HIST 2100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-5: Twelve Tables, Decemviri, Laws (Dialogue)
2 Feb 2016
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[latin] leges duodecim tabularum = law of the twelve tables. 21 january 2014: mention that it is an english translation. Definition: the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of roman law. I formed the centerpiece of the constitution of the roman republic and the core of the custom of the ancestors. What is it about: this is the earliest attempt by the romans to create a code of law; it is also the earliest (surviving) piece of literature coming from the romans. In the midst of a perennial struggle for legal and social protection and civil rights between the privileged class (patricians) and the common people (plebeians) a commission of ten men (decemviri) was appointed (ca. 455 b. c. ) to draw up a code of law which would be binding on both parties and which the magistrates (the 2 consuls) would have to enforce impartially.
