The Twelve Tables The Law of the Twelve Tables
(from E. H. Warmington, Remains of Old Latin
III, circa 450 B.C.)
The Twelve Tables were written by the Decemviri
Consulari Imperio Legibus
Scribundis,(the 10 Consuls) who were given
unprecedented powers to draft the
laws of the young Republic.Originally ten
laws were drafted ; two later statutes
were added prohibiting marriage between the
classes and affirming the binding
nature of customary law. The new code promoted
the organization of public
prosecution of crimes and instituted a system
whereby injured parties could seek
just compensation in civil disputes. The
plebeians were protected from the legal
abuses of the ruling patricians, especially
in the enforcement of debts. Serious
punishments were levied for theft and the
law gave male heads of families
enormous social power (patria potestas).The
important basic principle of a
wriiten legal code for Roman law was established
, and justice was no longer
based solely on the interpretation of judges.
These laws formed an important
part of the foundation of all subsequent
Western civil and criminal law.
Table I: Preliminaries to a trial; rules
for a trial.
1. If plaintiff summons defendant to court,
he shall go. If he does not go,
plaintiff shall call witness thereto. Then
only shall he take defendant by
force.
2. If defendant shirks or takes to heels,
plaintiff shall lay hands on him.
3. If disease or age shall be an impediment,
he shall grant him a team (for
transport); he should not spread with cushions
a covered carriage if he shall
not so desire.
6-9. When the parties compromise the matter,
an official shall announce it. If
they do not compromise, they shall state
the outline of the case in the meeting
place or market before noon. They shall plead
it out together in person. After
noon, the judge shall adjudge the case to
the party that is present. If both are
present, sunset shall be the time limit (of
the proceedings).
Table II: The trial
3. Whoever is in need of evidence, he shall
go on every third day to shout
before the witness' doorway.
Table III: Debt
1-6. When debt has been acknowledged, or
judgment about the matter had been
pronounced in court, thirty days must be
the legitimate time of grace. After
that, then arrest of debtor may be made by
laying on hands. Bring him into
court. If he does not satisfy the judgment,
or no one in court offers himself as
surety on his behalf, the creditor may take
the defaulter with him. He may bind
him either in stocks or in chains; he may
bind him with weight not less than
fifteen pounds or with more if he shall so
desire. The debtor, if he shall wish
it, may live on his own. If he does not live
on his own, the person [who shall
hold him in bonds] shall give him one pound
of grits for each day. He may give
more if he shall so desire. On the third
market day, creditors shall cut pieces
(divide the debt?). Should they have cut
more or less than their due, it shall
be with impunity.
Table IV: Rights of fathers
1. A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly
killed.
2. If a father surrenders his son for sale
three times, the son shall be free
from his father.
4. A child born after ten months since the
father's death will not be admitted
into a legal inheritance.
Table V: Guardianship
1. Females should remain in guardianship
even when they have attained their
majority.
7a. If a man is raving mad, rightful authority
over his person and chattels
shall belong to his agnates or to his clansmen.
Table VI: Acquisition; possession.
Table VII: Rights concerning land
9b. Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be
bend crooked by the wind and lean over
your farm, you may take legal action for
removal of that tree.
10. A man might gather up fruit that was
falling down onto another man's farm.
Table VIII: Torts or delicts
1a. If any person had sung or composed against
another person a song such as was
causing slander or insult to another....he
should be clubbed to death.
1b. Person who shall have enchanted by singing
an evil spell...
2. If a person has maimed another's limb,
let there be retaliation in kind
unless he makes agreement for composition
with him.
3. If he has broken or bruised a freemen's
bone with his hand or a club, he
shall undergo a penalty of 300 pieces; if
a slave's, 150.
8a. A person who has enchanted crops away...
8b. ...or decoy not another's corn
10. Any person who destroys by burning any
building or heap of corn deposited
alongside a house shall be bound, scourged,
and put to death by burning at the
stake provided that he has committed the
said misdeed with malice aforethought;
but if he shall have committed it by accident,
that is, by negligence, it is
ordained that he repair the damage or, if
he be too poor to be competent for
such punishment, he shall receive a lighter
punishment.
12. If the theft has been done by night,
if the owner kills the thief, the thief
shall be held to be lawfully killed.
13. (It is unlawful for a thief to be) killed
by day....unless he defends
himself with a weapon; even though he has
come with a weapon, unless he shall
use the weapon and fight back, you shall
not kill him. And even if he resists,
first call out (so that someone may hear
and come up).
23. A person who had been found guilty of
giving false witness shall be hurled
down from the Tarpeian Rock.
26. No person shall hold meetings by night
in the city.
Table IX: Public law
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.
Table X: Sacred law
1. A dead man shall not be buried or burned
within the city.
8-9. A person must not add gold (to the funeral
pyre). But him whose teeth shall
have been fastened together with gold, if
a person shall bury or burn him along
with that gold, it shall be with impunity.
Table XI: Supplementary laws
1. (Marriages) should not take place between
plebeians and patricians.
Table XII: Supplementary laws
5. Whatever the people had last ordained
should be held as binding by law.
ROME