Ancient Rome ( Twelve Tables Corpus Juris Civilis)

Ancient Rome ( Twelve Tables Corpus Juris Civilis)

By: Abdullah & Rianna

Law and Culture

Examples Of Laws

Relevance To Contemporary Law

Social Values

The Twelve Tables was a very strict and harsh law. Compared to contemporary law today which is fair but still just.

The social values that are clearly displayed in the Twelve Tables include that men were above woman,

slaves were apart of their society, and that the people were divided into classes (patronus, adsidui etc..). Also landowners and non landowners were treated completely differently.

IV. 1 "A dreadfully deformed child shall be killed."

(3) Subject to subsection (4), where a count charges murder and the evidence proves manslaughter or infanticide but does not prove murder, the jury may find the accused not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or infanticide, but shall not on that count find the accused guilty of any other offence.

As the law grew more complex over the centuries, schools arose to train lawyers in the technicalities of their profession. Two such schools had appeared by the reign of Augustus and they were later supplemented by several in the provinces. Lawyers advised the emperors, who became a new source of law by issuing edicts, while other jurists collected the written sources of law. In the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, these written sources were collected, edited and, by order of the emperor, issued into one body of law called the Perpetual Edict. It was binding in every Roman court. Some 400 years late, the Emperor Justinian issued the most famous law code in western antiquity, and it was through this code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Body of Civil Law, that Roman law was passed on to us.

IX. 3 "The penalty shall be capital punishment for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision.

Bibliography

Key Terms And Concepts

In Roman society they have strongly patriarchal (men inherit the land) nature. The eldest male in the male line had full power over all his descendants, male and female. He was called the pater familias (father of the family) and all those subject to his control were said to be in potestate (in his power). He had (theoretically, at any rate) the power of life and death over them.

"Reading--Roman Law & the Twelve Tables." Historyteacher.net Index. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. <http://www.historyteacher.net/GlobalHistory-1/Readings/RomanLaw&TwelveTables.htm>.

"Roman Legal Tradition and the Compilation of Justinian." Berkeley Law - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. <http://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/robbins/RomanLegalTradition.html>.

"THE TWELVE TABLES." California State University, Northridge. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. <http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/12tables.html>.

"Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982." Justice Laws Website - Site Web de la législation (Justice). N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. <http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html>.

"Criminal Code." Justice Laws Website - Site Web de la législation (Justice). N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. <http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-113.html#h-78>.

The law refers to, clientela (patron-client relationship). A patronus (patron) was a powerful man from whom a lower person could seek assistance. The man seeking assistance then became the cliens (client) of the patron. This system whereby citizens of lower social status received assistance from their "betters" was a very strong bond in Roman society.

Their forms of punishment include fine, fetters (A chain or shackle for the ankles or feet), flogging (beating administered with a whip or rod) , retaliation in kind, civil disgrace, banishment, slavery, and death.

One of the most difficult provisions of the Twelve Tables to interpret is the prohibition in the eleventh table against intermarriage between patricians and plebeians. Basically, the upper class were not allowed to marry the lower class.

• IV. 1 "A dreadfully deformed child shall be killed."
• IX. 3 "The penalty shall be capital punishment for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision."
• XI. 1 "Marriage shall not take place between a patrician and a plebeian."
• VIII. 26 "No person shall hold meetings in the City at night."

7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

The law used by the Ancient Romans was called the Twelve Tables. A committee of ten men called the decemvirs was established in 451 BCE to write down the law for the first time. The work they produced in 449 BCE, the Twelve Tables, documented the centuries-old customary laws and became the foundation of Roman law as we know it.