The Twelve Tables, c. 450 BCE
An important step in the political development of any people is the organization and publication of
their laws in a way that makes it possible for all persons to know what the law is. About 450 B.C.E.,
the Romans codified their laws and inscribed them on twelve bronze tables which were set up in
the Roman Forum. These Twelve Tables were the basis of all later Roman law, and through it, of
the legal system of much of the world today.
Questions to think about:
 Why was writing down the laws in the Twelve Tables important?
 What are some things these laws suggest about Roman values? For example, think
about what these laws have to say about:
a. the rights of children
b. females
c. property
d. marriage and social class
 How do the Twelve Tables compare to modern laws in the United States? (Think of
some specific examples.)
 Compare these laws to what we’ve read of Babylonian law.
TABLE I
TABLE II
TABLE III
TABLE IV
TABLE V
TABLE VI
TABLE VII
TABLE VIII
TABLE IX
TABLE X
TABLE XI
TABLE XII
Procedure: for courts and trials
Trials, continued.
Debt
Rights of fathers (paterfamilias) over the family
Legal guardianship and inheritance laws
Acquisition and possession
Land rights
Torts and delicts (Laws of injury)
Public law
Sacred law
Supplement I
Supplement II
Table I.
If someone is summoned to court, 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.
If he shirks or runs away, let him be captured.
If illness or old age is the hindrance, let the summoner provide a carriage. He need not provide a
covered carriage with a pallet unless he chooses.
Only a landowner should be guarantor for another landowner; any citizen, however, can be guarantor
for one of the proletariat.
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, if 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.
He whose witness has failed to appear may summon him by loud calls before his house every third
day.
Table III.
One who has confessed or been judged in court to owe money must be given 30 days to pay. After
that, the creditor can seize him and bring him before the magistrate. Unless he pays the amount owed
or someone comes forward as his guarantor, the creditor shall take him home and fasten him in
stocks or chains. He shall fasten him with not less than fifteen pounds of weight (or more, if he
desires). If the prisoner choose, he may supply his own food. If he does not, the creditor must give
him a pound of food daily (or more, if he desires). [After 60 days in custody, the case is returned to
the court, and if the debt is not then paid, the debtor can be sold abroad as a slave, or put to death.]
Table IV.
A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly killed.
If a father sells his son into slavery three times, the son shall be free from his father.
A child born after ten months since the father's death will not be admitted into a legal inheritance.
Table V.
As a father has provided in his will in regard to his money and the care of his property, so let it be
binding. If he has no heir and dies without a legal will, let the nearest male kinsman have the
inheritance. If there is no near male kinsman, let his clansmen have the inheritance.
When a freedman dies without a legal will, and does not leave any proper heir, but his patron, or his
patron’s children survive him; the inheritance of the freedman shall be go to the next of kin of the
patron.
If someone is insane, or a spendthrift, but has no guardian, the power over him and his money shall
belong to his male kinsmen and clansmen.
Table VI.
When one makes a bond and a conveyance of property and makes a formal declaration, it shall be
binding.
No one may take a beam that is built into a house or a vineyard trellis from its place.
Usucapio of movable things requires one year's possession for its completion; but usucapio of an
estate and buildings requires two years.
When a woman who has not been united to a man in marriage lives with him for an entire year
without the usucaption of her being interrupted for three consecutive nights, she shall pass into his
power as his legal wife.
If a husband desires to divorce his wife, and dissolve his marriage, he must give a reason for doing
so.
Table VII.
If you cause any unlawful damage, even accidentally and unintentionally, you must make good the
loss, either by tendering what has caused it, or by payment.
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 pay one hundred and fifty coins. If one is
guilty of insult, the penalty shall be twenty-five coins.
If a patron shall have devised any deceit against his client, let him be accursed.
If one shall permit himself to be summoned as a witness, but does not give his testimony, let him be
noted as dishonest and incapable of acting again as witness.
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, unless he has committed it by accident,
that is, by negligence. In this case, he must repair the damage or, if he be too poor to be competent
for such punishment, he shall receive a lighter punishment.
If the theft has been done by night and the owner kills the thief, the thief shall be held to be lawfully
killed.
It is unlawful for a thief to be killed by day....unless he defends himself with a weapon. Even if he
has come with a weapon, if he doesn’t use the weapon and fight back, you shall not kill him. And
even if he resists, first call out so that someone may hear and come up.
A person who had been found guilty of giving false witness shall be hurled down from the Tarpeian
Rock.
No person shall hold meetings by night in the city.
Table VIII.
Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be bend crooked by the wind and lean over your farm, you may
take legal action for removal of that tree.
When the fruit of a tree falls upon the land of a neighbor, the owner of the tree shall have a right to
gather and remove it.
Table IX.
A judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a
decision shall be put to death.
Treason: he who shall have roused up a public enemy or handed over a citizen to a public enemy
shall be put to death.
It is forbidden to put to death of any man who has not been convicted.
Table X.
No one is to bury or burn a corpse in the city.
The women shall not tear their faces nor wail on account of the funeral.
Table XI.
Marriages should not take place between plebeians and patricians.
Table XII.
Someone who has brought a false claim shall be brought before three judges, and shall pay a double
penalty.
If a slave, with the knowledge of his master, should commit a theft, or cause damage to anyone, his
master shall be given up to the other party by way of reparation for the theft, injury, or damage
committed by the slave.