Editing Twelve Tables (section)

== Laws of the Twelve Tables==
The [[laws]] the Twelve Tables were a way to publicly display rights that each citizen had in the public and private sphere.  These Twelve Tables displayed what was previously understood in Roman society as the unwritten laws.  The public display of the tablets allowed for a more balanced society between the Roman [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] who were educated and understood the laws of legal transactions, and the Roman [[Plebs|plebeians]] who had little education or experience in understanding law.  By revealing the unwritten rules of society to the public, the Twelve Tables provided a means of safeguard for Plebeians allowing them the opportunity to avoid financial exploitation and added balance to the [[Roman economy]].

Some of the provisions are procedural to ensure fairness among all Romans in the courts, while other established legal terms dictating the legality of capital crimes, intentional homicide, treason, perjury, judicial corruption, and writing slanderous poems.<ref name=":0" /> The Romans valued keeping peace in the city and the Twelve Tables were a mechanism of establishing and continuing peace and equality.<ref name=":0" />
{| class="wikitable"
|Table 1
|Procedure: for courts and trials
|-
|Table 2
|Further enactments on trials 
|-
|Table 3
|Execution of judgments 
|-
|Table 4
|Rights of familial heads
|-
|Table 5
|Legal guardianship and inheritance laws
|-
|Table 6
|Acquisition and possession
|-
|Table 7
|Land rights and crimes
|-
|Table 8
|[[Tort]]s and [[delict]]s (Laws of injury)
|-
|Table 9
|Public law
|-
|Table 10
|Sacred law
|-
|Table 11
|Supplement I
|-
|Table 12
|Supplement II
|}
=== Tables I & II: Procedure for Courts and Judges and Further Enactments on Trials ===
These two tables are concerned with the Roman court proceedings. Table I covers proceedings between the defendant and the plaintiff, with responses to potential situations such as when age or illness prevents the defendant from making appearance, then transportation has to be arranged to assist them.<ref name=":2" /> It also deals with:

* The failure of appearance by the defendant.
* If there is a failure to appear by either party, then after noon the judge must make judgement in favor of the one who is present.
* Provides a time-table for the trial (ends at sunset)<ref name=":2" />

Table II sets the amount of financial stake for each party depending on the source of litigation, what to do in case of impairment of the judge, and rules of who must present evidence.<ref name=":2" />

=== Table III: Execution of Judgment ===
Featured within the Twelve Tables are five rules about how to execute judgments, in terms of debtors and creditors. These rules show how the ancient Romans maintained peace with financial policy.

In the book, ''The Twelve Tables,'' written by an anonymous source due to its origins being collaborated through a series of translations of tablets and ancient references, P.R. Coleman-Norton arranged and translated many of the significant features of debt that the Twelve Tables enacted into law during the 5th century.  The translation of the legal features surrounding debt and derived from the known sources of the Twelve Tables are stated as such

“1. Of debt acknowledged and for matters judged in court (in iure) thirty days shall be allowed by law [for payment or for satisfaction].

2. After that [elapse of thirty days without payment] hand shall be laid on (Manus infection) [the debtor]. He shall be brought into court (in ius).

3. Unless he (the debtor) discharge the debtor unless someone appear in court (in iure) to guarantee payment for him, he (the creditor) shall take [the debtor] with him. He shall bind [him] either with thong or with fetters, of which the weight shall be not less than fifteen pounds or shall be more if he (the creditor) choose.

4. If he (the debtor) chooses, he shall live on his own [means]. If he lives not on his own [means], [the creditor,] who shall hold him in bonds, shall give [him] a pound of bread daily; if he (the creditor) shall so desire, he shall give [him] more.

5. Unless they (the debtors) make a compromise, they (the debtors) shall be held in bonds for sixty days. During those days they shall be brought to [the magistrate] into the comitia (meeting-place) on three successive markets […]”<ref name=":2">Coleman-Norton, P.R. (1960). ''The Twelve Tables''. Princeton: Princeton University, Dept. of Classics.</ref>

The five mandates of the Twelve Tables encompassing debt created a new understanding within [[Social class in ancient Rome|social classes in ancient Rome]] that ensured financial exploitation would be limited within legal business transactions.

=== Table IV: Right of Familial Heads ===
The fourth table of the Twelve Tables deals with the specific rights of Patriarchs of families. One of the first proclamations of the Table IV is that "dreadfully deformed" children must be quickly euthanized. It also explains that sons are born into inheritance of their family. Babies with physical and mental diseases must be killed by the father himself.  If a husband no longer wants to be married to his wife he can remove her from their household and "order her to mind her own affairs"<ref name="gutenberg" /> Not all of the codes of table IV are to the benefit of only the patriarch. If a father attempts to sell his son three times then the son earns his freedom from the father.

=== Tables V, VI & X: Women ===
The Twelve Tables have three sections that pertain to women as they concern estates and guardianship, ownership and possession, and religion, which give a basic understanding as to the legal rights of women and girls.
* '''Table V''' (''Estates and Guardianship''): “Female heirs should remain under guardianship even when they have attained the age of majority, but exception is made for the [[Vestal Virgin|Vestal Virgins]].”<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The historians of ancient Rome: an anthology of the major writings|last=Mellor|first=Ronald|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415527163|oclc=819515201}}</ref> 
* '''Table VI''' (''Ownership and Possession''): “Where a woman, who has not been united to a man in marriage, lives with him for an entire year without interruption of three nights, she shall pass into his power as his legal wife.”<ref name=":0" /> 
* '''Table X''' (''Religion''): “Women shall not during a funeral lacerate their faces, or tear their cheeks with their nails; nor shall they utter loud cries bewailing the dead.”<ref name=":0" />
One of the aspects highlighted in the Twelve Tables is a woman's legal status and standing in society. Women were considered to be under a form of guardianship similar to that of minors,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Hurri|first=Samuli|date=November 2005|title=The Twelve Tables|url=http://www.helsinki.fi/nofo/NoFo1HurriTheTwelveTables.pdf|journal=NoFo|volume=1|pages=13–23}}</ref> and sections on ownership and possession give the impression that women were considered to be akin to a piece of real estate or property due to the use of terms such as "ownership" and "possession".<ref name=":1" />

=== Table VII: Land Rights and Crimes ===
This table outlines the attitudes towards property. The following are all rules about property:<ref name="gutenberg"/>

* Boundary disputes are settled by third-parties.
* Road widths are eight feet wide on straight parts and double that on turns.
* People who live near the road are in charge of maintaining it; if a road is not well maintained then carts and animals can be ridden where the riders wish.
* Property owners can request removal of trees that have been blown onto their property
* Fruit that falls from a tree onto a neighbor's property still belongs to the original tree owner.

=== Table VIII: Torts and Delicts (Laws of Injury) ===
[[Tort]]s are laws dealing with litigating wrongs that occur between citizens. One such situation is that of physical injury, retaliation for which can range from dealing the perpetrator an injury in kind, to monetary compensation to the injured. This table also establishes the legal ramifications for damage dealt to property by animals and damage dealt to crops by people or animals. The penalty for stealing crops is hanging as sacrifice to [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]].{{r|gutenberg}}

The table also describes several laws dealing with theft.<ref name="gutenberg">{{cite book | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14783 | title=The Twelve Tables | publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]] | date=24 January 2005 | accessdate=19 November 2024 | quote=16. Thefts which have been discovered through [use of] platter and loincloth [shall be punished just as if the culprits had been caught in the act]. For cases of stolen goods discovered (furtum conceptum) [by other means than by platter and loincloth] or introduced (furtum oblatum) the penalty is triple [damages] | translator-first1=Paul | translator-last1=Coleman-Norton}}</ref>

=== Table IX: Public Law ===
This section of the tables makes it illegal for anyone to define what a citizen of Rome is with the exception of the greatest assembly, or ''maximus comitatus.'' It also outlaws execution of those who are unconvicted, bribery of judges, and extradition of a citizen to enemy powers.<ref name="gutenberg" />

=== The Supplements: Tables XI & XII  ===
* '''Table XI''' (''Marriage Between Classes''):  A person of a certain class shall not partake in marriage with a person of a lower class.
* '''Table XII''' (''Binding into Law''): If a slave shall have committed theft or done damage with his master's knowledge, the action for damages is in the slave's name.