“The Twelve Tables continued to be recognized for many centuries as the fundamental law of the Romans; they did not formally lose this character until it was taken from them by the legislation of Justinian.” James Hadley, Introduction to Roman Law 74–75 (1881).
twelve tables
Twelve Tables. Roman law. The earliest surviving legislation enacted by the Romans, written on 12 tablets in the 5th century B.C. • The Tables set out many rights and duties of Roman citizens, including debtors’ rights, family law, wills, torts, civil procedure, and some public law. They substituted a written body of laws, easily accessible and binding on all citizens of Rome, for an unwritten usage accessible to only a few. The law of the Twelve Tables was also known as the Lex Duodecim Tabularum.
