The Twelve Tables | Page 6

[the defendant] shall compound for
loss caused by [paying] double [damages from enjoyment of the
article].[72]
4. It is forbidden to dedicate for consecrated use (in sacrum) any thing
of which there is a controversy [about its ownership]; otherwise a
penalty of double [the amount involved] shall be suffered.[73]
5. Whatsoever last the people have ordained, this shall be binding and
valid (ius ratumque).[74]
UNPLACED FRAGMENTS
There are extant about a dozen fragments of whose place in the Twelve
Tables we are ignorant. In nearly every instance these fragments consist
of only one word or phrase, which later Latin antiquarians have
preserved to illustrate an ancient spelling or to explain an archaic usage
or to point a definition.
The longest fragment only is worth reproduction for the present
purpose: To appeal from any judgement (inuicium) and sentence
(poena) is allowed.[75]

NOTES
[1] The code was known under two titles: Lex Duodecim 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