The Twelve Tables

Document Study:

The Twelve Tables

Rebecca Currence History 219 Dr. Winter 5.24.07

The Twelve Tables, written in 450 and 449 B.C.E1, laid the foundation for Roman law and later on influenced the code of laws compiled by Byzantine Emperor Justinian. These tables, formed to acquaint the Roman public (particularly the plebeians) with what the laws were and how they functioned. Up to that point, the laws of the Roman lands had been kept secret by the pontifices and other representatives of the Roman upper-class, the patricians. The secrecy the laws were kept under exacerbated the already complicated conflict between these two classes. The need for public knowledge of Rome’s laws was essential but had been pushed aside for years by the patrician faction. After the publication of The Twelve Tables, both classes were able to have a fixed system ordering how they lived and handled civil cases. The stability granted by these laws was felt throughout the Republic, and the long-term effects of these laws being established are still felt today: Many European societies and even our own United States have legal codes based on much of The Twelve Tables. To begin a dissection of The Twelve Tables, one must first begin by considering the political and social climate under which they were formed. The Roman Republic had existed for approximately 50 years at this point (having been founded c. 509 B.C.E.)

 Usborne. The Usborne Book of the Ancient World. London: Usborne Publishing Ltd,  1991. Pg. 266 1