Why was the law of the twelve tables created?

Answer 1

It was the earliest of the Roman legal codes and the basis of later laws in ancient Rome. They were written in 450-449 BC.

The Twelve Tables were created in order to protect civil rights of the privileged patricians and the plebeians. The plebeians wanted laws to be interpreted consistently and fairly.

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Answer 2

The Romans created the twelve tables that said all laws must be written down because otherwise, the people in charge would simply make up laws as they went that suited their current purpose and then forget about them when they didn't need them.

Answer 3

Prior to the Law of the Twelve Tables there was no written code of law and the decrees of the senate were not made public. This gave room for a lot of arbitrary actions by the rich and powerful.

The driving force that led to the law was the plebeian movement which aired the grievances of the poor. Among these there was the abuse of defaulting debtors who could be imprisoned, tortured and, apparently, sold as slaves by creditors. This issue lead to the rebellion of the 1st plebeian secession in 494 BC.

The origin of the Twelve Tables lie in the bill (Lex Terentilia) proposed by the leaders of the plebeian movement, the plebeian tribunes, which aimed at defining and restricting the power o the consuls (the two annually elected leaders of the city). At the beginning of the republic the consuls were quite like kings and their powers were undefined, and therefore unlimited. This issue was important to the poor because they were the people most vulnerable to abuse by the use of arbitrary power. The patricians (aristocrats) opposed this and the bill was obstructed and delayed for 12 years. The plebeian tribunes then dropped the bill and argued for the need for a general legislation. The patricians agreed because of continuous plebeian agitation. This begun the process that led to the law of the Law of the Twelve Tables.

The law covered matters of civil law, such as property and damage to persons and property, procedures for litigation and prosecution, and family law. It also covered penalties for crime.

Most importantly, it set out procedures for the conduct of trials of defaulting debtors which provided the debtors with protection from abuse, therefore meeting the plebeians' top grievance at the time.

Another innovation was the agreement that the decrees of the senate were to be published and that they were to be stored by the plebeian tribunes. This made the decrees open to scrutiny. Both this and the Law of the Twelve Table made legislation transparent.

Answer 4

The Law of the Twelve Tables was compiled because of popular demands for a clear and published set of rules. Prior tho this laws were unpublished and this left a lot of room for abuse by the powerful.

Answer 5

They were not, or rather, they were only the first codified laws of the Romans. The Twelve tables date from around 450 BC, but Hammurabi's laws were written down around 1770 BC.

The Twelve Tables were written to establish basic procedural rights that were equal for all Roman citizens, regardless of rank. It ended a long struggle between Patricians and Plebeians (the higher and lower ranks of Roman society) who until then used to have unequal rights and privileges.

Answer 6

The law of the twelve tables were created because there was a demand for written and published laws which established clear rules, clear definitions of crimes and clear punishments, and legal protections for the citizens which were known publicly. Prior to this there were not any published laws. Many laws were unwritten and the decrees of the senate were kept secret. This left a lot of room for abuse by the consuls (the two annually elected heads of the Republic). There had also been the issue of the abuse of defaulting debtors by creditors who imprisoned them, tortured them and sometimes sold them as slaves.