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Grade VIII – World History & Cultures
Ms. Sweeney
Nomen ____________________________________
Dies ____________________
the Twelve Tables
Introduction:
An important step in the political development of a civilized society is the organization and
publication of their laws in a way that makes it possible for all persons to know what law governs
(think back to Hammurabi’s Code ).
About 450 B.C.E., the Romans codified [arranged by subject area] their laws and inscribed
[engraved] them on 12 bronze tablets, which were displayed in the Forum. The Twelve Tables
is the earliest surviving piece of Roman literature. The Twelve Tables were the basis of all later
Roman law – and from it evolved many of the legal systems in the world today.
During the Etruscan monarchies, disputes between individuals were arbitrated [decided] by the
king, who also served as a judge. The king’s judgments [decisions] were eventually codified in
the Twelve Tables. The laws were limited and draconian.
As the small city-state of Rome on the Tiber River grew, more detailed laws were needed to
regulate a society that was growing more complex and more civilized. The Roman magistrates
[officials administering the law], known as the praetors, were the source of this new law.
During the Republic, the praetor’s duty was to decide cases by interpreting and applying the
Twelve Tables to the dispute before him. When the praetor had to judge a case where the law
was not clear, or where it was not exactly suitable, he gave a ruling based on his opinion. This
new ruling, if it worked, was then adopted by his successors. In this way, a body of law
developed that could be changed to fit new needs. Our legal system uses this same process:
relying on case law, the written opinions of judges interpreting the law before them.
Roman law was based on the concept of justice and the rights of the individual. It is from the
Romans that we inherit the belief that a person:
1) should not be accused anonymously,
2) should not be penalized for what he or she thinks, and
3) should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Your assignm ent:
1. Use the Twelve Tables laws on the back of this page to complete the accompanying
worksheet, Analyzing the Twelve Tables.
2. Be prepared to defend each of these laws in class. While it may be difficult to imagine
supporting a number of the laws, try to place yourself back in time during the early years of the
Roman Republic and contemplate what life was like and why such a law would have been
proposed to begin with.
TABLE III: . . .
5. [If a debtor does not pay the money he owes to another], the debtor may be kept in
bonds for 60 days…. [During] this period he shall be brought before the judge on three
… market days, and the amount of the debt shall be publicly declared…. [If the debt is
left unpaid after the third day,] the debtor may be punished with death or sold beyond
the Tiber.
TABLE IV:
1. Monstrous or deformed offspring may be put to death by the father.
2. The father shall, during his life, have absolute power over his children. He may
imprison his son, or scourge [whip] him, or keep him working in the fields in fetters
[chains], or put him to death, even if the son held the highest offices of state . . .
TABLE V:
1. All women shall be under the authority of a guardian.
2. The provisions of the will of a paterfamilias [head of the household] concerning his
property and the tutelage [support] of his family, shall have the force of law.
TABLE VI:
1. The legal effect of every contract, and of every conveyance, shall rest upon the
declarations [the statements] made in the transaction.
2. Any one who refuses to stand by such contractual declarations shall pay a penalty
of double damages.
TABLE VII: . . .
7. Holders of property along a road shall maintain the road to keep it passable; but if
it be impassable, anyone may drive his beast or cart across the land wherever he
chooses.
TABLE VIII:
1. Whoever publishes a libel … shall be beaten to death with clubs….
3. For breaking a bone of a freeman, the fine shall be 300 asses; of a slave, the fine
shall be150 asses….
12. A person committing burglary in the night may be lawfully killed.
13. A thief in the daytime may not be killed unless he carried a weapon….
23. Perjurers and false witnesses shall be hurled from the Tarpeian Rock….
TABLE IX: . . .
4. The penalty shall be capital [punishable by death] for a judge or arbiter legally
appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision.
TABLE X:
1. None is to bury or cremate a corpse in the city.
TABLE XI:
1. Marriages should not take place between plebeians and patricians.
Source: Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee: University Research Extension Co., 1901), Vol. III:
The Roman World, pp. 9-11, obtained from Internet Ancient History Sourcebook,