All Topics  
Twelve Tables

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Twelve Tables
 
 
  Topics Twelve Tables Topic Home

The Law of the Twelve Tables (Lex Duodecim Tabularum, more informally simply Duodecim Tabulae) was the ancient legislation
Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgation by a legislature or other governing body. The term may refer to a single law, or the collective body of enacted law, while "statute" is also used to refer to a single law....
 that stood at the foundation of Roman law
Roman law

Roman law is the law system of ancient Rome. As used in the West the term commonly refers to legal developments prior to the Roman/Byzantine state's adopting Greek language as its official language in the 7th century....
. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centerpiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 and the core of the mos maiorum
Mos maiorum

Mos Maiorum, literally translated as the ?custom of the fathers/ancestors,? is the core concept of Roman traditionalism. The mos maiorum , was an unwritten code from which the Romans derived their societal norms....
. The Twelve Tables must be distinguished from the unrelated, much older "twelve shields
Ancile

The Ancile, in ancient Rome, is the legendary buckler shield of the god Mars , said to have fallen from heaven, upon Numa Pompilius. At the same time, a voice was heard which declared that Rome should be mistress of the world while the shield was preserved....
" of King Numa Pompilius
Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius , according to legend, was the second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus. After Romulus died, Romans in the city elected a Sabine man to be king, so as to make him loyal to both tribes in Rome....
.

rding to traditional, semi-legendary historical accounts preserved in Livy
Livy

Titus Livius , known as Livy in English language, was a Ancient Rome historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time....
, during the earliest period of the Republic the laws were kept secret by the pontifices
Pontifex Maximus

The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the Ancient Rome College of Pontiffs. This was the most important position in the Ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post....
 and other representatives of the patrician
Patrician

The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elitism citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West....
 class, and were enforced with untoward severity, especially against the plebeian class.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Twelve Tables'
Start a new discussion about 'Twelve Tables'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Law of the Twelve Tables (Lex Duodecim Tabularum, more informally simply Duodecim Tabulae) was the ancient legislation
Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgation by a legislature or other governing body. The term may refer to a single law, or the collective body of enacted law, while "statute" is also used to refer to a single law....
 that stood at the foundation of Roman law
Roman law

Roman law is the law system of ancient Rome. As used in the West the term commonly refers to legal developments prior to the Roman/Byzantine state's adopting Greek language as its official language in the 7th century....
. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centerpiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 and the core of the mos maiorum
Mos maiorum

Mos Maiorum, literally translated as the ?custom of the fathers/ancestors,? is the core concept of Roman traditionalism. The mos maiorum , was an unwritten code from which the Romans derived their societal norms....
. The Twelve Tables must be distinguished from the unrelated, much older "twelve shields
Ancile

The Ancile, in ancient Rome, is the legendary buckler shield of the god Mars , said to have fallen from heaven, upon Numa Pompilius. At the same time, a voice was heard which declared that Rome should be mistress of the world while the shield was preserved....
" of King Numa Pompilius
Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius , according to legend, was the second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus. After Romulus died, Romans in the city elected a Sabine man to be king, so as to make him loyal to both tribes in Rome....
.

History

According to traditional, semi-legendary historical accounts preserved in Livy
Livy

Titus Livius , known as Livy in English language, was a Ancient Rome historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time....
, during the earliest period of the Republic the laws were kept secret by the pontifices
Pontifex Maximus

The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the Ancient Rome College of Pontiffs. This was the most important position in the Ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post....
 and other representatives of the patrician
Patrician

The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elitism citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West....
 class, and were enforced with untoward severity, especially against the plebeian class. A plebeian named Terentilius
Terentilius

Gaius Terentilius Harsa, better known simply as Terentilius, was a plebeian tribune in Rome around 462 BC.Terentilius agitated for a formal code of laws in the early days of the Roman Republic....
 proposed in 462 BC that an official legal code
Code (law)

A Code is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the code was enacted, by a process of codification....
 should be published, so that plebeians could not be surprised and would know the law.

Patricians long opposed this request, but in ca. 450 BC, a Decemvirate
Decemviri

Decemviri is a Latin term meaning "Ten Men" which designates any such commission in the Roman Republic . Different types of decemvirate include the writing of laws with consul imperium , the judging of litigation , the making of sacrifices , and the distribution of public lands ....
, or board of ten men, was appointed to draw up a code. They allegedly sent an embassy to Greece
Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
 to study the legislative system of Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
, known as the Solonian Constitution
Solonian Constitution

The Solonian Constitution was created by Solon in the early 6th century BC.Solon wanted to revise or abolish the older laws of Draco , which had not solved any of the problems in Athens despite inflicting harsh penalties for almost every crime....
, but also to find out about the legislation of other Greek
Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
 cities. Modern scholars believe that a Roman assembly most likely visited the Greek cities of Southern Italy, and did not travel all the way to Greece.

The first Decemvirate completed the first ten codes in 450 BC. Here is how Livy describes their creation, "...every citizen should quietly consider each point, then talk it over with his friends, and, finally, bring forward for public discussion any additions or subtractions which seemed desirable." In 449 BC, the second Decemvirate completed the last two codes, and after a secessio plebis
Secessio plebis

Secessio plebis was an informal exercise of power by Rome's plebeian citizens, similar to a general Strike action taken to the extreme. During a secessio plebis, the plebs would simply abandon the city en masse and leave the patrician order to themselves....
 to force the Senate to consider them, the Law of the Twelve Tables was formally promulgated. The Twelve Tables were drawn up on twelve ivory tablets (Livy says bronze
Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other chemical element such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon....
) which were posted in the Roman Forum
Roman Forum

The Roman Forum , sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the Ancient Rome developed....
 so that all Romans could read and know them.

The laws of the Twelve Tables were not a comprehensive statement of all law; they are a sequence of definitions of various private rights and procedures, similar to a bill of rights. They generally took for granted such things as the institutions of the family and various rituals for formal transactions.

For such an important document, it is somewhat surprising that the original text has been lost. The original tablets were destroyed when the Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
s under Brennus burnt Rome in 390 BC. There was no other official promulgation of them to survive, only unofficial editions. What we have of them today is brief excerpts and quotations from these laws in other authors. They are written in a strange, archaic, laconic
Laconic phrase

A "laconic phrase" is concise. The name comes from Laconia , a polis of ancient Greece surrounding the city of Sparta proper. In common usage, Sparta referred both to Lacedaemon and Sparta....
, and somewhat childish and sing-song version of Latin (described as Saturnian
Saturnian (poetry)

Saturnian meter or verse is an old Latin and Italic languages poetry form, of which the principles of versification have become obscure. Only 132 complete uncontroversial verses survive....
 verse). As such, though we cannot tell whether the quoted fragments accurately preserve the original form, what we have gives us some insight into the grammar of early Latin
Old Latin

Old Latin refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is, all Latin before 75 BC. The term prisca Latinitas distinguishes it in New Latin and Contemporary Latin from vetus Latina, in which "old" has another meaning....
. The belief is that the text was written as such in order that plebians could more easily memorize the laws as literacy was not commonplace during early Rome.

Like most other early codes of law, they combine strict and rigorous penalties with equally strict and rigorous procedural forms. In most of the surviving quotations from these texts, the original table that held them is not given. Scholars have guessed at where surviving fragments belong by comparing them with the few known attributions and records; many of which do not include the original lines, but paraphrases. It cannot be known with any certainty from what survives that the originals ever were organized this way, or even if they ever were organized by subject at all.

Excerpts from the Twelve Tables


TABLE I (Civil procedure
Civil procedure

Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudication Civil law lawsuits . These rules govern how a lawsuit or Legal case may be commenced, what kind of service of process is required, the types of pleadings or statements of case, motion s or applications, and court orders allowed in c...
)
Si in ius vocat, ito. Ni it, antestamino. Igitur em capito.


If someone is called to go to court
Court

A court is a body, often a government institution, with the authority to adjudication legal disputes and dispense private law, criminal justice, or administrative law justice in accordance with rules of law....
, he has to go. If he doesn't go, a witness
Witness

A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about a crime or dramatic event through their senses , and can help certify important considerations to the crime or event....
 should be called. Only then should he be captured.

Si calvitur pedemve struit, manum endo iacito. Si morbus aevitasve vitium escit, iumentum dato. Si nolet, arceram ne sternito.


If he shirks or flees, he should be captured. If illness or old age is an impediment, let him be given a carriage
Carriage

A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn. It is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods....
. If he doesn't want it, it should not be covered.

Adsiduo vindex adsiduus esto. Proletario iam civi quis volet vindex esto.


Only a landowner should be surety
Surety

A surety is a person who agrees to be responsible for the debt or obligation of another. Furthermore, a surety is also a "security against loss or damage or for the fulfillment of an obligation, the payment of a debt, etc.; a pledge, guaranty, or bond."...
 for another landowner. But any citizen can be surety for a proletarian.

Rem ubi pacunt, orato. Ni pacunt, in comitio aut in foro ante meridiem caussam coiciunto. Com peroranto ambo praesentes. Post meridiem praesenti litem addicito. Si ambo praesentes, solis occasus suprema tempestas esto.


When parties have made an agreement, announce it. If they don't agree, they shall state their case in the Forum
Roman Forum

The Roman Forum , sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the Ancient Rome developed....
 before noon. They shall plead together in person. After noon, let the judge pronounce. If both are present, the case shall end at sunset.

TABLE II (Civil procedure
Civil procedure

Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudication Civil law lawsuits . These rules govern how a lawsuit or Legal case may be commenced, what kind of service of process is required, the types of pleadings or statements of case, motion s or applications, and court orders allowed in c...
)
. . . morbus sonticus . . . aut status dies cum hoste . . . quid horum fuit unum iudici arbitrove reove, eo dies diffensus esto.


Serious illness. . . or else a day appointed with an enemy; . . . if any of these is an impediment for the judge or any party, on that day proceedings must end.

Cui testimonium defuerit, is tertiis diebus ob portum obvagulatum ito.


One who seeks the testimony from an absent person should wail before his doorway every third day.

TABLE III (Debt)
Aeris confessi rebusque iure iudicatis XXX dies iusti sunto.


A person who admits to owing money or has been adjudged to owe money
Debt

Debt is that which is owed; usually referencing assets owed, but the term can cover other obligations. In the case of assets, debt is a means of using future purchasing power in the present before a summation has been earned....
 must be given 30 days to pay.

Post deinde manus iniectio esto. In ius ducito. Ni iudicatum facit aut quis endo eo in iure vindicit, secum ducito, vincito aut nervo aut compedibus XV pondo, ne maiore aut si volet minore vincito. Si volet suo vivito, ni suo vivit, qui eum vinctum habebit, libras faris endo dies dato. Si volet, plus dato.


After then, the creditor can lay hands on him and haul him to court. If he does not satisfy the judgment and no one is surety for him, the creditor may take the defendant with him in stocks or chains with a weight of no more than 15 lbs. (or less if he desires). The debtor may live where he wishes. If he does not live on his own, the creditor must give him a pound of wheat a day. If he wants to he may give more.

Tertiis nundinis partis secanto. Si plus minusve secuerunt, se fraude esto.


On the third market day, (creditors) may cut pieces. If they take more than they are due, they do so with impunity.

Adversus hostem aeterna auctoritas esto.


Against an enemy, the right of property is valid forever.

TABLE IV (Parents and children)
Cito necatus insignis ad deformitatem puer esto.


An obviously deformed child must be put to death.

Si pater filium ter venum duit, filius a patre liber esto.


If a father sells his son into slavery
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
 three times, the son shall be free of his father.

TABLE V (Inheritance
Inheritance

Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, Title s, debts, and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies....
)
Si intestato moritur, cui suus heres nec escit, adgnatus proximus familiam habeto. Si adgnatus nec escit, gentiles familiam habento.


If a person dies intestate without heirs, the nearest male kinsman shall inherit. If there is no near male kinsmen, his clansmen
Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens was a clan, caste, or group of families, that shared a common name and a belief in a common ancestor. In the Roman naming convention, the second name was the name of the gens to which the person belonged....
 shall inherit.

Si furiosus escit, adgnatum gentiliumque in eo pecuniaque eius potestas esto.


If someone goes mad, his nearest male kinsman shall have authority over his property.

TABLE VI (Property
Property

Property is any physical or virtual entity that is ownership by an individual or jointly by a group of individuals. An owner of property has the right to consumption, sell, Renting, mortgage, transfer and exchange his or her property....
)
Cum nexum faciet mancipiumque, uti lingua nuncupassit, ita ius esto.


When someone makes bond or conveyance and announces it orally, right shall be given.

Tignum iunctum aedibus vineave sei concapit ne solvito.


No one must displace beams from buildings or vineyards.

TABLE VII (Real Property
Real property

In the common law, real property refers to one of the two main classes of property, the other class being personal property . Real property generally encompasses Estate in land, land improvements resulting from human effort including buildings and machinery sited on land, and various property rights over the preceding....
)
Viam muniunto ni sam delapidassint, qua volet iumento agito.


[A property owner must] build a road [if there is a right-of-way
Right-of-way

Right-of-way or right of way may refer to:In geography:*A situation in which although a parcel of land has a specific private owner, some other party or the public at large has a legal right to traverse that land in some specified manner....
]; if they become dilapidated
Dilapidation

Dilapidation is a term meaning in general a falling into decay, but more particularly used in the plural in English law for# the waste committed by the incumbent of an ecclesiastical living...
, passersby can drive their beasts where ever they want.

Si aqua pluvia nocet . . . iubetur ex arbitrio coerceri.


If runoff [from someone else's property] does damage, he shall be made to fix it by the judge.

TABLE VIII (Tort
Tort

Tort law is the name given to a body of law that addresses, and provides remedies for, civil wrongs not arising out of contractual obligations. A person who suffers legal damages may be able to use tort law to receive compensation from someone who is liability, or "liable," for those injuries....
s)
Qui malum carmen incantassit . . .


Those who have sung an evil paranormal spell. . .

Si membrum rupsit, ni cum eo pacit, talio esto.


If one has maimed another and does not buy his peace, let there be retaliation in kind.

Manu fustive si os fregit libero, CCC, si servo, CL poenam subito si iniuriam faxsit, viginti quinque poenae sunto.


Someone who breaks another's bone by hand or club must pay 300 sesterces; for a slave, 150; if he has done simple harm against another, 25.

Qui fruges excantassit . . . neve alienam segetem pellexeris


Someone who kills crops with a spell, or another's corn. . .

Patronus si clienti fraudem fecerit, sacer esto.


If a patron defrauds his client, let him be outlawed.

Qui se sierit testarier libripensve fuerit, ni testimonium fatiatur, inprobus intestabilisque esto.


If one has been called to witness, or hold the scales, unless he gives his testimony, let him be dishonoured and incapable of further testimony.

Si telum manu fugit magis quam iecit, arietem subicito.


If an object flies unaimed from your hand rather than aimed [and causes injury], you will owe a ram.

TABLE IX (Constitution
Constitution

A constitution is a system for government — often codified as a written document — that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity....
al principles)

Privilegia ne irroganto.


4. The penalty shall be death for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision.

5. Treason: he who shall have roused up a public enemy or handed over a citizen to a public enemy must suffer capital punishment.

6. Putting to death of any man, whosoever he might be unconvicted, is forbidden.

TABVLA X (Funeral
Funeral

A funeral is a ceremony marking a person's death. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from the funeral itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honour....
 regulations)
Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito neve urito.


No dead man may be cremated
Cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing human remains to basic Chemical element in the form of bone fragments through flame, heat, and vaporization....
 nor buried in the City.

Qui coronam parit ipse pecuniave eius honoris virtutisve ergo arduitur ei . . .


When a man wins a crown, or his slave or cattle win a crown for him, . . .

Neve aurum addito. at cui auro dentes iuncti escunt. Ast in cum illo sepeliet uretve, se fraude esto.


No one must add gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
 (to a funeral pyre). But if his teeth are held together with gold, and are buried or burnt with him, it shall be with impunity.

TABVLA XI (Marriage
Marriage

Marriage is a social, spirituality, or law union of individuals. This union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the married status created is sometimes called wedlock....
)
Conubia plebi cum patribus sanxerunt.


Marriages between plebeians and patrician
Patrician

The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elitism citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West....
s are prohibited.

Men in the army may not wed until training is complete.

TABVLA XII (Crime
Crime

Societies define Crime as the breach of one or more rules or laws for which some Government or force may ultimately prescribe a punishment.The word crime originates from the Latin crimen , from the Latin root cerno and Greek ????? = "I judge"....
s)
Si servo furtum faxit noxiamve noxit.


If a slave
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
 has committed theft or harm. . . .

Si vindiciam falsam tulit, si velit is . . . tor arbitros tris dato, eorum arbitrio . . . fructus duplione damnum decidito.


Someone who has brought a false claim shall be brought before three judges, and shall pay a double penalty.

Relevant articles

  • Roman law
    Roman law

    Roman law is the law system of ancient Rome. As used in the West the term commonly refers to legal developments prior to the Roman/Byzantine state's adopting Greek language as its official language in the 7th century....
  • List of Roman laws
    List of Roman laws

    This is a partial list of Roman laws. The name of the law is usually the Roman naming convention of the legislator, declined on the feminine form ....


External links