
+ The codification of Roman Law (II): Other codification prior to Justinian
+ The codification of Roman Law (III): Justinian's codification of the Law
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Source:
Roman Law, L. B. Curzon, pages 21 - 22.
