The Twelve Tables | Page 6

Tabularum (Law of Twelve Tables) and Duodecim Tabulae (Twelve Tables).
[2] Ab Vrbe Condita, III. 34. 6. This claim--that these statutes were the source of all public and private law--is exaggerated. Rather the code is chiefly an exposition of private law, derived from customary law, which already existed, and contains some public and religious law as well.
For another estimate see Cicero, De Oratore, I. 44. 195, where the advocate asserts that "the small manual of the Twelve Tables by itself surpasses the libraries of all the philosophers both in weight of authority and in wealth of utility."
[3] Such is the almost unanimous tradition; but one source says ivory (eboreas). Since some scholars scout the use of ivory in Rome at that time, the emendation of eboreas to roboreas (wooden) is suggested.
[4] De Legibus, II. 23. 59: ut carmen necessarium.
[5] Words between [ ] complete the sense of a sentence. Words between ( ) are either definitions or translations.
[6] The as originally was a bar (one foot in length) of aes (copper), then a weight, then a coin weighing one pound and worth about $.17. From time to time the as was reduced in weight and was depreciated in value, until by the provisions of the Lex Papiria in 191 B.C. the as weighed one-half ounce and was valued at $.008.
[7] Some scholars suggest that this statute should be translated thus: "When the parties agree on preliminaries, each party shall plead."
[8] The index hears cases in which a fixed amount is to be adjudged.
[9] The arbiter hears cases in which an indefinite sum is to be assessed.
[10] At this time in the language reus means any litigant; in later Latin reus is restricted to signify the defendant.
[11] Perhaps "on every other day" or "on three market-days" is meant.
[12] This means, we suppose, that the litigant requiring evidence must proclaim his need by shouting certain legal phrases before the residence of the person who is capable of supplying such evidence and who thereby is summoned to court.
[13] Some scholars suggest that the Latin represented by the words "and for matters in court" should be omitted and that the passage should open "For persons judged liable for acknowledged debt", thus restricting the period of thirty days' grace only to matters of debt. Even if this view be correct, it disproves not the probability that the thirty days applied to various kinds of cases.
[14] "Shall cut pieces" (partes secanto) is explained variously: "to divide the debtor's functions or capabilities", "to claim shares in the debtor's property", "to divide the price obtained for the sale of the debtor's person", "to divide the debtor's family and goods", "to announce to the magistrate their shares of the debtor's estate"; the old Roman writers, however, understand by the phrase that the creditors can cut their several shares of the debtor's body!
[15] In primitive times a father can sell his son into slavery. If the buyer free the son, the son reenters his father's control (patria potestas).
Here apparently we have an old formula surviving in a sham triple sale, whereby a descendant is liberated from the authority of an ascendant, or after a triple transfer and a triple manumission the son is freed from his father and stands in his own right (sui iuris).
[16] Otherwise (an interpretation probably, perhaps not a paraphrase): "After ten months from [the father's] death a child born shall not be admitted into a legal inheritance."
[17] "Full age" for females is 25 years. For keeping women of full age under a guardian almost no reason of any worth can be urged. The common belief, that because of the levity of their disposition (propter animi levitatem) they often are deceived and therefore may be guided by a guardian, seems more plausible than true.
According to Roman Law of this period a woman never has legal independence: if she be not under the power (potestas) of her father, she is dependent on the control (manus) of her husband or, unmarried and fatherless, she is subject to the governance (tutela) of her guardian.
[18] Agnates (agnati) are relatives by blood or through adoption on male side only; cognates (cognati) are blood-relatives on either male or female side. The family of the ius civile is the agnatic family; the family of the ius gentium is the cognatic family.
[19] Beside a guardian (tutor) for a child of certain age (sixth statute of this Table; cf. p. 7, n. 21) there is provided also a guardian (custos, later curator) for a lunatic and for a prodigal (seventh statute of this Table).
[20] Clansmen (gentiles) are persons all belonging to the same clan (gens) as the deceased and of course include agnates, when these exist.
[21] Boys between the ages of 7 and 15, girls between the ages of 7 and 13, women neither under paternal power