Roman Law: The Twelve Tables Of Rome

The Code of Hammurabi from the ancient Babylonian civilization, and the Twelve Tables from Ancient Rome society were both sets of laws from by which their societies had to abide. The Ancient Babylonian society abided by the Code of Hammurabi while the Ancient Romans abided by The Twelve Tables. Although they both served as promising laws to live by, they also served as tools that defined and distinguished each citizen’s position in the social order. Depending on where they stood in the social order, any criminal punishment would be tailored to that specific class. In Mesopotamian history, the most consummate code of law was the Code of Hammurabi, engendered by the King Hammurabi. The Twelve Tables was created by the Roman elites in order to create justice and fairness between the plebian and patricians. Both these sets of laws, although belonging to different societies, sought to create the illusion of fairness and equality outwardly towards the people, and inwardly, reward the rich and elite of their respective social class with power. Although these sets of laws belonged to different societies, they both casted an illusion of fairness and equality. However, in actuality these regulations only benefited the rich and elite.

These are things we are going to talk about, law, activities, and religion. Roman laws are harsh but modern day laws didn’t have harsh laws. Rome activities wrote there activities on tombs. Roman religion was a polytheistic religion and were similar to roman mythology. Roman laws were really harsh I could tell you reasons why.

They mustered up problems against the other class in the empire and because there was no written law, nobody knew their rights. This resulted in making the twelve tables. In 451 B.C.E., ten men were assigned to engrave the twelve tables on a stone pillar.

In Ancient Rome, The way society worked was much similar to America. The Roman social class is and has been very significant in the operational American social class. None of the Roman class’ was oppressed or enslaved rather they were split into two. Once the Romans defeated the Etruscans they went on to build an empire that would change the world. Their influence in today’s society is still very present. We still borrow ideas from them. They formed a government where they would elect people to represent for them, called a republic. This is still the foundation for government in most of today’s world. They formed a system of law that was completely ahead of it’s time so much so that it has become the base for many countries legal system today; one of these being The United States. The political system they built, coincidental caused a division between the Romans. Plebeians were the common people of Rome; the Patricians who were the ones of higher class could serve in the consul. This was the highest position in the senate. The Assembly was made up of Plebeians. They had gained a significant amount of importance when they were the ones given the power to elect Consuls. The Assembly head position was a tribune; he was the leader of the Assembly and had a lot of power. Then they developed the Law of Twelve Tables, a

What does it Say? The Roman Twelve tables are twelve tables that were created as a code of law. Each table explains the title of that code/law thoroughly. The tables are as follows: Table 1: Procedure: for courts and trials.

The ability to be ruled over a constitution gave the citizens guidelines and principles of penalties and un-approved actions one might occur to. The constitution balanced the separation of powers and scheduled elections. All of Roman laws were to be written in the 12 tables. The 12 tables was a constitution concerning laws for the people. Some categories of laws were Concerning judgement and thefts, concerning property which is lent, concerning the laws or real property, concerning public law , concerning religious law and ect. ( ssun.edu) The use of these laws provided a fair nation considering the faults of others and their penalties to society. The 12 tables was was developed in the early days of the Roman republic and the system lasted approximately 1000 years. Some laws concerning the nation were “putting to death …. of any man who has not been convicted, who ever he might be, is forbidden”. Also there were 8 types of punishments which were fines, fetters, flogging, retaliation in kind, civil disagreement, banishment, slavery and even death for any disobeyed laws in the constitution. The evidence proved that the republic of Rome had a constitution as a ruler for the citizens and because of it there was laws for them making it a safer city rather than having chaos without the punishments being recruited.

The Twelve Tables were first introduced to the Roman empire in 455 BC. The Plebeian and Patrician empires appointed a council of ten men to form a set of rules that bound their people. The council was called the Decemviri. Together, the

The cursus honorum was the path that a Roman male would take through the ranks of government offices. The patrician male, who was a born in the upper class, would start as a quaestor, next curule aedile, then praetor, and finally consul. The plebeian male, who was born in the lower class, would start as a tribune, next plebeian aedile, then praetor, and finally consul. In times of emergency, a dictator was elected for six months with complete control of Rome. Each stage of the cursus honorum had many rules, from number of elected officials to the type of clothes they wore. The cursus honorum created a structured and regulated government, that helped led Rome to its greatness.

The Twelve Tables were drawn up by the ten appointed patrician decemvir under the public pressure around 449 B.C.. They probably were the elder to be qualified as a experienced statement, but they must be the male Roman citizens. There are a lot of bias in The Twelve Tables, such as pro patriarchy, pro preseving blood line, pro-male, pro-healthy offspring, and the most obvious was pro-patricians. Laws in The Twelve Tables targeted plebeians and have a presence to patricians.

The Laws of the Twelve Tables, c.450 B.C. was the earliest attempt by the Romans to create a code of law. The twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the roots of Roman law and formed the centerpiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic. This legal code was written so that citizens would know and abide by the law for the public or they were to be cases of punishment. These laws varied but included Laws relating to Debtors, Laws relating to Inheritance, Laws relating to Marriage, Rights of a Father, Laws relating to Property, Will and Testament and Laws relating to a Woman...etc. In table IV, paternal power, it basically explains that a father among the Romans had the power over life and death of his children, or so forth.

Before the Twelve Tables, there were major problems and struggles. Both of the groups, patricians and plebeians, were able to vote, but only the patricians were granted the right to be elected to government positions. They were both able to make legal agreements and have marriages, but it was forbidden for a patrician and a plebeian to intermarry.There was conflict amongst Rome because everyone wanted the right to be equal, and they were not being treated

The Twelve Tables were the first laws ever written down and shown to the public in Ancient Rome. The Twelve Tables were displayed in the Roman Forum or marketplace. The Twelve Tables were also the earliest surviving writings of Ancient Rome.

Both the United States and roman republic have government that is similar today. In the United States we have the: executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch. The twelve tables remind me of the bill of rights. The law of the twelve

The Roman lives were based on the Twelve Tables, which were their written laws enforced by the government. The Twelve Tables were stable for over a millennium until the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D. The Romans were able to keep control through fair legal rights basically saying any crime was intolerable, but could be solved in a court case to determine the fate of the criminal. The Romans were half democratic and gave the people some voice by selecting representatives. This ruling helped decimate any crime and prevent murder. Although there are many positives to this ruling, innocent newborns with a deformity were ruthlessly killed. (Doc. 6)

Roman law in the republic was often based on custom (Paul-Louis). During the Roman Empire, however, the emperor became the final source of law. Roman law was one of the original products of the Roman mind. They created the Twelve Tables, which was the first Roman code of law developed during the early republic. Roman civil law allowed great flexibility in adopting new ideas or extending principles in the complex environment of the empire. This was to establish laws that allowed greater fairness. Early Roman law