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Laws of the twelve tables
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After the Laws of the twelve tables, no Roman magistrate could summarily execute a Roman
citizen c. 449 BC. PRAETOR - Roman civil law. A municipal officer of Rome, so called because, (praeiret populo,) he went before or took precedence of the people. The consuls were at first called praetors. He was a
sort of minister of justice, invested with certain legislative powers, especially in regard to the forms or formalities
of legal proceedings. Ordinarily, be aid not decide causes as a judge, but prepared the grounds of decision for
the judge and sent to, him the questions to be decided between the parties. The judge was always chosen by the parties, either directly, or by rejecting, under certain rules and limitations, the persons proposes to them by the praetor. Hence the saying of Cicero, that no one could be judged except by a judge of his own choice.There were several kinds of officers called proctors.
Before entering on his functions he published an edict announcing the system adopted by him for the application
and interpretation of the laws during his magistracy. His authority extended over all jurisdictions, and was summarily expressed by the word do, dico, addico, i, e. do I give the action, dico I declare the law, I promulgate the edict, addico I invest the judge with the right of judging. There were certain cases which he was bound to decide himself, assisted by a council chosen by himself perhaps the Decemvirs. But the greater part of causes brought before him, be sent either to a judge, an arbitrator, or to recuperators, (recuperatores,) or to the centumvirs, as before stated. Under the empire the powers of the praetor passed by degrees to the praefect of the praetorium, or the praefect of the city; so that this magistrate, who at first ranked with the consuls, at last dwindled into a director or manager of the public spectacles or games.
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Till lately, there were officers in certain cities of Germany denominated praetors.
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Praetor
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 Gold piece showing a Roman
magistrate with two lictors ( ©!!) |
Praetor: Roman magistrate, responsible for the administration of justice.
The word praetor indicates the man who 'goes before the others'. If this is taken literally, the title may be derived from the army; if we allow for a figure of speech, it may have been coined to describe a civil official. The word was certainly used to describe the first consuls.
After the reforms of the 360's, the title was used to describe a patrician magistrate who was responsible for the administration of justice. Later, plebeians were also allowed to be praetor. In 242, a second praetor was introduced, the praetor peregrinus, who was responsible for Italy. The first praetor, the praetor urbanus, stayed in Rome.
In 227, two additional praetors were introduced: they were responsible for the provinces of Sicily and Sardinia/Corsica. After the creation of provinces in Spain (Hispania Citerior and Ulterior) in 197, the number was raised to six, which was sufficient. When new territories were conquered, no new praetors were appointed. At that time, the office was occupied for two years.
The praetors were chosen by the Comitia centuriata, an assembly of the people in which the richest Romans were in the majority. After the Lex Vibia annalis (180), a minimum age of 40 years was required. Not much later, a new task was given to the praetor urbanus: he was to be the chairman of the law court that judged corrupt governors. At the same time, the provincial praetors disappeared; instead, some financial tasks were added.
After Sulla, the number of praetors rose to 8 or 10, after Caesar it was 10 or 12. Under the empire, it fluctuated between 10 and 18. The minimum age was lowered to 30 and a new task had been added: the praetor had to pay for the Games.
A praetor had six bodyguards ( lictores) and was allowed to wear a purple-bordered toga. |
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Lictor
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 A Roman magistrate and
two lictors ( ©!!) |
Lictor: bodyguard in ancient Rome, whose task it was to protect magistrates.
The word lictor may be derived from the Latin verb ligare, which means "to bind". This is sometimes said to refer to the fasces they carried, which were a set of rods that were bound in the form of a bundle, and contained an ax. In other words, the lictor was the man who prepared the fasces, the "binder", or had to -according to other sources- bind the hands of criminals. An alternative for these unconvincing etymologies is that the word is derived from the Etruscan root lauchum, which means "royal". There is something to be said for this, because the lictors had once been the bodyguard of the Etruscan and Roman kings, and the fasces are probably an Etruscan invention.
According to the Roman tradition, in the archaic age, each of the twelve kings of the twelve-city league of Etruria had twelve lictors. Unfortunately, we have no proof that there were ever twelve member towns of this league. Given the plurality of constitutions in the better known fifth and fourth centuries, it is highly unlikely that there were ever twelve Etruscan kings. The tradition seems to be invented to explain why the Roman kings had twelve lictors.
After the fall of the Roman monarchy, the lictor and his fasces were the symbols of those magistrates that held imperium, which means that they had the right to command and interpret the flight of the birds. A consul was escorted by twelve lictors and a praetor by six. On special occasions, this number varied. For example, the arch of Titus shows a triumphator with thirteen lictors; it seems that the additional guard was there to give added luster to the occasion. Likewise, when a dictator was appointed during a crisis, he had an escort of twenty-four lictors to show that he was more powerful than both consuls. The other magistrates - quaestor, aedile, censor- held no imperium and were not escorted by a bodyguard.
Other persons entitled to a lictor were the Vestal Virgins (although this was technical not an ordinary lictor, but a lictor curiatus), and the governors of the provinces ( proconsuls and propraetors), who had six bodyguards. The commanders of the legions were surrounded by five lictors, indicating that they were subordinate to the governors. Finally, in Egypt, the sacred bull Apis was protected by a lictor.
Lictors had several tasks. In the first place, they had to stand next to the magistrate when he addressed the crowd. This explains why the speaker's platform on the Roman Forum ( Rostra) is so large: not only the consul had to stand over there, but his entire escort as well. When the magistrate left the Forum, or arrived, the lictors had to make room. This also implied minor jobs like opening gates and knocking on doors. The lictor was also responsible for the safety of the magistrate when he was at home. We read about visits to temples, theaters and even baths.
Lictors were also responsible for arresting and punishing people. This was the function implied in the fasces: the rods could be used to lash people, the ax to execute them. Probably, this last task had already become a dead letter by the middle of the fifth century. After the Laws of the twelve tables, no Roman magistrate could summarily execute a Roman citizen.
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 Tombstone of a lictor named
Marcus Vergilius. (Museo
nazionale delle terme, Rome) |
A magistrate was never seen without his lictors, except for two occasions: when he entered a free city, and when he visited a higher magistrate. So, when a praetor visited a consul, the lictors remained outside.
A special group of lictors was that of the thirty lictores curiati. They had religious tasks, and served the pontifex maximus (high priest) and the priests known as flamines They had tasks when a sacrifice was brought, represented the assembly of the tribes ( comitia curiata), and were responsible for the protection of the Vestal Virgins. After the fall of the republic, they also protected female members of the imperial family.
Not everybody could become lictor. One had to be strong and had to be a free man - something that was shown by the fact that in the city, the lictor wore a toga. This can not have been practical if the lictor had to protect his magistrate with violence, and it comes as no surprise that he wore a cape when he was in a military camp. In return for his services a lictor received a salary of 600 sesterces (at the beginning of our era), which was two-thirds of the earnings of a legionary. It was a decent income.
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Roman fasces |
Fasces: set of rods bound in the form of a bundle which contained an axe. In ancient Rome, the bodyguards of a magistrate carried fasces.
The word fasces means "bundle" and refers to the fact that it is a bundle of rods, which surrounded an ax in the middle. In ancient Rome, the lictors carried fasces before consul, praetors and dictators, i.e., magistrates that held imperium (which means that they had the right to command and interpret the flight of the birds). Other people escorted by lictors with fasces were Vestal Virgins, governors, and the commanders of legions.
On festive occasions (e.g., a military victory), fasces could be crowned with laurel; on the other hand, when the city was in mourning, the fasces were sometimes cloaked. If the ax was left out, it could mean that the magistrate wanted to request something from the people or had something to apologize for.
The fasces were a symbol of authority, but the precise meaning is unknown. It is often claimed that the rods could be used to lash people, and the ax to execute them. This may have been true in the days of the monarchy, but not during the republic. After the Laws of the twelve tables, no Roman magistrate could summarily execute a Roman citizen.
The Romans believed that the fasces were introduced in Rome from Etruria. Again, this may be true, but the tradition is open to some criticism. So far, only one set of fasces has been found in Etruria, in the Tomba del littore near Vetulonia, in 1890. This find has been hailed as a confirmation of the tradition, but it should be noted that the archaeologists only found a lot of small rusty flakes, which were interpreted as Etruscan fasces, which, they had to admit, were not identical to Roman fasces. They were entirely made of metal, the ax had two blades, and finally: the Etruscan fasces were extremely small. It has been said that the find from Vetulonia is only a miniature model, but this is poor method: to rescue an interpretation, one introduces a hypothesis.
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 Etruscan fasces ( ©!!!) |
Of course, doubts about this find do not prove that the fasces did not come from Etruria. One argument for this tradition is that the least unconvincing etymology of the word lictor is that it is derived from a Etruscan word that means "royal" ( more).
In the eighteenth century, the fasces received a second life, when the young United States and republican France started to use ancient Roman symbols. Both were progressive revolutionary nations that imitated the Roman republican constitution.
The use of fasces by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is quite another story. In 1921, he called his political movement Fasci di combattimento, fascio being the Italian word for peasant organizations and labor unions. When il duce chose the ancient Roman fasces as symbol of the fascist party, he was at the same time playing with the similarity of the words fascio and fasces, chosing an ancient symbol, and drawing a parallel between fascism and progressive movements of the past.
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The Laws of the Twelve Tables, c.450 B.C.
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| The earliest attempt by the Romans to create a code of law was the Laws of the Twelve Tables. A commission of ten men (Decemviri) was appointed (c. 455 B.C.) to draw up a code of law binding on both patrician and plebeian and which consuls would have to enforce. The commission produced enough statutes to fill ten bronze tablets. The plebeians were dissatisfied and so a second commission of ten was therefore appointed (450 B.C.) and two additional tablets were added. What follows are a selection from the Twelve Tables. [Source: Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee: University Research Extension Co., 1901), Vol. III: The Roman World, pp. 9-11. See also Lex Duodecim Tabularum, by George Long in William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875, pp. 688-690.]
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Table I.
1. If anyone summons a man before the magistrate, he must go. If the man summoned does not go, let the one summoning him call the bystanders to witness and then take him by force.
2. If he shirks or runs away, let the summoner lay hands on him.
6-9. When the litigants settle their case by compromise, let the magistrate announce it. If they do not compromise, let them state each his own side of the case, in the comitium of the forum before noon. Afterwards let them talk it out together, while both are present. After noon, in case either party has failed to appear, let the magistrate pronounce judgment in favor of the one who is present. If both are present the trial may last until sunset but no later.
Table II.
2. He whose witness has failed to appear may summon him by loud calls before his house every third day.
Table III.
1. One who has confessed a debt, or against whom judgment has been pronounced, shall have thirty days to pay it in. After that forcible seizure of his person is allowed. The creditor shall bring him before the magistrate. Unless he pays the amount of the judgment or some one in the presence of the magistrate interferes in his behalf as protector the creditor so shall take him home and fasten him in stocks or fetters.
He shall fasten him with not less than fifteen pounds of weight or, if he choose, with more. If the prisoner choose, he may furnish his own food. If he does not, the creditor must give him a pound of meal daily; if he choose he may give him more.
3. Against a foreigner the right in property shall be valid forever.
Table IV.
1. A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly killed.
2. If a father sell his son three times, the son shall be free from his father.
5. A child born after ten months since the father's death will not be admitted into a legal inheritance.
Table V.
1. Females should remain in guardianship even when they have attained their majority.
Table VI.
1. When one makes a bond and a conveyance of property, as he has made formal declaration so let it be binding.
Table VII.
1. Let them keep the road in order. If they have not paved it, a man may drive his team where he likes.
9. Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be bent 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.
2. If one has maimed a limb and does not compromise with the injured person, let there be retaliation.
If one has broken a bone of a freeman with his hand or with a cudgel, let him pay a penalty of three hundred coins. If he has broken the bone of a slave, let him have one hundred and fifty coins. If one is guilty of insult, the penalty shall be twenty-five coins.
3. If one is slain while committing theft by night, he is rightly slain.
4. If a patron shall have devised any deceit against his client, let him be accursed.
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.
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.
4. The penalty shall be capital for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision.
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.
1. None is to bury or burn a corpse in the city.
3. The women shall not tear their faces nor wail on account of the funeral.
Table XI.
1. Marriages should not take place between plebeians and patricians.
Table XII.
5. Whatever the people had last ordained should be held as binding by law.
copyright © 2001 Steven Kreis
Last Revised -- February 28, 2006
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Twelve Tables
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Law of the Twelve Tables ( Lex Duodecim Tabularum, more informally simply Duodecim Tabulae) was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of
Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centrepiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mos maiorum. The Twelve Tables must be distinguished from the unrelated, much older " twelve shields" of King Numa Pompilius. [ edit] History
According to traditional, semi- legendary historical accounts preserved in Livy, during the earliest period of the Republic the laws were kept secret by the pontifices and other representatives of the patrician class, and were enforced with untoward severity, especially against the plebeian class. A plebeian named Terentilius proposed in 462 BC that an official legal code should be published, so that plebeians could not be surprised and would know the law. For a long time patricians opposed this request, but in 451 BC a Decemvirate, or board of ten men, was appointed to draw up a code. They allegedly sent an embassy to study the legislative system of the Greeks, particularly the laws of Solon, possibly in the Greek colonies of southern Italy. The first ten codes were completed by the first Decemvirate in 450 BC. Here is how Livy describes their creation, "...every citizen should quietly consider each point, then talk it over with his friends, and, finally, bring forward for public discussion any additions or subtractions which seemed desirable." The last two codes were completed in 449 BC by the second Decemvirate, and after a secessio plebis to force the Senate to consider them, the Law of the Twelve Tables was formally promulgated. The Twelve Tables were literally drawn up on twelve ivory tablets (Livy says brass) which were posted in the Forum Romanum so that all Romans could read and know them. The laws of the Twelve Tables were not a comprehensive statement of all law;
they are a sequence of definitions of various private rights and procedures, similar
to a bill of rights. They generally took for granted such things as the institutions
of the family, and various rituals for formal transactions.
For such an important document, it is somewhat surprising that the original text has been lost. The original tablets were destroyed when the Gauls under Brennus burnt Rome in 390 BC. There was no other official promulgation of them to survive, only unofficial editions. What we have of them today is brief excerpts and quotations from these laws in other authors. They are written in a strange, archaic, laconic, and somewhat childish and sing-song version of Latin (described as Saturnian verse). As such, though we cannot tell whether the quoted fragments accurately preserve the original form, what we have gives us some insight into the grammar of early Latin. The belief is that the text was written as such in order that plebians could more easily memorize the laws, as literacy was not commonplace during early Rome. Like most other primitive laws, they combine strict and rigorous penalties with equally
strict and rigorous procedural forms. In most of the surviving quotations from these
texts, the original table that held them is not given.
Scholars have guessed at where surviving fragments belong by comparing them with
the few known attributions and records; many of which do not include the original lines,
but paraphrases. It cannot be known with any certainty from what survives that the
originals ever were organized this way, or even if they ever were organized by subject
at all.
[ edit] Excerpts from the Twelve Tables
- Si in ius vocat, ito. Ni it, antestamino. Igitur em capito.
If someone is called to go to court, he is to go. If he doesn't go, a witness should
be called. Only then should he be captured.
- Si calvitur pedemve struit, manum endo iacito. Si morbus ævitasve vitium
escit, iumentum dato. Si nolet, arceram ne sternito.
If he shirks or flees, he should be captured. If illness or old age is an impediment
, let him be given a carriage. If he doesn't want it, it should not be covered.
- Adsiduo vindex adsiduus esto. Proletario iam civi quis volet vindex esto.
Only a landowner should be surety for another landowner. But any citizen can be surety for a proletarian. - Rem ubi pacunt, orato. Ni pacunt, in comitio aut in foro ante meridiem
caussam coiciunto. Com peroranto ambo præsentes. Post meridiem
præsenti litem addicito. Si ambo præsentes, solis occasus suprema
tempestas esto.
When parties have made an agreement, announce it. If they don't agree, they shall state their case in the Forum before noon. They shall plead together in person. After noon, let the judge pronounce. If both are present, the case shall end at sunset. - . . . morbus sonticus . . . aut status dies cum hoste . . .
quid horum fuit unum iudici arbitrove reove, eo dies diffensus esto.
Serious illness. . . or else a day appointed with an enemy; . . .
if any of these is an impediment for the judge or any party, on that day
proceedings must end.
- Cui testimonium defuerit, is tertiis diebus ob portum obvagulatum ito.
One who seeks the testimony from an absent person should wail before his
doorway every third day.
[ edit] TABVLA III ( Debt)
- Æris confessi rebusque iure iudicatis XXX dies iusti sunto.
A person who admits to owing money or has been adjudged to owe money must
be given 30 days to pay.
- Post deinde manus iniectio esto. In ius ducito. Ni iudicatum facit aut quis
endo eo in iure 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 faris endo dies dato. Si volet,
plus dato.
After then, the creditor can lay hands on him and haul him to court. If he does
not satisfy the judgment and no one is surety for him, the creditor may take
the defendant with him in stocks or chains. He may bind him with weights of at
least 15 pounds. The debtor may live where he wishes. If he does not live on his
own, the creditor must give him a pound of wheat a day. If he wants to he may
give more.
- Tertiis nundinis partis secanto. Si plus minusve secuerunt, se fraude esto.
On the third market day, (creditors) may cut pieces. If they take more than they
are due, they do so with impunity.
- Adversus hostem æterna auctoritas esto.
Against an enemy, the right of property is valid forever.
- Cito necatus insignis ad deformitatem puer esto.
An obviously deformed child must be put to death.
- Si pater filium ter venum duit, filius a patre liber esto.
If a father sells his son into slavery three times, the son shall be free of his father. - Si intestato moritur, cui suus heres nec escit, adgnatus proximus
familiam habeto. Si adgnatus nec escit, gentiles familiam habento.
If a person dies intestate without heirs, the nearest male kinsman shall inherit. If there is no near male kinsmen, his clansmen shall inherit. - Si furiosus escit, adgnatum gentiliumque in eo pecuniaque eius potestas esto.
If someone goes mad, his nearest male kinsman shall have authority over his property.
- Cum nexum faciet mancipiumque, uti lingua nuncupassit, ita ius esto.
When someone makes bond or conveyance and announces it orally, right shall be given.
- Tignum iunctum ædibus vineave sei concapit ne solvito.
No one must displace beams from buildings or vineyards.
- Viam muniunto ni sam delapidassint, qua volet iumento agito.
Build roads; if they become dilapidated, passersby can drive their beasts where ever they want. - Si aqua pluvia nocet . . . iubetur ex arbitrio coerceri.
If rainwater does damage, he shall be made to fix it by the judge. [ edit] TABVLA VIII ( Torts)
- Qui malum carmen incantassit . . .
Those who have sung an evil spell. . . - Si membrum rupsit, ni cum eo pacit, talio esto.
If one has maimed another and does not buy his peace, let there
be retaliation in kind.
- Manu fustive si os fregit libero, CCC, si servo, CL poenam
subito si iniuriam faxsit, viginti quinque poenae sunto.
Someone who breaks another's bone by hand or club must pay 300 sesterces; for a slave, 150; if he has done simple harm against another, 25. - Qui fruges excantassit . . . neve alienam segetem pellexeris
Someone who charms away crops, or another's corn. . .
- Patronus si clienti fraudem fecerit, sacer esto.
- Qui se sierit testarier libripensve fuerit, ni testimonium fatiatur,
inprobus intestabilisque esto.
If one has been called to witness, or hold the scales, unless he gives
his testimony, let him be dishonoured and incapable of further testimony.
- Si telum manu fugit magis quam iecit, arietem subicito.
If a weapon flies unaimed from your hand, you will owe a ram. - Privilegia ne irroganto.
4. The penalty shall be death for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has
been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision.
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.
[ edit] TABVLA X ( Funeral regulations)
- Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito neve urito.
- Qui coronam parit ipse pecuniave eius honoris virtutisve ergo arduitur ei . . .
When a man wins a crown, or his slave or cattle win a crown for him, . . . - Neve aurum addito. at cui auro dentes iuncti escunt. Ast in cum
illo sepeliet uretve, se fraude esto.
No one must add gold (to a funeral pyre). But if his teeth are held together with gold, and are buried or burnt with him, it shall be with impunity. - Conubia plebi cum patribus sanxerunt.
Men in the army may not wed until training is complete.
- Si servo furtum faxit noxiamve noxit.
If a slave has committed theft or harm. . . . - Si vindiciam falsam tulit, si velit is . . . tor arbitros tris dato,
eorum arbitrio . . . fructus duplione damnum decidito.
Someone who has brought a false claim shall be brought before
three judges, and shall pay a double penalty.
[ edit] Relevant articles
[ edit] External links
Last Update 2007-01-20 | Copyright© Charles Mingus 2008 | |  |
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