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{{short description|Roman statute forming the law}}
{{Roman government}}

'''The Laws of the Twelve Tables''' ({{Langx|la|lex duodecim tabularum}}) was the legislation that stood at the foundation of [[Roman law]]. Formally promulgated in 449 BC, the Tables consolidated earlier traditions into an enduring set of laws.<ref>Jolowicz, H.F. ''Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law'' (Cambridge, 1952), 108</ref><ref name="Crawford">Crawford, M.H. 'Twelve Tables' in Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow (eds.) ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (4th ed.)</ref>

In the [[Forum (Roman)|Forum]], "The Twelve Tables" stated the rights and duties of the [[Roman citizen]].  Their formulation was the result of considerable agitation by the [[plebeian]] class, who had hitherto been excluded from the higher benefits of the [[Republic]].  The law had previously been unwritten and exclusively interpreted by upper-class priests, the [[pontifices]].  Something of the regard with which later Romans came to view the Twelve Tables is captured in the remark of [[Cicero]] (106–43 BC) that the "Twelve Tables...seems to me, assuredly to surpass the libraries of all the philosophers, both in weight of authority, and in plenitude of utility".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/12tables.asp |website=Fordham University |title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project: Ancient History }}</ref>  Cicero scarcely exaggerated; the Twelve Tables formed the basis of Roman law for a thousand years.<ref>Book: "[[The Age of Classical Civilization]]"; Chapter "The Twelve Tables c. 450 BC"; p. 27</ref>

The Twelve Tables are sufficiently comprehensive that their substance has been described as a 'code',<ref>Mommsen, T. ''The History of Rome'' trans. W.P. Dickson (London,
1864) 290</ref> although modern scholars consider this characterization exaggerated.<ref name="Crawford"/> The Tables are a sequence of definitions of various private rights and procedures. They generally took for granted such things as the institutions of the family and various rituals for formal transactions. The provisions were often highly specific and diverse.<ref>Steinberg, S. 'The Twelve Tables and Their Origins: An Eighteenth-Century Debate' ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' Vol. 43, No. 3 (1982) 379–396, 381</ref>

==Drafting and development==

There is no scholarly agreement about the exact historical account of the creation and promulgation of the laws of the Twelve Tables. Ancient writers' stories about the Twelve Tables were recorded a couple of centuries later, in the second and first centuries BC. The first known publications of the text of the Twelve Tables were prepared by the first Roman jurists. [[Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus]] (consul in 198 BC) in his work on jurisprudence called ''[[Tripartita]]'' included a version of the laws of the Twelve Tables, his commentary on them and the legal formulas (''[[legis actiones]]'') to use them in trials.<ref>''Digest'', 1.2.2.7.</ref><ref>Harries, Jill, 2007, “Roman Law Codes and the Roman Legal Tradition,” in ''Beyond Dogmatics. Law and Society in the Roman World'', eds. John W. Cairns and Paul du Plessis, Edinburgh: Edinburgh Studies in Law, 88.</ref> [[Lucius Acilius Sapiens]] was another early interpreter of the Twelve Tables in the middle of the second century BC.<ref>Cicero, ''[[De Legibus]]'', 2.29</ref><ref>Dyck, Andrew Roy, 2004, ''A Commentary on Cicero, De Legibus'', Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 405.</ref> Meanwhile Roman historians Livy and [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] provided the most detailed accounts of the creation of the laws.<ref>Livy, 3.9–64; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Ant. Rom.'', 10.1–11.50.</ref> In addition, different versions of the story are known from the works of [[Diodorus Siculus]] and [[Sextus Pomponius]].<ref>Diodorus Siculus, 12.24–6; Sextus Pomponius, ''Digest'', 1.2.4.</ref>

[[File:Loix des Douze Tables.jpg|thumb|Publication of the Twelve Tables in Rome, approx. 2 BC. Drawing by [[Silvestre David Mirys]] (1742–1810); engraved by [[Claude-Nicolas Malapeau]] (1755–1803)]]According to Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the laws of the Twelve Tables have come about as a result of the long social struggle between patricians and plebeians, in modern scholarship known as the [[conflict of the orders]].<ref>Livy, 3.33–41. </ref> After the expulsion of the last king of Rome, [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus|Tarquinius Superbus]], in 509 BC, the [[Roman Republic|Republic]] was governed by a hierarchy of [[Roman Magistrate|magistrates]]. Initially, only [[patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] were eligible to become magistrates and this, among other plebeian complaints, was a source of discontent for [[plebeians]]. In the context of this unequal status, plebeians would take action to secure concessions for themselves using the threat of [[Secessio plebis|secession]]. They would threaten to leave the city with the consequence that it would grind to a halt, as the plebeians were Rome's labor force. Tradition held that one of the most important concessions won in this class struggle was the establishment of the Twelve Tables, establishing basic procedural rights for all Roman citizens in relation to each other.<ref name="du Plessis 5–6; 29–30">{{cite book|last=du Plessis|first=Paul|title=Borkowski's Textbook on Roman Law|year=2010|publisher=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-957488-9|pages=5–6, 29–30|edition=4th}}</ref> The drafting of the Twelve Tables may have been fomented by a desire for self-regulation by the patricians, or for other reasons.<ref name="Crawford"/>

Around 450 BC, the first ''[[Decemvirate (Twelve Tables)|decemviri]]'' (decemvirate, board of "Ten Men") were appointed to draw up the first ten tables. According to [[Titus Livius|Livy]], they sent an embassy to [[Greece]] to study the legislative system of [[Athens]], known as the [[Solonian Constitution]], but also to find out about the legislation of other [[Greeks|Greek]] cities.<ref>Livy, 2002, p. 23</ref><ref>Durant, 1942, p. 23</ref> Some scholars deny that the Romans imitated the Greeks in this respect<ref>Steinberg, S. 'The Twelve Tables and Their Origins: An Eighteenth-Century Debate' ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' Vol. 43, No. 3 (1982) 379–396</ref> or suggest that they visited only the Greek cities of [[Magna Graecia|Southern Italy]], and did not travel all the way to Greece.<ref name="Grant 75">{{cite book|last=Grant|first=Michael|title=History of Rome|year=1978|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=0-02-345610-8|pages=75|edition=1st}}</ref> In 450 BC, the second ''decemviri'' started to work on the last two tables.

The first decemvirate completed the first ten codes in 450 BC. Here is how [[Livy]] describes their creation:

<blockquote>
"...every citizen should quietly consider each point, then talk it over with his friends, and, finally, bring forward for public discussion any additions or subtractions which seemed desirable." (cf. Liv. [[s:from the Founding of the City/Book 3#34|III.34]])
</blockquote>

In 449 BC, the second decemvirate completed the last two codes, and after a ''[[secessio plebis]]'' (secession of the plebes, a plebeian protest) to force the Senate to consider them, the Law of the Twelve Tables was formally promulgated.<ref>McCarty,  Nick "Rome The Greatest Empire of the Ancient World", The Rosen Publishing Group, 2008</ref>  According to Livy (AUC [[s:From the Founding of the City/Book 3#57|3.57.10]]) the Twelve Tables were inscribed on [[bronze]] (Pomponius (Dig. 1 tit. 2 s2 §4) alone says on ivory), and posted publicly, so all Romans could read and know them.

== Laws of the Twelve Tables==
The [[laws]] the Twelve Tables were a way to publicly display rights that each citizen had in the public and private sphere.  These Twelve Tables displayed what was previously understood in Roman society as the unwritten laws.  The public display of the tablets allowed for a more balanced society between the Roman [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] who were educated and understood the laws of legal transactions, and the Roman [[Plebs|plebeians]] who had little education or experience in understanding law.  By revealing the unwritten rules of society to the public, the Twelve Tables provided a means of safeguard for Plebeians allowing them the opportunity to avoid financial exploitation and added balance to the [[Roman economy]].

Some of the provisions are procedural to ensure fairness among all Romans in the courts, while other established legal terms dictating the legality of capital crimes, intentional homicide, treason, perjury, judicial corruption, and writing slanderous poems.<ref name=":0" /> The Romans valued keeping peace in the city and the Twelve Tables were a mechanism of establishing and continuing peace and equality.<ref name=":0" />
{| class="wikitable"
|Table 1
|Procedure: for courts and trials
|-
|Table 2
|Further enactments on trials 
|-
|Table 3
|Execution of judgments 
|-
|Table 4
|Rights of familial heads
|-
|Table 5
|Legal guardianship and inheritance laws
|-
|Table 6
|Acquisition and possession
|-
|Table 7
|Land rights and crimes
|-
|Table 8
|[[Tort]]s and [[delict]]s (Laws of injury)
|-
|Table 9
|Public law
|-
|Table 10
|Sacred law
|-
|Table 11
|Supplement I
|-
|Table 12
|Supplement II
|}
=== Tables I & II: Procedure for Courts and Judges and Further Enactments on Trials ===
These two tables are concerned with the Roman court proceedings. Table I covers proceedings between the defendant and the plaintiff, with responses to potential situations such as when age or illness prevents the defendant from making appearance, then transportation has to be arranged to assist them.<ref name=":2" /> It also deals with:

* The failure of appearance by the defendant.
* If there is a failure to appear by either party, then after noon the judge must make judgement in favor of the one who is present.
* Provides a time-table for the trial (ends at sunset)<ref name=":2" />

Table II sets the amount of financial stake for each party depending on the source of litigation, what to do in case of impairment of the judge, and rules of who must present evidence.<ref name=":2" />

=== Table III: Execution of Judgment ===
Featured within the Twelve Tables are five rules about how to execute judgments, in terms of debtors and creditors. These rules show how the ancient Romans maintained peace with financial policy.

In the book, ''The Twelve Tables,'' written by an anonymous source due to its origins being collaborated through a series of translations of tablets and ancient references, P.R. Coleman-Norton arranged and translated many of the significant features of debt that the Twelve Tables enacted into law during the 5th century.  The translation of the legal features surrounding debt and derived from the known sources of the Twelve Tables are stated as such

“1. Of debt acknowledged and for matters judged in court (in iure) thirty days shall be allowed by law [for payment or for satisfaction].

2. After that [elapse of thirty days without payment] hand shall be laid on (Manus infection) [the debtor]. He shall be brought into court (in ius).

3. Unless he (the debtor) discharge the debtor unless someone appear in court (in iure) to guarantee payment for him, he (the creditor) shall take [the debtor] with him. He shall bind [him] either with thong or with fetters, of which the weight shall be not less than fifteen pounds or shall be more if he (the creditor) choose.

4. If he (the debtor) chooses, he shall live on his own [means]. If he lives not on his own [means], [the creditor,] who shall hold him in bonds, shall give [him] a pound of bread daily; if he (the creditor) shall so desire, he shall give [him] more.

5. Unless they (the debtors) make a compromise, they (the debtors) shall be held in bonds for sixty days. During those days they shall be brought to [the magistrate] into the comitia (meeting-place) on three successive markets […]”<ref name=":2">Coleman-Norton, P.R. (1960). ''The Twelve Tables''. Princeton: Princeton University, Dept. of Classics.</ref>

The five mandates of the Twelve Tables encompassing debt created a new understanding within [[Social class in ancient Rome|social classes in ancient Rome]] that ensured financial exploitation would be limited within legal business transactions.

=== Table IV: Right of Familial Heads ===
The fourth table of the Twelve Tables deals with the specific rights of Patriarchs of families. One of the first proclamations of the Table IV is that "dreadfully deformed" children must be quickly euthanized. It also explains that sons are born into inheritance of their family. Babies with physical and mental diseases must be killed by the father himself.  If a husband no longer wants to be married to his wife he can remove her from their household and "order her to mind her own affairs"<ref name="gutenberg" /> Not all of the codes of table IV are to the benefit of only the patriarch. If a father attempts to sell his son three times then the son earns his freedom from the father.

=== Tables V, VI & X: Women ===
The Twelve Tables have three sections that pertain to women as they concern estates and guardianship, ownership and possession, and religion, which give a basic understanding as to the legal rights of women and girls.
* '''Table V''' (''Estates and Guardianship''): “Female heirs should remain under guardianship even when they have attained the age of majority, but exception is made for the [[Vestal Virgin|Vestal Virgins]].”<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The historians of ancient Rome: an anthology of the major writings|last=Mellor|first=Ronald|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415527163|oclc=819515201}}</ref> 
* '''Table VI''' (''Ownership and Possession''): “Where a woman, who has not been united to a man in marriage, lives with him for an entire year without interruption of three nights, she shall pass into his power as his legal wife.”<ref name=":0" /> 
* '''Table X''' (''Religion''): “Women shall not during a funeral lacerate their faces, or tear their cheeks with their nails; nor shall they utter loud cries bewailing the dead.”<ref name=":0" />
One of the aspects highlighted in the Twelve Tables is a woman's legal status and standing in society. Women were considered to be under a form of guardianship similar to that of minors,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Hurri|first=Samuli|date=November 2005|title=The Twelve Tables|url=http://www.helsinki.fi/nofo/NoFo1HurriTheTwelveTables.pdf|journal=NoFo|volume=1|pages=13–23}}</ref> and sections on ownership and possession give the impression that women were considered to be akin to a piece of real estate or property due to the use of terms such as "ownership" and "possession".<ref name=":1" />

=== Table VII: Land Rights and Crimes ===
This table outlines the attitudes towards property. The following are all rules about property:<ref name="gutenberg"/>

* Boundary disputes are settled by third-parties.
* Road widths are eight feet wide on straight parts and double that on turns.
* People who live near the road are in charge of maintaining it; if a road is not well maintained then carts and animals can be ridden where the riders wish.
* Property owners can request removal of trees that have been blown onto their property
* Fruit that falls from a tree onto a neighbor's property still belongs to the original tree owner.

=== Table VIII: Torts and Delicts (Laws of Injury) ===
[[Tort]]s are laws dealing with litigating wrongs that occur between citizens. One such situation is that of physical injury, retaliation for which can range from dealing the perpetrator an injury in kind, to monetary compensation to the injured. This table also establishes the legal ramifications for damage dealt to property by animals and damage dealt to crops by people or animals. The penalty for stealing crops is hanging as sacrifice to [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]].{{r|gutenberg}}

The table also describes several laws dealing with theft.<ref name="gutenberg">{{cite book | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14783 | title=The Twelve Tables | publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]] | date=24 January 2005 | accessdate=19 November 2024 | quote=16. Thefts which have been discovered through [use of] platter and loincloth [shall be punished just as if the culprits had been caught in the act]. For cases of stolen goods discovered (furtum conceptum) [by other means than by platter and loincloth] or introduced (furtum oblatum) the penalty is triple [damages] | translator-first1=Paul | translator-last1=Coleman-Norton}}</ref>

=== Table IX: Public Law ===
This section of the tables makes it illegal for anyone to define what a citizen of Rome is with the exception of the greatest assembly, or ''maximus comitatus.'' It also outlaws execution of those who are unconvicted, bribery of judges, and extradition of a citizen to enemy powers.<ref name="gutenberg" />

=== The Supplements: Tables XI & XII  ===
* '''Table XI''' (''Marriage Between Classes''):  A person of a certain class shall not partake in marriage with a person of a lower class.
* '''Table XII''' (''Binding into Law''): If a slave shall have committed theft or done damage with his master's knowledge, the action for damages is in the slave's name.

== Influence and significance ==
[[File:Twelve Tables Engraving.jpg|thumb|Roman civilians examining the Twelve Tables after they were first implemented.]]
The Twelve Tables are often cited as the foundation for ancient [[Roman law]]. The Twelve Tables provided an early understanding of some key concepts such as [[justice]], [[Equality before the law|equality]], and [[punishment]].<ref name="jstor.org">Gary, Forsythe. ''A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War''. 1st ed., University of California Press, 2005, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppxrv.</ref>  Although legal reform occurred soon after the implementation of the Twelve Tables, these ancient laws provided [[social protection]] and [[civil rights]] for both the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] and [[plebeians]]. At this time, there was extreme tension between the privileged class and the common people resulting in the need for some form of social order. While the existing laws had major flaws that were in need of reform, the Twelve Tables eased the civil tension and violence between the [[plebeians]] and [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]].<ref name="crystalinks.com">[http://www.crystalinks.com/romelaw.html "Law in Ancient Rome, The Twelve Tables"]. ''www.crystalinks.com''. Retrieved 2017-05-08.</ref>

The Twelve Tables also heavily influenced and are referenced in later Roman Laws texts, especially [[Digest (Roman law)|The Digest of Justinian]] I. Such laws from The Digest that are derived from the Twelve Tables are the legal recompense for damage caused by an animal, protocol for inheritances, and also laws about structural property damage.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Watson|first=Alan|title=The Digest of Justinian, Volume 1.|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=March 12, 2009|isbn=9780812205510|pages=276, 379, 315}}</ref>

The influence of the Twelve Tables is still evident in the modern day. The Twelve Tables play a significant role in the basis of the early American legal system. Political theorists, such as [[James Madison]] have highlighted the importance of the Twelve Tables in crafting the [[United States Bill of Rights]].<ref>Denis, Fustel De Coulanges Numa. ''The Ancient City a Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2010. Print.</ref> The idea of property was also perpetuated in the Twelve Tables, including the different forms of money, land, and slaves. An additional example, the Twelve Tables are tied into the notion of [[Jus commune|Jus Commune]], which translates as "common law",  called "civil law" in some English-speaking countries. Some countries including South Africa and San Marino still base their current legal system on aspects of jus commune.<ref name="crystalinks.com"/> In addition, law school students throughout the world are still required to study the Twelve Tables as well as other facets of [[Roman law|Roman Law]] in order to better understand the current legal system in place.<ref>Baker, Keir (2016-04-11). [https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/apr/11/why-studying-roman-law-is-useful-for-law-students-careers "Studying Roman law: Juno it's more useful than you'd think"]. ''The Guardian''. {{ISSN|0261-3077}}. Retrieved 2017-05-08.</ref>

==Ancient sources==

The Twelve Tables are no longer extant: although they remained an important source through the [[Roman Republic|Republic]], they gradually became obsolete, eventually being only of historical interest.<ref name="Crawford"/>  The original tablets may have been destroyed when the [[Gaul]]s under [[Brennus (4th century)|Brennus]] burned Rome in 387 BC. [[Cicero]] claimed that he learned them by heart as a boy in school but that no one did so any longer.<ref>Cic. Leg. 2.59</ref> Since the early second century BC, Roman Republican scholars wrote commentaries upon the Twelve Tables, such as [[Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus|Lucius Aelius Stilo]],<ref>cf. Funaioli ''GRF'' p. 57</ref> teacher of both [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] and Cicero.<ref>Cicero, ''Brutus'' 205; Aulus Gellius, ''Attic Nights'' 16.8.2.</ref>

===Language===

Parts of the text of the Twelve Tables were preserved in the brief excerpts and quotations from the original laws in other ancient authors. All Roman sources quote the Twelve Tables in a modernised form of Latin.<ref>Crawford, Michael H., 1996,''Roman Statutes'', vol. 2, London: Institute of Classical Studies, 571.</ref> It is likely that the extant quotations of the text contain a multiplicity of layers of modernisation. It is believed that the process of this interlingual translation began at some point during the third or second century BC when the text of the Twelve Tables was no longer understandable in its entirety.<ref>Forsythe, Gary, 2005, ''A Critical History of Early Rome. From Prehistory to the First Punic War'', Berkeley and Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 227–228.</ref> As such, though it cannot be determined whether the quoted fragments accurately preserve the original form of Latin, what is present gives some insight into the grammar of [[Old Latin|early Latin]].

Even in the updated form, certain Latin terms used in the Twelve Tables were difficult to understand in the late Roman Republic. For instance, when Cicero reports that Roman commentators did not understand a particular point in the Twelve Tables, we should expect that his example was not unique.<ref>Wiseman, Timothy Peter, 2008, ''Unwritten Rome'', Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 11–12.</ref> According to Cicero, the law of the Twelve Tables introduced limits on the expense of the funeral arrangements. One of those rules, Cicero explains, was subject to various interpretations because of the difficulty to understand the archaic Latin term of ''lessus'':

<blockquote>After limiting the expense, then, to three veils, a small purple tunic, and ten pipers, the law [of the Twelve Tables] goes on to do away with lamentation: ‘Women shall not scratch their cheeks or have a ''lessus'' on the occasion of a funeral’. The old interpreters, Sextus Aelius and Lucius Acilius, said they were not sure what this meant, but suspected it was some kind of funeral garment. Lucius Aelius takes ''lessus'' to be a mournful wailing, as the word itself suggests. I tend to believe this second explanation, since that is the very thing that Solon’s law forbids.<ref>Translation from Latin by [[Niall Rudd]] in Cicero, ''The Republic and The Laws'', first published 1998, reissued 2008, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 146.</ref></blockquote>

===Form and structure===

[[File:Gortys Law Code.jpg|right|thumb|The fragment of [[Gortyn code|lawcode of Gortyn]] in Crete (around 450 BC). This Greek lawcode was inscribed in twelve columns on the inner face of a circular wall. Scholars observed that its content and focus on the private law offers striking parallels with the Twelve Tables<ref>Forsythe, Gary, 2005, ''A Critical History of Early Rome. From Prehistory to the First Punic War'', Berkeley and Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 202–203</ref>]]

According to ancient authors initially the Twelve Tables were recorded as an [[Epigraphy|epigraphic text]] inscribed on twelve bronze tablets. It is believed that at some later stage the text of the Twelve Tables became a literary text. Some scholars suggest that the text at this time was rewritten and kept as a small ancient book.<ref>Forsythe, Gary, 2005, ''A Critical History of Early Rome. From Prehistory to the First Punic War'', Berkeley and Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 227–228.</ref> For instance, Cicero terms the laws ‘a single booklet’ (''unus libelus'' in Latin).<ref>Cicero, ''De Oratore'', 1.195</ref> In the ancient world, the laws inscribed on bronze were often not easy to read but tended to serve a symbolic and religious purpose.<ref>Williamson, Callie, 1987, 'Monuments of Bronze: Roman Legal Documents on Bronze', ''Classical Antiquity'' 6, 160–183.</ref> It is likely that the law became literary text at some point during the fourth century BC. It was the time when the Roman civil law began to be administered by [[Roman magistrates|curule magistrates]].<ref>Forsythe, Gary, 2005, ''A Critical History of Early Rome. From Prehistory to the First Punic War'', Berkeley and Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 228.</ref> It is likely that state administrators would have found it more convenient to consult the law in book form. Therefore, it is likely that the twelve bronze tables would have become obsolete.<ref>Forsythe, Gary, 2005, ''A Critical History of Early Rome. From Prehistory to the First Punic War'', Berkeley and Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 228.</ref>

Like most other early codes of law, the Twelve Tables were largely [[Roman Litigation|procedural]], combining strict and rigorous penalties with equally strict and rigorous procedural forms. In most of the surviving quotations from these texts, the original table that held them is not given. Scholars have guessed where surviving fragments belong by comparing them with the few known attributions and records, many of which do not include the original lines, but paraphrases. It cannot be known with any certainty from what survives that the originals ever were organized this way, or even if they ever were organized by subject at all.<ref name="Crawford"/>

==Modern reconstructions==

In Roman historical and legal sources, ancient writers referenced and discussed the laws of the Twelve Tables in numerous fragments. However, during the Early Middle Ages the knowledge of the Twelve Tables was lost. The reconstruction of the text started with the rediscovery of '' [[Corpus Juris Civilis|Corpus Iuris]]'' in the Late Middle Ages.<ref>Oliviero Diliberto, “Umanesimo giuridico-antiquario e palingenesi delle XII Tavole,” in Annali del Dipartimento di Storia del Diritto della Università degli Studi di Palermo 50 (2005): 1–23; Diliberto, “La palingenesi decemvirale,” 481–501; Pierfranceso Arces, “Apuntti per una storia dei tentativi di palingenesi della legge delle XII Tavole,” Rivista di Diritto Romano 8 (2008): 1–15; and Jean-Lois Ferrary, “Saggio di storia della palingenesi delle Dodici Tavole,” in Le dodici tavole. Dai decemviri agli umanisti, ed. Michel Humbert (Pavia: Iuss Press, 2005), 503–556.</ref> The first attempt of the recovery of the laws was made by the French legal historian {{ill|Aymar du Rivail|de||fr}} in his ''[[Libri de Historia Juris Civilis et Pontificii]]'' (1515).<ref>Crawford, Michael H., ''Roman Statutes'', vol. 2 (London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1996), 564.</ref> His work was followed by more publications on the Twelve Tables by [[Alessandro Alessandri]] (1522) and {{ill|Giovanni Tacuino|it}} (1525).<ref>Crawford, Michael H., ''Roman Statutes'', vol. 2 (London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1996), 564.</ref> 

[[File:Jacques-Godefroy-De-imperio-maris MG 1188.tif|right|thumb|Jacques Godefroy]] The fundamental work of the reconstruction of the Twelve Tables appeared in [[Jacques Godefroy|Jacques Godefroy's]] publication of the law of the Twelve Tables in 1616. Godefroy's reconstruction was based on the order of [[Gaius (jurist)|Gaius']] ''Ad legem XII tabularum'' (''On the Law of the Twelve Tables''), compiled in the ''[[Digest (Roman law)|Digest]]'', from which many of the provisions of the Twelve Tables came to us. Godefroy believed that Gaius in his work followed the original order of the Twelve Tables. Since Gaius' work was divided into six books, Godefroy assumed that each book covered two tables and that each table focused on a certain matter. 

The most important modern reconstruction of the Twelve Tables was published by the German legal historian {{ill|Heinrich Eduard Dirksen|de||sv}} in his work of ''A Review of the attempts hitherto made at the criticism and restoration of the text of the fragments of the Twelve Tables'' (Leipzig, 1824).<ref>Original title in German: ''Uebersicht der bisherigen Versuche zur Kritik und Hestellung des Textes der Zwölf-Tafel-Fragmente''. More in Crawford, Michael H., ''Roman Statutes'', vol. 2 (London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1996), 564.</ref> Dirksen's work, based on the principles and discoveries of Godefroy, is now considered to be the most authoritative reconstructions of the Twelve Tables. In 1866 [[Rudolf Schöll]]'s reconstruction in ''[[Legis Duodecim Tabularum Reliquiae]]'' followed Dirksen's model.<ref>Schöll, Rudolf, ''Legis Duodecim Tabularum Reliquiae'' (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1866).</ref> The first full English publication of the Dirksen's reconstruction was prepared and translated by [[E. H. Warmington|Eric Herbert Warmington]] in the ''Remains of Old Latin, Volume III: Lucilius. The Twelve Tables'' in 1938 (No. 329 edition in the [[Loeb Classical Library]]).<ref>Warmington, Eric Herbert, 1938,''Remains of Old Latin, Volume III: Lucilius. The Twelve Tables'', No.329 edition, Loeb Classical Library, London & Cambridge, 424-515.</ref>

In the last couple of decades, one of the most prominent reconstructions of the law of the Twelve Tables was [[Michael Crawford (historian)|Michael H. Crawford's]] work of ''Roman Statutes'', vol. 2 (London, 1996). In this new version, Crawford and the team of specialists reconsidered the conventional arrangement of the laws based on Dirksen and his followers. They concluded that this conventional grouping of the rules was wrong and offered their new arrangement. For instance, the laws relating to ''[[iniuria]] '' and ''[[furtum]]'' were moved from the eighth table (''Tabula'' VIII) to the first table (''Tabula'' I). Similarly, the law on the conditionally freed slaves was moved from ''Tabula'' IV to ''Tabula'' VI.<ref>Crawford, Michael H., ''Roman Statutes'', vol. 2 (London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1996), 564, 568.</ref>

===List of modern reconstructions===

*Godefroy, Jacques, 1616, ''Fragmenta XII. Tabularum, suis nunc primum tabulis restituta: probationibus, notis, & indice munita / Iacobo Gothofredo in Parlamento Parisiensi advocato auctore'', Heidelbergae: Typis Johannis Lancelloti. 
*Dirksen, Heinrich Eduard, 1824, ''Übersicht der bisherigen Versuche zur Kritik und Herstellung des Textes der. Zwölf-Tafel-Fragmente'', Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot. 
*Schöll, Rudolf, 1868, ''Leges XII tabularum reliquiae'', Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot. 
*Voigt, Moritz, 1883, ''Die XII Tafeln: Geschichte und System des Civil-und Criminal-Rechtes, wie-Processes der XII Tafeln nebst deren Fragmenten'', Leipzig: A.G. Liebeskind. 
*Riccobono, Salvatore, 1941, ''Fontes iuris romani antejustiniani'' I, Florence, 21-75.
*Girard, Paul Frédéric et Senn, Félix, 1977, ''Les lois des Romains'', septiéme édition par un groupe de romanistes, Paris and Naples: Jovene Editore, 25-73. 
*Crawford, Michael H. (ed.), 1996, ''Roman Statutes'', vol. 2, London: Institute of Classical Studies, 555-722.
*Flach, Dieter, 2004, ''Das Zwölftafelgesetz. Leges XII tabularum. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft'', (Texte zur Forschung. Band 83), Darmstadt, ISBN 3-534-15983-7.

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==Works cited==
*{{cite book
  |last=Durant
  |first=W.
  |title=The Story of Civilization
  |publisher=Simon and Schuster
  |year=1942
  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T24gAAAAMAAJ
  }}
*{{cite book
  |last1=Livy
  |last2=De Sélincourt
  |first2=A.
  |last3=Ogilvie
  |first3=R.M.
  |last4=Oakley
  |first4=S.P.
  |title=The Early History of Rome: Books I–V of The History of Rome from its Foundations
  |publisher=Penguin Classics
  |year=2002
  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHh7heON3sQC
  |isbn=0-14-044809-8}}
*{{cite book
  |last=Goodwin
  |first=Frederick
  |title=The XII Tables
  |publisher=Stevens & Sons
  |year=1886
  |location=London
  }}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Brandi Cordasco Salmena |first1=Giovanni |title=Nossalità, falsa nossalità e magia: negli illeciti agricoli e pastorali della codificazione decemvirale al primo principato |date=2023 |publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider |location=Rome |isbn=9788891328465}}
* Cornell, T.J. 1995. ''The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 B.C.)'', London: Routledge, Routledge History of the Ancient World. 
* Harries, Jill. 2007. "Roman Law Codes and the Roman Legal Tradition". In ''Beyond Dogmatics: Law and Society in the Roman World'', Edited by Cairns, John W. and Du Plessis, Paul J. Edinburgh studies in law; 3, 85–104. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Pr.
* Tellegen-Couperus, Olga ed. 2011. ''Law and Religion in the Roman Republic'', Mnemosyne supplements. History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity, 336. Leiden; Boston: Brill. 
* Watson, Alan. 1976. ''Rome of the XII Tables. Persons and Property'', Princeton and London: Princeton University Press. 
* Watson, Alan. 1992.  ''The State, Law and Religion: Pagan Rome'', University of Georgia Press. 
* Westbrook, Raymond. 1988. "The Nature and Origins of the Twelve Tables." ''Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte'', Romanistische Abteilung, CV, 74–121.

==External links==
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Twelve Tables
  |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
{{Collier's Poster|year=1921|Twelve Tables}}
*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Lex_XII_Tabularum.html Entry by George Long in William Smith, ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'']

{{Ancient Rome topics}}
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[[Category:5th-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic]]
[[Category:Constitutions of ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Roman law]]
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[[Category:12 (number)]]