Laws of XII Tables: Germs of the Contemporary Law Maxims
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Abstract
The Laws of XII tables (leges XII tabularum) appeared in the middle of the 5th century BC and belong to the very first written source of the Roman law. The Roman law science qualifies this legal record as a “magnificent legal work”, a “fundamental monument of the Roman law containing entire ancient legal creation that defined further law development guidelines”, a “rudiment of the whole posterior Roman law” and “the law we are still using today”.
The Romans regarded the laws of XII tables as the source of entire law, i.e. both public and private law (fons omnium publicum privatique iuris) and Marcus Tullius Cicero maintained that school pupils of Rome would learn provisions of the Laws by heart. In other words, the Laws of XII tables was somewhat like a “fundamental law” that approved the most important thitherto developed legal traditions and consolidated significant legal regulation principles.
The authors of the present work try to take the Laws of XII tables not only traditionally, i.e. from the point of view of the law history, as the outstanding monument of the Roman law preclassic period, but make attempts at identifying within the reconstructed text some principles and provisions developed by modern law.
Their search seems to be successful enough. The authors of the present publication happen to find in the Laws of XII tables such general law interpretation and application principles like a provision incident to effectiveness of the rule of law in regard to time, that posterior legal acts abolish validity of the prior ones, the principle that maintains that legal power acquires only publicly promulgated rule of law, prohibitions for subjects of legal relations to change by mutual agreement imperative rules of law and in relation with it general classification of law into public and private, principles defining equality of individuals before law and legal regulation universality, provision that prohibits unreasonably to apply an exceptional legal regime for separate groups of legal subjects, etc.
Authors of the current article as well claim the germs of such principles of the contemporary law as the exclusivity of self-defence, prohibition to abuse one’s law to be found in the ancient Roman laws of XII tables.
Moreover, the genesis of the first written source of ius civile Romanum itself shows the persistent endeavours of ancient Romans to achieve several qualities of law that today are treated as the indispensable traits of civilized legal system. These are the explicitness and stability of law.
The Romans regarded the laws of XII tables as the source of entire law, i.e. both public and private law (fons omnium publicum privatique iuris) and Marcus Tullius Cicero maintained that school pupils of Rome would learn provisions of the Laws by heart. In other words, the Laws of XII tables was somewhat like a “fundamental law” that approved the most important thitherto developed legal traditions and consolidated significant legal regulation principles.
The authors of the present work try to take the Laws of XII tables not only traditionally, i.e. from the point of view of the law history, as the outstanding monument of the Roman law preclassic period, but make attempts at identifying within the reconstructed text some principles and provisions developed by modern law.
Their search seems to be successful enough. The authors of the present publication happen to find in the Laws of XII tables such general law interpretation and application principles like a provision incident to effectiveness of the rule of law in regard to time, that posterior legal acts abolish validity of the prior ones, the principle that maintains that legal power acquires only publicly promulgated rule of law, prohibitions for subjects of legal relations to change by mutual agreement imperative rules of law and in relation with it general classification of law into public and private, principles defining equality of individuals before law and legal regulation universality, provision that prohibits unreasonably to apply an exceptional legal regime for separate groups of legal subjects, etc.
Authors of the current article as well claim the germs of such principles of the contemporary law as the exclusivity of self-defence, prohibition to abuse one’s law to be found in the ancient Roman laws of XII tables.
Moreover, the genesis of the first written source of ius civile Romanum itself shows the persistent endeavours of ancient Romans to achieve several qualities of law that today are treated as the indispensable traits of civilized legal system. These are the explicitness and stability of law.
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Please see Copyright and Licence Agreement for further details.
