What was the significance of the 12 tablets?

Answer 1

Prior the Law of the Twelve Tables legal rules where based on religious rules and practices which were kept secret by the priests, who were all patricians. Many of these priests sat in the senate (which was not an elected body). The senate did not publish the minutes of its proceeding or its decrees. This left ample room for abuse by the rich and powerful and also by the consuls, the two annually elected heads of the city, who sometimes destroyed senate documents.

The plebeian movement which fought in the Conflict of the orders between patricians (aristocrats) and plebeians (the commoners) wanted written laws which would clarify rules regarding matters which now we would call criminal and civil law. They were written in a simple language which could be understood by illiterate people and were posted at the forum so that anyone could consult them. Public knowledge of what the rules were meant that people could defend themselves or arrange for someone to defend. Moreover, the Tablets also established precise procedures for the conduct of trials.

One important matter for the plebeians was to have procedures for the trial of (poor) defaulting debtors which would provide some protection for them. The (rich) creditors were in the habit of abusing them: imprisoning them, torturing them and sometimes selling them as slaves.

The plebeians also obtained an agreement that all decrees and proceedings of the senate would be stored at a plebeian temple on the Aventine Hill and looked after by officials called the plebeian aediles, who were the assistants of the plebeian tribunes (the leaders of the movement). Thus, they won the right to be informed about the law and legal developments and the aediles became legal experts (previously only the patricians were legal experts).