Roman Twelve Tables

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)

The Roman's executive branch, had two consuls and they were elected by the assembly for one year to be the chief executives of the government and the commanders-in-chief of the army. In the judicial branch, the Praetors and the eight judges are chosen for one year by the Centuriate Assembly. Both the Praetor and the eight judges oversee the civil and criminal courts. To become a citizens you have to be an adult male landowner. The citizens had the right to vote, to make legal contracts, to have a lawful marriage, and to have a trial. A common citizen would vote to elect tribunes and to make laws. The Romans had the Twelve Tablets which, were a list of rules that was the basis of the Roman legal system. The laws in the Twelve Tablets talked about property, crime, family, theft, and inheritance.

Patricians hold all the offices in ancient Rome and plebeians who outnumbered them were mostly farmers, craftsmen and soldiers. Therefore one can understand that practically while plebeians had no rights or knowledge, they were in an advantageous position as patricians couldn’t defend the city or do any kind of job without their help. Plebeians couldn’t tolerate the increasing debt and the abuse of patricians and demanded equality, by blackmailing the patricians

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

Roman laws were the harshest laws ever. TIn document 2, it says, ‘’The kill children if they were disable’’. If a father is caught thrice his son for sale, then the son shall be free from his father. Poor romans have harsher punishments in court than rich romans. They get stoned and sometimes death. They were no intermarriages between plebeians and patricians. Which means the poor couldn’t marry the rich. In the U.S., they can’t kill children because of they’re disable. They could marry who ever they want.

The Roman Republic operated as two different society classes such as Patricians and Plebeians. Patricians were rich landowners and they had slaves that run their homes, that is how wealthy these people really were. The Plebeians were common townspeople who didn’t have a lot of money, they worked to pay the bills, taxes, and pay for food for their families. Patricians were part of the aristocratic class and the Plebeians were known as the Roman citizens, which they were not Patricians. The word Patrician comes from the word ‘Patres’ which means plural father, which is a term to designate the first members or class, which is the Senate. Now the term Plebeian means, ‘of the common people’, so this means that the Plebeians were just the common townspeople and the Patricians were the more wealthy and were higher up in the class of people. Marriage between the two class was forbidden. If a man was a Patrician he could hold or take the place in the highest part of the Republic which is known as the consul. At the beginning of the Republic, the Patricians had

The leaders of the Roman Republic developed laws to create order after centuries of chaos. These laws were so advanced for their time sometimes to this day we see and practice them in everyday life. An example of this is Table IX which basically states that if a judge is bribed or cheats the system he or she shall be punished (Station 1, Doc 1). Also to this day, our governments have striking resemblance; we are viewed as a Republic democracy and this was considered the same for Rome.

The trials of political success and error throughout history, have led to more efficient and authentic ways of governing, making nations stronger over the course of time. While the United States and the Roman Republic share similar political systems, the structure of the Roman Republic is in many ways flawed compared to the modern Democratic Republic of the U.S. nation. The Roman Republic’s rigid social structure flawed their political system because there was less flexibility within the social ladder, affecting citizens and their opportunity to be elected into office. The Republic’s society was made up of two distinct and separate social classes, the Patricians and the Plebeians. “In the early years of the Roman Republic, patricians controlled all the religious and political offices; plebeians had no right of appeal against decisions of the patrician government, since no laws were codified or published.

Though the Twelve Tables are not widely known, they played a large role in establishing the early Roman government. Not only were they the first set of written laws in the Roman empire, the Twelve tables bound the Plebeian and Patrician empires to the the same set of regulations. The Twelve Tables inspired other nations at the time to form an organized system and regions around the world still use the basic fundamentals of the laws.

In Justinian’s Code there was a concept of being innocent until you are proven guilty. Similarly, The Code of Hammurabi also had this way of directing punishment. Case in point, if you accuse someone of manslaughter in Babylon and do not prove it, you would be killed. Although punishment would be made in Justinian’s code, it would not have been as harsh. This is a similarity because although punishments were harsher due to Hammurabi’s code in Babylon, both societies inflicted punishment only if a crime is proven. In the Twelve Tables of the Roman Empire, there are some punishments that deserve the death penalty. As in the Twelve Tables, some acts can lead to death as well. For example, in someone in Babylon is caught stealing he will be sentenced to death; Meanwhile, The

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.

During the period of 451- 450 BC, the twelve tables containing roman law came into play for the sake of the roman peoples. During this set of occasions one might find themselves just as in favor of the law, as without. Rome as a whole was in considerable debt, and as the laws entail, required those who were not as financially fortunate to seek a span of self inflicted slavery so as to rummage up that which could be payed in favor of debts under the control of the indebted. Considering this, certain laws came into play such as tablet IV. 2 decree limiting permissions a father had over his sons who we could consider as the one most typically put into slavery for the debts of his parents. Other laws applicable to similar scenarios involving those of the father usually instate a role of control and ownership over the family, such as the right to him to sell his own children, have complete ownership of his daughter even into her adulthood, and as such have the same ownership to his wife as if she were his

The Roman Twelve Tables assured all citizens that there was a means to an end on important disputable issues. These issues ranged in everything from if the accuser called someone to court, then the defendant was required to attend court. As well as everyone is innocent until proven guilty, something we hold true to this day. Many of these issues had arguments and brought other issues as well but the important thing is it held up the most important and dear laws to the roman

It can be seen that the problem was that patrician were lording power over the plebeians. Electing tribunes to protect the rights of a plebeian was important because it helped the empire be fair and equal to all the citizens which helped everyone be content. This prevented violent demonstrations from breaking out.

During the Republic, laws weren’t written down they were in the head of the judges. The common people were mistreated so they made ...the three branches were civil law which was the laws of the Roman Citizen, Law of people which is Law for everyone Even the ones in captivity, and the natural law was a law for all people and all time. The Twelve Tables were ancient roman laws that made it more fair for lower class. They wanted everyone to know the laws so they placed them in the forum . So the laws were fair for upper class and lower class.