“This celebrated code, after its compilation by a commission of 10 men (decemviri), who composed in 451BC 10 sections and 2 sections in 450BC, and after its ratification by the (then) principal assembly (comitia centuriata) of the State in 449BC was engraved on 12 bronze tablets (whence the name Twelve Tables),¹ which were attached to the Rostra before the Curia in the Forum of Rome. Though this important witness of the national progress was destroyed during the Gallic occupation of Rome in 387BC, yet copies must have been extant, since Cicero (106BC-43BC) says that in his boyhood schoolboys memorized these laws ‘as a required formula’. However, now no part of the 12 Tables either in its original form or in its copies exists. The surviving fragments of the 12 Tables come from the writings of late Latin writers and fall into these 4 types:
¹ The code was known under 2 titles: Lex Duodecim Tabularum and Duodecim Tabulae.
(1) Fragments which seem to contain the original words, ‘modernized’ in spelling;
(2) Fragments which are fused with the context of the quoter, but with little distortion;
(3) Fragments which not only are fused but also much distorted, although with a preservation through paraphrase;
(4) Passages which present only an interpretation (or an opinion based on one), or a title.”
“the attribution of some items to certain tablets is debatable. The probable order of the fragments, which total over 115, has been inferred from various statements and from other indications of ancient authors.”
TABLE 1. PROCEEDINGS PRELIMINARY TO TRIAL
“7. If one of the parties shall not have appeared, after noon the judge shall adjudge the case in favour of him present.
8. If both parties be present, sunset shall be the time-limit of the proceedings.”
TABLE 2. TRIAL
(…)
TABLE 3. DEBT
“5. Unless the debtors make a compromise, they shall be held in bonds for 60 days. During those days they shall be brought to the magistrate into the meeting-place on 3 successive market-days and the amount for which they have been judged liable shall be declared publicly. Moreover on the 3rd market-day the debtors shall suffer capital punishment or shall be delivered for sale beyond the Tiber (river).”
Numa passagem não muito bem-compreendida, fica em suspenso a possibilidade do credor poder mutilar o corpo do réu na porcentagem ou fração que lhe é devida, quando ele falha em pagar o valor e é ofertado no mercado, já que o credor (o litigante) teria direito a 1/x do ‘corpo’ do réu!
TABLE 4. PATERNAL POWER
“1. O recém-nascido severamente deformado deve ser morto de imediato.
2. Se um pai repudiou o filho três vezes para que fosse vendido no mercado, o filho deverá ser declarado livre do seu pai.¹
¹ A prerrogativa do patria potestas significava que se o antigo comprador de um filho liberta seu escravo, o filho reentra nas posses do pai. Este fragmento significa que mesmo este instituto não tem mais razão de ser quando há manumissão tripla.
3. Para repudiar a esposa, o marido deverá ordenar-lhe que cuide de seus próprios negócios, confiscar-lhe todas as chaves e expulsá-la.
4. Sobre a herança legal, aquele que estava no útero é admitido, se, é claro, vier a nascer.¹
¹ Interpretação: alegados filhos, i.e., crianças nascidas no décimo mês após a morte do tido como progenitor, não têm direito à herança.”
TABLE 5. INHERITANCE AND GUARDIANSHIP
“1. Mulheres devem permanecer sob tutela, mesmo após a maioridade.¹ … As virgens vestais são excepcionais, e ficam livres do controle parental.
¹ 25 anos (para mulheres). Para homens, a maioridade em casos de julgamentos por roubo ou por prejuízo causado a terceiros, por exemplo, é 16!
2. As propriedades movíveis de uma mulher que estão sub tutelagem de seu agnato¹ não podem ser auferidas por usucapião, salvo se esses bens tiverem sido cedidos pela proprietária, com consentimento do tutor.”
¹ Parentes paternos. Cognatos são parentes paternos ou maternos. A família agnática é toda aquela contemplada na lei civil. A família cognática possui regulamentações na lei dos gentios.
“4. Se um indivíduo morre sem testamento e não tem descendente direto, o agnato macho mais próximo deve ser o herdeiro.
5. Sem agnato macho, os homens do clã do falecido¹ terão direito à herança.
¹ Por inferência em relação à nota anterior, trata-se de algum cognato.
(*) Tutor e guardião não devem ser confundidos: o segundo é o das crianças irresponsáveis pela idade; o primeiro é o dos lunáticos, dentre os quais incluíam-se os pródigos.”
TABLE VI. OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION
“7. O usucapião de bens movíveis é completado após um ano; o usucapião de bens inamovíveis (herança, terrenos) é completado somente após 2 anos.”
TABLE VII. REAL PROPERTY
“6. Neighboring persons shall mend the roadway. If they keep it not laid with stones, one shall drive one’s beast vehicles across the land where one shall wish.”
“10. The owner of a tree may gather its fruit which falls upon another’s farm.”
TABLE VIII. TORTS OR DELICTS
“1. If any person had sung or had composed a song which caused slander or insult to another person . . . he should be clubbed to death.¹”
¹ “Slander and libel are not distinguished from each other in Roman Law.”
“14. It is forbidden that a thief be killed by day . . . Unless he defend himself with a weapon, even though he shall use that weapon and shall resist, you shall not kill him. And even if the thief resist, you shall shout.”
“18. A stolen thing is debarred from prescription (usucapio).
“19. No person shall practise usury at a rate of more than 1/12¹ [0,083%] … if he do, a usurer shall be condemned for quadruple damages.”
¹ “The uncia (whence our ‘ounce’) is the unit of division of the asa and is used also as 1/12 of anything. One-twelfth the principal paid yearly as interest equals 8,33%.”
a The as originally was a bar (1ft. in length) of aes (copper), then a weight, then a coin weighing 1 pound and worth about $0.17. From time to time the as was reduced in weight and was depreciated in value, until by the provisions of the Lex Papiria in 191BC the as weighed ½ ounce and was valued at $0.008.”
“24. The penalty for false testimonies is that any person who has been convicted of speaking false witness shall be precipitated from the Tarpeian Rock.¹”
¹ “A southern spur of the Capitoline Hill, which overlooks the Forum, and named after Tarpeia, a legendary traitress”
“27. No person shall hold nocturnal meetings in the city.”
TABLE IX. PUBLIC LAW
“3. A judge (iudex) or an arbitrator (arbiter) legally (iure) appointed, who has been convicted of receiving money for declaring a decision, shall be punished capitally (capite).”
“6. It is forbidden to put to death . . . unconvicted anyone whomsoever.”
TABLE X. SACRED LAW
“4. Women shall not tear their cheeks or have a lessus¹ (sorrowful outcry) on account of the funeral.”
¹ “Cicero says that some older interpreters suspected that some kind of mourning-garment was meant by lessus, but that he inclines to the interpretation that it signifies a sort of sorrowful wailing (De Legibus, II)”
“6. Anointing by slaves and every kind of drinking-bout is abolished . . . There shall be no costly sprinkling, no myrrh-spiced drink, no long garlands, no incense-boxes.”
“9. Gold shall not be added to a corpse. But him whose teeth shall have been fastened with gold, if a person shall bury or shall burn him with that gold, it shall be with impunity (sine fraude).”
TABLE XI. SUPPLEMENTARY LAWS
(…)
TABLE XII. SUPPLEMENTARY LAWS
(…)
UNPLACED FRAGMENTS
“o direito a recorrer de qualquer sentença é outorgado.”
Seclusão Anagógica 