THE LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES
The Laws of the Twelve Tables were not a code in the modern sense. They attempted no systematic treatment of all of the law. Instead, they were a collection of specific, detailed, and narrowly focused provisions. They best fit a society where the family and the household are the fundamental units of social life, and agriculture and animal rearing the primary economic activities. The authors of the laws addressed aspects of marriage and divorce, inheritance, and the rights of a father over members of his household.
They attempted to regulate disputes over the ownership of land and its boundaries, farm buildings and fences, livestock, fruit-bearing trees, and slaves, as well as conflicts that arose over injuries to persons or property. Procedural matters loom large. Rome possessed neither a police force nor a bureaucracy, so that plaintiffs themselves were responsible for notifying the other parties, for ensuring their attendance in person for trial in the Forum or Comitium, and for collecting any judgments awarded. When defendants did not appear for trial, the Twelve Tables authorized plaintiffs, after summoning witness es, to seize defendants by force and bring them to court. (If the defendant was old or ill, however, the plaintiff had to provide a cart; cushions were optional.)
Debt and its consequences were among the lawmakers’ central concerns. At Rome, as in other cities of the ancient Mediterranean world, debt could force small scale farmers into a state of permanent dependency. The Twelve Tables prescribed that creditors must assure the debtor’s appearance in court, and must carry out all judgments. Debtors had thirty days to pay a debt in default or to satisfy a judgment against them. In the event that a debtor did not pay in time, the creditor could seize and hold him, unless some other person pledged to pay the debt if the debtor ran away. The creditor next brought the debtor to the Forum on three successive market days; if the debt still remained unpaid, he could then sell him into slavery “abroad, across the Tiber.” Etruria lies across the Tiber from Rome and the rest of Latium, so these words “abroad, across the Tiber” may indicate that Romans could not legally be held as slaves in Rome itself or in Latium. Although the Twelve Tables mention it only in passing, one other way that a debtor might satisfy a creditor was by entering into a relationship of debt bondage, or nexum; such individuals (nexi) served their creditor as long as the debt remained unpaid.