The Twelve Tablets are no longer preserved: although they remained an important source during the Republic, they gradually became obsolete and ultimately had only historical interest. [2] The original tablets may have been destroyed when the Gauls burned Rome under Brennus in 387 BC. Cicero claimed[22] that he memorized them when he was a child at school, but that no one learned them anymore. What we have from them today are short excerpts and quotations from these laws in other authors, often in clearly updated language. They are written in archaic and laconic Latin (described as the verse of Saturn). Although it cannot be determined whether the quoted fragments accurately retain the original form, what is present gives insight into the grammar of early Latin. Some claim that the text was written as such so that plebeians could memorize the laws more easily, as literacy was not commonplace in early Rome. Roman republican scholars wrote commentaries on the Twelve Tablets, such as L. Aelius Stilo,[23] professor of Varron and Cicero. [24] Long before the foundation of the Roman Republic in 509 BC. The early Romans lived according to laws developed over centuries of customs. This customary law (ius, in Latin) was passed down from generation to generation and was considered by the Romans as an inherited aspect of their society, as it had developed from the beginning.

Essential to the idea that this customary law was part of the fabric of early Roman culture was the fact that this right applied only to Roman citizens and was therefore ius civile or civil law. In the book The Twelve Tables, written by an anonymous source whose origins were cooperated through a series of translations of tablets and ancient references, P.R. Coleman-Norton arranged and translated many important features of the debt that put the Twelve Tablets into effect in the 5th century. The translation of the legal characteristics around the debt and derived from the known sources of the Twelve Tables is given as such. The laws dealing with the Twelve Tablets were a means of publicly displaying the rights that every citizen had in the public and private spheres. These twelve tablets showed what was once considered in Roman society as unwritten laws. The public display of the copper tablets allowed for a more balanced society between the Roman patricians, who were educated and understood the laws of legal relations, and the Roman plebeians, who had little education or experience in understanding the law. By revealing to the public the unwritten rules of society, the Twelve Tablets offered the plebeians the opportunity to avoid financial exploitation and rebalance the Roman economy. The 12 tablets were ancient Rome`s attempt to write laws and create a code of law, as most advanced civilizations did.

The 12 tables are similar to what the U.S. now calls the Bill of Rights. These laws formed the basis of ancient Roman law. Roman law began in 451 BC. AD with these 12 tablets and lasted a century until the Corpus Juris Civilis in 529 AD. The Corpus Juris Civilis was also known as the Code of Justinian and was a collection of legal theories and studies. It was very different from the 12 tables, as it hoped for a better understanding of the legal system and was much more complex. It should also be noted that the 12 tablets are the earliest known written documents of ancient Rome. Not much remains of these laws, except for fragments found throughout history. The constitution of the Roman Republic, or mos maiorum (“custom of the ancestors”), was an unwritten set of directives and principles transmitted mainly by precedents. The terms that have their origins in the Roman constitution live on in the constitutions to this day.

Examples include separation of powers, separation of powers, vetoes, obstructions, quorum requirements, term limits, impeachments, scholarship powers, and regular elections. Even some less common modern constitutional concepts, such as block voting in the U.S. Electoral College, stem from ideas found in the Roman Constitution. This section of the tables makes it illegal for anyone to define what a citizen of Rome is, except for the largest assembly or maximus comitatus. It also prohibits the execution of persons who have not been convicted, the bribery of judges and the extradition of a citizen to hostile powers. [15] In the period between about 201 and 27 BC. A.D., we can see the development of more flexible laws to meet the needs of the time. In addition to the old and formal ius civile, a new legal class was created: the ius honorarium, which can be defined as “The law introduced by magistrates who had the right to issue edicts to support, supplement or correct the existing law”. [5] This new law abandons the old formalism and uses new, more flexible principles of ius gentium.