Twelve Tables Law

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The Twelve Tables Law ( Latin lex duodecim tabularum , also leges duodecim tabularum "Twelve Tables Laws", lex and leges Decemviralis "Ten Men Law [e]", shortened duodecim tabulae "XII tables" or simply lex / leges "the law / the laws") is a um 450 BC A collection of laws that originated in Rome and was exhibited in twelve bronze panels in the Roman Forum . The existence of the tablets has not been proven beyond any doubt, as autopsy- based evidence has not been passed down, but it is mostly assumed that they must have existed.

The drafting and adoption of the Twelve Tables Act marked a high point in the class struggles between patricians and plebeians during the early Roman Republic . In the following time they were supplemented and updated many times.

History of the XII tablets

Role models and influences

Ancient Greece had a great role model function for Rome . The Romans had adopted signs and numbers from the Greeks and learned arithmetic and writing. Although Greece was structurally organized in associations of states , there was therefore no uniform legislation, but they had definitely gained experience in this field. So it was inevitable that the Dracon legislation from the 7th century BC. And the Solons from the 6th century BC. BC could exert particularly lasting influence on Rome. Around the time of the creation of the XII tablets, the Cretan city of Gortyn had also given itself a town charter, which had an impact.

In addition to these influences, there was traditional late Etruscan and early Roman customary law . This is said to have been recorded in parts under the pre-republican kings , but limited to the cult. Possibly the records went under with the resignation of the respective king. According to the high-class jurist Sextus Pomponius, "uncertain law and some customs" prevailed after the kings . Nonetheless, they had to have agreed on lawsuits and defenses, vindications and conditions, liability for defects and tort, contracts and real rights, because they became part of the codification as an inherent regulatory matter. In addition, Greek law had never reached the complexity of the XII tablets.

History of origin

Rome's oldest law was not demonstrably codified in writing , rather it was passed down orally. It was considered pre-existent, given by the gods. However, only a few were able and authorized to survey the treasure trove of laws that had been accumulated over generations. Law ( ius ) was therefore recognized, established and interpreted in individual cases by the pontifices . They treated business and complaint formulas as a secret science. Although it was the priesthood that had developed the law, private law hardly contained any sacred features even at the time of the XII Tablets, although these may have been present at the beginning but were no longer taken into account due to the increasing loss of meaning in the traditions. The official naming was also modern: twelve tablets. Previously, laws were named after the applicant, later also after the issuing emperor ( lex Claudia , lex Sempronia , lex Iulia ), Senate laws contained the addition: senatus consultum . In the literature, however, the legal name lex decemviralis can also be found .

According to tradition, the rebellious plebs became increasingly indignant about the unequal treatment they had received from the noble patricians . Although some of the plebeians had gained reputation and wealth, they were nevertheless underprivileged. Historiography reports that the plebeians began in 462 BC. Chr. Would have dared an advance to demand legally secure conditions for their class. The stumbling block is said to have been a persistently demanded agricultural law: After the plebeians had been involved in land conquests as soldiers, they wanted to participate in it in order to cultivate it. They also demanded that the regulations to be made become formally binding. So laws had to be created, but it was unknown how they were to be drafted. After overcoming initial resistance, the patricians of the "plebs" are said to be in 454 BC. Then he would have met and agreed that a three-person commission for the study of the Solonic laws would be sent to Athens (Livy, 3,31,8). Two years later, the delegates returned to Rome as scholars of ancient Greek law based on the philosophy of law. According to the historian Titus Livius, the Senate 452/1 BC under pressure from the tribunes . Ten patrician men, the so-called decemviri , commissioned to transform the achievements into Roman law and to fix them in writing (Livy, 3,32,4). For this purpose, the decemviri are said to have been given the highest magistrate power in order to present the billboards to the centuriate committees for resolution in the same year of office . Composed on “ten panels”, the laws were then issued on the speaker's stage in the Roman Forum .

In the following year the codification is said to have been supplemented by two more tables (Livius, 3,34,6–7; 3,37,4). This required a second term in office for the Decemvirn to create the two supplementary laws. Whether it was because a number symmetry that has been favored from ages ago has been broken, which orders all recognition and calculation to the number "10" ( Tetraktys of Pythagoras ) and the "12" means unrestrained excess and indistinctness that will disrupt all order, or, ultimately, other circumstances were decisive for the Decemvirn behaving like tyrants, the work on the laws was fundamentally disturbed. At this point, a founding myth begins that Livy described: that of the beautiful Verginia , who is cheated of her freedom by the Decemvir Appius Claudius in a show trial so that she would go into slavery. She is redeemed by the father by killing her and the Romans must now ask themselves, with all the goodwill that had been brought up for a pacific legal order, how it could be that a lawbreaker was immediately produced. The story is considered fictional and legendary , on the other hand it has a symbolic character that is much discussed in research, because practiced law seeks the balance between violence and law and demands that there is no law without testing injustice. After the expulsion of the Decemvirn, the two supplementary panels were ultimately based on patrician-plebeian joint work. The legal system in its entirety should be seen as the result of the Roman class struggles . The body of law is therefore assigned a social arbitration function. Already in formal legal terms, the written fixation of the right on the tablets protected the “plebs” from the patrician arbitrary measures that had previously taken place, which had been perceived as a reason for impoverishment and economic hardship and which had led to bondage and self- pledges.

The decemviri oriented themselves in the law drafting intensively on Greek models. In addition to the Solonic influences, as evidenced by the famous Cicero , these were also draconian laws (Cicero in Verrem 5,72,187). Research has remained unclear whether the three scholars who were once sent out had actually reached the heart of Greece, namely the cities of Athens and Sparta. It is thought more likely that they only made it to the Greek cities of southern Italy . However, according to ancient tradition, Hermodoros from Ephesus helped the Romans with the translation of Greek texts and was honored with a statue in the Comitium . But the "foreign" laws were only adopted where it was considered absolutely necessary. In terms of content, the XII panels were shaped by ancient Roman legal principles. Their performance in itself is in the light of the Babylonian legislation of King Hammurabi , who already in the 18th century BC. He had laws carved in stone, was nothing special. What was new was that the Romans had founded the first "science of law". The Romans themselves referred to the pre-classical jurisprudence that emerged from the tablets as the basis of their entire legal life ( fons omnis publici privatique iuris , Livius , in German roughly “source of all public and private law”). They also applied to all Roman citizens , regardless of their social affiliation.

Although the tablets themselves did not last too long physically - they were made during the conquest of Rome by the Gauls in 387 BC. Destroyed - many parts of their ideas have been preserved to this day and can be found, for example, in the Civil Code (BGB), the Basic Law (GG) and the European Constitution .

content

A large number of quotes and references in later legal and legal historical sources provide information about the content of the legislative work. The content of the XII panels was tailored to the structural needs of the then agricultural state, as it had already shaped the royal era . Constitutional statements are not included in the tables. Primarily private law matters relating to the law of obligations and property, family and inheritance law, and tort and sacral law ( ius civile ) were regulated . Since, in the opinion of the authors, criminal and procedural law issues were in the immediate annex to substantive civil law, the XII tables also contain regulatory content. The law of civil procedure took up the broadest space in the legal system.

The work of the XII panels is not structured systematically, nor is there a complete record of the applicable law. Individual areas of law were regulated down to the last detail, while others were at best affected peripherally, and others were completely ignored. It was not only customary law that was established that had been handed down, but rather new law that deviated from it was created. The XII Tables do not define legal terms, rather they presuppose definitions. Often, instead of generalized descriptions of the facts, there are casuistic case studies. For example, on panel VI there was a meticulous statement that a stolen beam that had already been rebuilt could not be removed without authorization. Detailed and verbose regulations can also be found on debtor protection procedures. Elsewhere, the law for children born malformed provided that the child could be suspended by virtue of the patria potestas des pater familias ("unrestricted power of disposal of the head of the family") . But also dubious fatherhood, social hardship and birth on an unlucky day were considered sufficient reasons for child abandonment.

Since the panels were destroyed, they can only be roughly based on quotations from e.g. B. Cicero delivers, reconstruct. However, with Cicero personal motives can also be proven for having interpreted the Twelve Tables laws in his sense, which do not contribute to the clarification of the actual legal wording. In the literature it has been suggested that at least one passage mentioned by Cicero, which allegedly was in the Twelve Tables law, could have been invented by himself.

Application practice

Documents on ius civile , if any, have been stored in the secret archives of the priesthood since ancient times . This information comes from Livy. Pomponius provides valuable information on how the newly created panels can be used in practice. For the first time, it was finally a matter of applying written law, that is, it required expert interpretation and subsequent discussion in court ( disputatio fori ). Law had to arise under new circumstances, civil law that could find its way into the ius civile. In his remarks, Pomponius avoided presenting the concept of interpretation as an interpretation of law and equating it; he describes it as an outflow of the legal text itself ( sed communi nomine appellatur ius civile ).

Now there was still a need for suitable formulas so that people could resolve their legal disputes. That is why, as Pomponius continues, the actions were “composed” for this. In order to be able to limit excessive arbitrariness, they were “determined and solemnly formal” and ultimately made available as legislative actions (legal actions). Rome had thus also received an adequate type of process method for the application of the XII tables.

The priesthood was responsible for the interpretation of the tablets and the formulation of the complaints; the actual judicial process was carried out by the consul , from 367 BC onwards. Chr. The specially for the iurisdictio competent Praetor . The judge selected the targeted and therefore suitable legislative action. The priests put the lamentation formulas into a certain form, in two respects: on the one hand to produce a formula, on the other hand to produce a formula book. This book is said to have been "stolen secretly" by Gnaeus Flavius and given to the people ( Gnaeus Flavius ​​scriba eius libertini filius subreptum librum populo tradidit ) , Pomponius further describes in the Digest .

The development of new formulas by the praetor's edict led to extended legal protection in legal matters of ius civile. The more recent legal historical research assumes that the edict and formula texts were formulated in the background by professional lawyers. It was used in all conventional types of contract, especially in inheritance, company and property law, such as the bonorum possessio , the actio publiciana or the adjective lawsuits , which regulate internal and external relationships between landlords and those subjected to violence. The ius praetorium was added on the one hand to ius honorarium and on the other hand ius gentium , which was valid for foreigners (peregrini). The coexistence of all three legal layers shaped everyday legal life (interpretation of the Twelve Tables Law) from then on until the coexistence was abandoned again by late antique Diocletian legislation . According to modern legal understanding, the ius honorarium is methodologically similar to the principle of judicial legal training .

Aftermath and Tradition

Representation of the Twelve Table Laws at the Imperial Court building in Leipzig (as a counterpart there is also an identically structured representation of the Ten Commandments )

There is no autopsy testimony on the tablets. Nevertheless, many ancient authors have testified to their existence and also reproduce parts of their content. If they really existed, they were probably caused by the "Gauls fire" after the battle of the Allia in 387 BC. Chr. Destroyed. How the bronze tablets, in which the individual laws according to Livy were “cut” ( in aes incisas ) or according to Dionysus “carved (dug in)”, could be destroyed at all with the high strength of the material, must remain open. If made of bronze, they may have been stolen as raw material or melted as victims of the fire.

Entries of the Romans

The first statements about the XII tablets can be found in the 1st century BC. By the historians Diodor , Dionysios and Livius . In Livy it is said that the XII tablets were the "source of all public and private law" ( fons omnis publici privatique iuris ). The most famous speaker in Rome, Cicero , also referred to the tablets and stated that when he was a teenager in schools he had learned the legal texts on the tablets by heart ( carmen necessarium - "like an indispensable song"). It is doubted whether this actually affected the literal rendering of the texts. In another context, Cicero expressed himself again reverently: "This single little book of the twelve tables surpasses entire philosophical libraries by the weight of its authority and the extent of its practical importance . "

In the 1st century AD Pliny the Elder and Tacitus occupied themselves with the work. The writers and scholars Festus and Gellius also joined the legal analysis. At Gellius, the question of the value and worthlessness of tablets is discussed.

In the 2nd and 3rd century. AD. Was quoted by the classical jurists much from the law, including some Zitierjuristen of late antiquity , as Gaius , Paul , Ulpian and Modestin . In the middle of the 2nd century Pomponius announced to the XII tablets that “private law had begun to flow from them” ( ex his fluere coepit ius civile ). In addition, numerous emperors, even in later centuries, referred to the work, such as Valerian , Diocletian , Anastasios and Justinian . In Justinian's case, the Twelve Tables Law was (directly) incorporated into his large-scale legislation, later known as the Corpus iuris civilis . Intensive the Collection of Laws contained therein sets Digest deal with the work. Justinian mentioned in the Codex Iustinianus : "By following the twelve tables, we correct the new law with the new law" . The Twelve Tables law remained in force until the end of the Roman Empire.

Statements by the Romanists

To this day, no letter of the twelve-table text has appeared inscribed , which is why the high reverence of the memorized and repeatedly written law must have attracted the interest of scientists in the time of humanistic jurisprudence . The first who dedicated himself to the task of recovery and thus established the subject of legal history was Aymar du Rivail in 1515. Major attempts at reconstruction were subsequently made by Franciscus Hotomanus and Iacobus Gothofredus in 1564 and 1616. Marked by capital letters , they classified all mentions of the XII tablets in Roman literature as original wording or references to such. Gothofredus in particular sorted it very arbitrarily and created his own factual contexts that seemed plausible to him, using spaces and dots to indicate that there could have been significantly more text on the boards.

In the following two centuries, efforts to improve the basic material of Gothofredus were intensified. Classical research reached a high point at the beginning of the 19th century. The legal scholar Heinrich Eduard Dirksen presented his research results by evaluating all earlier available literature . This meticulously compiled material prompted Rudolf Schöll to present a new edition in 1866, enriched with a large number of Latin prolegomena . Although it contains the text that is still relevant today, according to the current state of research it would no longer attract followers, since the corrections and abbreviations made by Schöll robbed large parts of the text of the context. Moritz Voigt then wrote a work of 1,600 pages in 1883, which commented on the proportions of 10 pages of blackboard text. Since the existence of the tablets has not been proven beyond doubt, clear criticism was voiced at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. There are also doubts about Roman history in detail, such as whether the class battles in the 5th century were actually decisive, as there were none at that time, just as there were no decemvirs, at least the second decemvirate was mere fiction. Still others referred to the embassy to Greece as "saga" or denied that there were initially ten and later only twelve tablets.

The last editions are by Michael Crawford (1996) and Dieter Flach (2004).

The twelve tablets in detail

Shape and style

  • Old Latin forms: em for eum , escit for erit , faxsit for fecerit
  • Typical sentence structure: Protasis - Apodosis. An if-clause, which defines the state of affairs (protasis), is followed by a main clause ( apodosis ), which contains the provision corresponding to this state of affairs.
  • the subjects (e.g. plaintiff / defendant) often have to be added.
  • frequent use of the imperative II (e.g. ito)
  • succinct, haunting brevity of the legal texts
  • often concrete cases instead of generalizations and definition

The boards at a glance

Panel I (Civil Procedure Law)

The fragments of Table I known to us contain regulations for initiating the legislative action , primarily summons and negotiation regulations for civil disputes. It is more common in antiquity that laws were opened with procedural regulations. It is assumed that the archaic dispute structures were based on the fact that measures to prevent or resolve disputes had to be of the highest priority and therefore took precedence. Although the specific praetoric office had not yet been created, the main task of the official named “praetor” in the tables was to settle pending legal disputes, to work towards an amicable settlement and to resolve them.

Extracts:

Si in ius vocat, [ito]. Ni it, antestamino. Igitur em capito.

If someone [the plaintiff] calls another [the defendant] to court, let him come. If he doesn't come a witness should be called in. Then he should be picked up.

Si calvitur pedemve struit, manum endo iacito. Si morbus aevitasve vitium escit, iumentum dato. Si nolet, arceram ne sternito.

If he [the defendant] shirked or prepared to flee, he [the plaintiff] should arrest him. If illness or old age stands in the way of [appearing in court], [the plaintiff] should provide a pack animal. If he [the defendant] does not want that, he [the plaintiff] does not need to put up a car with a roof.

Adsiduo vindex adsiduus esto. Proletario [iam civi] quis volet vindex esto.

For a citizen with real estate, a citizen with real estate should vouch for. For a citizen without real estate, however, anyone who wants to should vouch for.

Rem ubi pacunt, orato. Ni pacunt, in comitio aut in foro ante meridiem causam coiciunto. Com peroranto ambo praesentes. Post meridiem praesenti litem addicito. Si ambo praesentes, solis occasus suprema tempestas esto.

Wherever they compare, one should announce that [the praetor makes the comparison legally binding]. If they do not agree, they should bring their case to the people's assembly or forum [on a court day] in the morning. Have you both plead and both be present. In the afternoon he [the praetor] is to award the subject of the dispute to a party who is present. If both are present, sunset should be the deadline 〈for the judgment Urteil.

Table II (Civil Procedure Law)

Much of the content of Table II has been lost. The provisions contained therein mainly dealt with litigation in civil litigation. The Gaius find from 1933 brought to light the most important provision, I b , which regulated the ancient Roman stipulation .

Extracts:

[…] Sonticus disease […] aut status dies cum hoste […] quid horum fuit [vitium] iudici arbitrove reove, eo dies diffisus esto.

[…] A serious illness […] or an appointment with a foreigner […] [prevents a party involved in the process from participating in the process]: whatever happens to a judge or arbitrator or a party, the process should be postponed.

Cui testimonium defuerit, is tertiis diebus ob portum abvagulatum ito.

If a summoned witness is absent, [the litigating party] should appear in front of the house [of the witness] every three days and ask him to appear in public.

Table III (law of obligations)

Table III regulates the archaic law of enforcement. This was still primarily characterized by vigilante justice and private vengeance . The prerequisite for enforcement was the judicial acknowledgment of the monetary debt ( aes confessum ) or a legally binding conviction in the process ( res iudicata ). The obligee was able to avail himself of the legis actio per manus iniectionem (physical liability of the debtor) in the foreclosure procedure .

Extracts:

Aeris confessi rebusque iure iudicatis triginta dies iusti sunto.

For an admitted guilt, or if a court judgment has been pronounced, thirty days 〈as a performance period〉 should be allowed.

Post deinde manus iniectio esto. In ius ducito. Ni iudicatum facit aut quis endo eo iniure vindicit, secum ducito, vincito aut nervo aut compedibus XV pondo, ne maiore aut si volet minore vincito. Si volet suo vivito, ni suo vivit, qui eum vinctum habebit, libras farris endo dies dato. Si volet, plus date.

Then an arrest is to take place. One should bring 〈the debtor to court. If he does not do what he is sentenced to and no one stands as a guarantor in court, then he should be taken away and bound with gangs or with a foot weight of 15 pounds, no more, but if he wants, less, tie up. If 〈the debtor wants, he should live [in private] at his own expense; if he does not live at his own expense, those who hold him captive should give a pound of wheat wheat a day. If he wants, he should give him more.

Tertiis nundinis partis secanto. Si plus minusve secuerunt, se fraude esto.

On the third market day (nundinae) they [several creditors] should divide the debtor's assets among themselves (partes secanto). If someone achieves something more or less than he is entitled to, this should not be viewed as inadmissible enrichment (se fraude esto).

Adversus hostem aeterna auctoritas esto.

Against a foreigner there should be eternal validity [of property].

Table IV (family law)

Family law was regulated in Tables IV and V. In particular, Plate IV contained the right of patria potestas , the right of paternal power. Much has been lost from this tablet too.

Extracts:

Cito necatus insignis ad deformitatem puer esto.

An obviously misshapen child should be killed quickly.

Si pater filium ter venum dabit, filius a patre liber esto.

If a father sells a son three times, the son is said to be free from the father.

Panel V (inheritance law)

In addition to parts of family law, Table V regulates inheritance law. The right of guardianship, inheritance bans, principles of testamentary dispositions, statutory succession regulations, asset management in the case of mental illness, the freedmen's right to inheritance and claims against the estate were regulated .

Extracts:

Uti legassit super pecunia tutelave suae rei, ita ius esto.

As [someone] has determined his property and the care of his things, so it should be lawful.

Si intestato moritur, cui suus heres nec escit, adgnatus proximus familiam habeto. Si adgnatus nec escit, gentiles familiam [habento].

If someone dies without having previously announced his will, who also has no heir, the next of kin on the paternal side [Agnat] should have the property. If there is no relative on the paternal side, the members of the kin should have the property.

Si furiosus escit, adgnatum gentiliumque in eo pecuniaque eius potestas esto.

If [someone] is mad [mentally ill], power over him and his property should be with the relatives on his father's side and the members of his family.

Table VI (Property Law)

Table VI primarily dealt with provisions on contract law and property law, such as nexum , mancipatio , contractual validity and provisions under neighboring law.

Extracts:

Cum nexum faciet mancipiumque, uti lingua nuncupassit, ita ius esto.

Whenever [someone] carries out a nexum or a mancipation , it should be just as he has solemnly and publicly orally vowed it.

Tignum iunctum aedibus vineave sei concapis ne solvito.

Common building material, for example on a house or vineyard, should not be detached if it represents a continuous connection.

Plate VII (Real Estate Law)

The subject of panel VII was primarily the regulatory matter of neighborly relations in the ancient Roman agrarian state. This included border and building distances, exclusions from ownership at Grenzrain, disputes in connection with the drawing of boundaries, rights of way, rights with regard to development infrastructures and fructification rights.

Extracts:

Viam muniunto: ni sam delapidassint, qua volet iumento agito.

[Property owners on whose land there is a right of way of others] should create a paved path [for this]. If they haven't paved it with stones, [the person authorized to walk] should lead his draft cattle [over the property] wherever he wants.

Table VIII (Compensation Law)

Table VIII contained provisions of tort law and criminal law provisions. In contrast to other panels, the fragmentary fund is high here. Insults were made punishable, which one has to imagine as cursing formulas dedicated to the magic, talion law regulations for bodily harm, sanctions for damage to animals and property, regulations against the abuse of grazing and crop yields and counter rights against theft offenses. But guarantees were also written on the board, such as private autonomy in association law.

Extracts:

Qui malum carmen incantassit [...]

Anyone who uttered a bad spell ... analogous to Christian Gizewski: If someone accuses someone of any crimes or dishonor in defamation, ... [he receives a capital penalty for this].

Si membrum rupsit, ni cum eo pacit, talio esto.

If [someone else] has hurt a member and does not agree with him, like for like should be rewarded. (see: Talion law )

Manu fustive si os fregit libero, CCC, si servo, CL poenam subito.

If [someone] has broken a free man's bone with his hand or a stick, he is to pay a fine of 300, if a slave, 150 'aces'.

Si iniuriam faxsit, viginti quinque poenae sunto.

If [someone] has done wrong, 25 [aces] should be punished.

Qui fruges excantassit […] [carmi] neve alienam segetem pellexerit […]

Anyone who conjures up field crops ... or has drawn foreign seeds to them with a spell ... In the same way: Anyone who conjures up fruit on another field ... or has [magic] ... drawn foreign seeds over to them ... [will be punished with the heaviest penalty ]

Si nox furtum faxsit, si occisit, iure caesus esto.

If someone has committed a theft at night and is slain, he is said to be slain with good reason.

Luci […] si se telo defendit, […] endoque plorato.

[If someone] is haunted by a thief in broad daylight ... [in his house, he can] if he defends himself armed ... [kill the intruder] and should the people in the neighborhood [to help or to call in as witnesses.

Si adorat furto, quod nec manifestum erit […], 〈duplione damnum decidito〉.

If [someone charges another] with theft who was not caught in the act, [the thief should settle for double the value of the stolen property as compensation].

Patronus si clienti fraudem fecerit, sacer esto.

If a patron has betrayed his client, let him be cursed.

Qui se sierit testarians libripensve fuerit, ni testimonium fatiatur, inprobus intestabilisque esto.

Anyone who has allowed himself to appear as a witness, [or in the case of an act of purchase or donation] has been a scales keeper, should, if he does not give testimony [on request], be dishonorable and incapable of testifying.

Si telum manu fugit magis quam iecit, arietem subicito.

If the weapon has escaped the hand rather than "someone" thrown it, then the thrower should pay a ram as a penalty.

Plate IX (criminal law)

The fragments of Plate IX contain public law, primarily criminal law provisions. Most of the board has gone under and there is nothing in the wording. It dealt with capital penalties for bribed judges, cases of treason, violations of the principle of equal treatment or the compulsion of judicial proceedings when the death penalty was imposed.

[Nothing in full was received.]

Panel X (burial)

Originally the last table of the first decemvirn , this contained rules on burial and related regulations. Almost all the traditions on this table go back to Cicero ( De legibus ).

Extracts:

Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito neve urito.

The corpse of a person should not be buried or cremated in the city.

[…] Hoc plus ne facito: rogum ascea ne polito.

[...] he shouldn't do more than that; he should not smooth the wood of the pyre with an ax.

Mulieres recovered ne radunto neve lessum funeris ergo habento.

Women shouldn't scratch their cheeks or cry out at the funeral service.

Homine mortuo ne ossa legito, quo post funus faciat.

One should not pick up the bones of a dead person in order to later organize a funeral service.

Qui coronam parit ipse pecuniave eius honoris virtutisve ergo adduitor ei [...]

Anyone who has acquired a wreath of honor himself or through his commitment〉 his〉 fortune s should be given it because of his reputation and virtue ...

[…] Neve aurum addito. At cui auro dentes iuncti escunt, ast in cum illo sepeliet uretve, se fraude esto.

[...] and one should 〈not add gold to the corpse. But if you have dental bridges made of gold, burying or burning them with them shouldn't be a crime.

Panel XI (marriage law)

Table XI contained supplements of various content and to supplement the overall legal context. This is said to have incorporated provisions of fetial law, Faliski (Etruscan) city law. Patricians and plebeians are not allowed to marry each other, if they do, the marriage is invalid (legal exception to the otherwise consistently honored principle of equal treatment). (A Latin text is missing). The admission of the conubium between the two estates only brought the lex Canuleia in 445 BC. There was also increased publicity about everyday court life, setting of court dates, planning using a court calendar ( fasti ).

Plate XII (Crime)

Table XII also contained supplements to Tables I – X. It contained the special enforcement procedure of the Legis actio per pignoris capionem (attachment). Furthermore, the liability of the person in charge of the victim of violence, which goes back to early Roman law, was regulated on the board, which could be enforced by means of Noxal lawsuits .

Extracts:

Si servo furtum faxit noxiamve no 〈x〉 it [...]

When "someone" steals from or injures a slave ...

Si vindiciam falsam tulit, si velit is […] 〈prae〉 tor arbitros tris dato, eorum arbitrio […] fructus duplione damnum decidito.

If someone〉 has made a false claim of possession, if he wants to ... the praetor should name three arbitrators, and after their award ... he should settle the matter with twice his winnings as a penalty.

See also

literature

Expenditure:

  • Rudolf Düll: The Twelve Tables Law. Texts, translations and explanations . Heimeran, Munich 1944. 7th edition. Artemis and Winkler, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-7608-1640-1 (Tusculum collection).
  • Michael Henson Crawford : Roman Statutes . Volume 2. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies Supplement 64, London: Institute of Classical Studies, University of London, 1996. ISBN 978-0-900587-69-6 .
  • Dieter Flach : The Twelve Tables Law. Leges XII tabularum . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-15983-7 (Texts on research. Volume 83).

Secondary literature:

  • Rudolf Düll : Das Zwölftafelgesetz , texts, translations and explanations, Munich Heimeran Verlag, Tusculum-Bücherei, 1971, p. 71 ff.
  • Andreas Flach: Continuation of the law of twelve tables . Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2004.
  • Marie Theres Fögen : Roman legal histories. About the origin and evolution of a social system . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002 (publications of the Max Planck Institute for History 172).
  • Herbert Hausmaninger , Walter Selb : Römisches Privatrecht , Böhlau, Vienna 1981 (9th edition 2001) (Böhlau-Studien-Bücher) ISBN 3-205-07171-9 , pp. 16-27.
  • Michel Humbert (Ed.): Le dodici tavole: dai decemviri agli umanisti . IUSS Press, Pavia 2005.
  • Max Kaser : Roman private law . 2nd Edition. CHBeck Verlag, Munich 1971.
  • Detlef Liebs : Roman law . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993.
  • Ulrich Manthe : History of Roman law (= Beck'sche series. 2132). Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-44732-5 , p. 40 f.

Web links

Commons : Category: Twelve Tables  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ So the two historical sources Livius 3: 57,10 and Dionysios 10,57,6. Pomponius names ivory as the carrier material.
  2. ↑ a b Two historians who at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries expressed strong doubts about the existence of the tablets and believed they could prove to be the literary fictions of the Roman jurists Gnaeus Flavius and Sextus Aelius were Ettore Pais : Storia di Roma. Volume 1, part 1. Claussen, Turin 1898, pp. 572-585 ( digitized version ), and Édouard Lambert: La question de l'authenticité des XII tables et les Annales Maximi. Larose, Paris 1902 ( digitized version ); these critical statements and approaches are largely rejected, for example by Theodor Mommsen , Franz Wieacker , Eugen Täubler , and Marie Theres Fögen.
  3. ^ Arnaldo Momigliano : The origins of Rome , in: Selected writings on history and historiography , Metzler, Stuttgart 1998/2000, ISBN 3-476-01514-9 , Volume 1, ed. by Wilfried Nippel : Late Antiquity to Late Enlightenment . 1999, ISBN 3-476-01512-2 , Stuttgart, Weimar, pp. 141-202.
  4. ^ Karl-Joachim Hölkeskamp : Arbitrators, Legislators and Legislation in Archaic Greece , Stuttgart 1999.
  5. ↑ Dieter Nörr : Pomponius or> To the historical understanding of the Roman jurists < , in: ANRW , ed. by Hildegard Temporini-Countess Vitzthum and Wolfgang Haase , Berlin 1976, part II 15, p. 470 ff.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Marie Theres Fögen : Römische Rechtsgeschichten. About the origin and evolution of a social system. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002 (Italian: Bologna 2006), ISBN 3-525-36269-2 , pp. 63–79.
  7. ↑ a b Herbert Hausmaninger , Walter Selb : Roman private law , Böhlau, Vienna, 1981 (9th edition 2001.) (Böhlau Study Books) ISBN 3-205-07171-9 , pp 16-27.
  8. ↑ Livy 3:31 ff.
  9. ↑ Diodorus 12.23 f.
  10. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus 10.54 ff.
  11. ↑ Ulrich Manthe : History of Roman Law (= Beck'sche series. 2132). Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-44732-5 , p. 40 f.
  12. ↑ Pomponius: Digest 1,2,2,24; Appius Claudius spoke right against the right that he himself had set and condemned.
  13. ↑ Strabo 14, 25; Pliny , Naturalis historia 34,21 (11).
  14. ^ Latin Link Lexicon February 2, 2013
  15. ^ A b Marie Theres Fögen : The song of the law (extended version of a lecture on March 14, 2006). Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung , Munich 2007. In the series: THEMES - Publications of the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung , Volume 87. ISBN 978-3-938593-07-5 , corrected ISBN 978-3-938593-07-3 . Pp. 58-68.
  16. ↑ On panel IX, 1 with the sentence “Privilegia ne inroganto” see Fögen: Gesetz , pp. 60–61 with footnote 124 with reference to a publication by Antonio Guarino in Labeo 34 (1988) pp. 323–330.
  17. ↑ Digest 1, 2, 2, 5-7.
  18. ↑ Digest 1,2,2,7.
  19. ^ Wolfgang Kunkel , Roland Wittmann : State order and state practice of the Roman Republic. Second part. The magistrate. (= Handbuch der Altertumswwissenschaft X, Volume 3,2,2), CH Beck, Munich 1995, p. 196; despite initially opposing view, also Franz Wieacker: Roman legal history. First section: Introduction, source studies, early time and republic, Munich (legal history of antiquity in the context of the handbook of antiquity, X.3.1.1, p. 452 f .; Alfons Bürge : Roman private law: legal thought and social anchoring. An introduction. Scientific Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1999, p. 42 f.
  20. ^ Marie Theres Fögen: Roman legal histories. About the origin and evolution of a social system. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002 (Italian: Bologna 2006), ISBN 3-525-36269-2 , pp. 187-190 (189).
  21. ↑ Herbert Hausmaninger , Walter Selb : Römisches Privatrecht , Böhlau, Vienna 1981 (9th edition 2001) (Böhlau-Studien-Bücher) ISBN 3-205-07171-9 , pp. 30, 48.
  22. ^ Heinrich Honsell : Roman law. 5th edition, Springer, Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-540-42455-5 , p. 20.
  23. ↑ Livy 3: 57.10.
  24. ↑ Dionysus 10,57,6.
  25. ↑ Livy 3:34, 6.
  26. ↑ Cicero , De legibus 2,23,59 (here he adds that unfortunately this is no longer the case today: discebamus enim pueri XII ut Carmen necessarium bquas iam nemo discit ).
  27. ↑ Cicero, De oratore 1, 43-44.
  28. ↑ Aulus Gellius , Noctes Atticae 20.1 ff.
  29. ↑ Digest 1,2,2,6.
  30. ↑ Codex Iustinianus 6,58,14,6 (anno 531).
  31. ↑ 1564: Hotomanus: De Legibus XII. tabularum tripartita Franc. Hotomani,… commentatio ; 1616: Gothofredus in Parlamento Parisiensi Advocato Auctore, Heidelberg, 1616: Fragmenta XII. Tabularum, suis nunc prima tabulis restituta: probationibus. notis et indice munita.
  32. ^ Heinrich Eduard Dirksen : Overview of previous attempts to criticize and produce the text of the twelve-panel fragments , Leipzig 1824, p. 23 ff.
  33. ^ Rudolf Schöll : Legis duodecim tabularum reliquiae , Leipzig 1866.
  34. ^ Moritz Voigt : The XII panels. History and system of civil and criminal law and process of the XII panels together with their fragments , 2 volumes, 1833 (Ndr. Aalen 1966).
  35. ↑ Dieter Flach : The laws of the early Roman Republic , Darmstadt 1994, pp. 42 and 105.
  36. ↑ Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg : The Formation of the> Analistic Tradition <: The Example of the Decemvirate , in: Social Struggles , 1986, pp. 77-104.
  37. ^ Franz Wieacker: Solon and the XII panels , in: Studi in onore di Edoardo Volterra, vol. III , 1971, pp. 757-784.
  38. ↑ Eugen Täubler: Investigations on the history of the Decemvirate un der Zwölftafeln , Berlin 1921, p. 18.
  39. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rudolf Düll : Das Zwölftafelgesetz , texts, translations and explanations, Munich Heimeran Verlag, Tusculum-Bücherei, 1971, p. 71 ff.
  40. ↑ a b What is meant is the temporal capacity; see Karl Ernst Georges : Detailed Latin-German concise dictionary. Vol. 2. 8th edition. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hanover 1918, Sp. 1530f.
  41. ↑ Fragmentary translation of the texts ( Christian Gizewski )