Why one might ask, was Madison influenced by this antique law code? What was in it that made it still relevant when the United States was coming into being? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before assessing the Twelve Tables and the laws enshrined within them, it is important to understand the context in which the Romans wrote them. Rome, so the myth goes, was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus<\/a> on the banks of the River Tiber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was initially a monarchy ruled by Romulus after he killed his brother Remus. Seven monarchs supposedly reigned there for a suspiciously long time of nearly 250 years before the seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, a tyrant, was overthrown in 509 BC by the Roman people. After that, people established the Roman Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rome already had some laws by this time, notably those established by Romulus and the second Roman king, Numa. However, the Roman Republic needed a more elaborate law code, duly said to have been developed and promulgated in the mid-fifth century BC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As described by the first century BC historian, Livy, the immediate motive in doing so was increasing tensions between the patrician<\/em> class of Roman aristocrats and landowners and the plebeians<\/em> or poorer citizens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this context, the Roman Senate appointed a decemviri<\/em>, a board of ten men, to draw up a new set of laws around 450 BC. These ten men, according to Livy, were even sent to the grand home of democracy and republic at that time, Greece, to study the best legal systems there and use them as the basis for the new laws in Rome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is probably a fanciful tale designed by Livy to establish links between Rome and Athens hundreds of years later. However, it is possible that the Greek city-states<\/a> heavily influenced the Romans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever the truth of this, we know that the decemviri<\/em> were said to have drawn up Ten Tables by the end of 450 BC, to which two more were added the following year, before they were all inscribed on bronze tablets and set up for all to view in public places in the city of Rome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Twelve Tables concerned a wide range of issues. The first was related to how the courts should operate and trials proceed. The idea was that in formalizing these and making the process known to all Romans, the richer patrician<\/em> class could not abuse the plebeians<\/em> of their rights as Roman citizens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The second and third table elaborate further on these. The fourth table is related to the paterfamilias’<\/em> rights or the household head. Some elements of this were brutal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, it called for disabled children to be euthanized by leaving them exposed in the wilderness, a practice which was unfortunately all too common throughout Roman history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The fifth and sixth tables primarily concerned the rights of women and their place in Roman society. These were liberal in some ways, in that Roman women could inherit property and land, a rarity in other parts of the Mediterranean at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.historydefined.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Twelve_Tables_Engraving-702x1024.jpeg\")
The Early Roman Republic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Twelve Tables of the Laws<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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