Roman law, Roman law from the days of the Republic. In the first phase, the law does not write a written. Law enforcement in accordance with the diagnosis of judges, which group of nobles.Which later engraved on wood include 12 sheet called the twelve tables (Twelve Tables) distinction of Roman law is modernization.The Romans also cause judicial acceptance of the basic principles of law. All people are equal under the law. Based on practical examples which include justice later to the present.Until there is evidence clear that they are committing
.Roman law is the heritage of civilization important. It is the basis of the principles of various countries in Europe. And there is also a great influence on the rules and regulations of Christianity.
Long before the Roman Republic was established in 509 BCE, the early Romans lived by laws developed through centuries of custom. This customary law (ius, in Latin) was handed down through generations and was considered by the Romans to be an inherited aspect of their society as it had evolved from its earliest days. Integral to the notion that this customary law was part of the fabric of early Roman culture was the fact that this law only applied to Roman citizens and was thus ius civile, or civil law
The citizens of Rome were divided into two classes: patricians, the elite class who ruled Roman society, and plebeians, the common people. One element of the patricians' elite status was that a group of patrician men called pontiffs were the ones who made decisions and ruled in questions of customary law. Over time, plebeians came to see that because of the disparity between their positions, patricians tended to have some advantage in the legal decisions made by the pontiffs who were their equals in status and power, and dissatisfaction grew with what many perceived to be the arbitrariness of the decisions made. This dissatisfaction arose during a period in the early Republic of intense conflict within the social order, as plebeians agitated to gain more political and social equality and patricians attempted to keep a tight hold on their own power. The plebeians pressed for the law to be written down, so that they might better anticipate the decisions made by the patrician pontiffs and understand their basis in the established law.
Thus a committee of ten men called the decemvirs was established in 451 BCE to write down the law for the first time. The work they produced in 449 BCE, the Twelve Tables, documented the centuries-old customary laws and became the foundation of Roman law as we know it. The Twelve Tables touched on many areas of law, not only the civil law that applied directly to citizens, but also areas such as public law and religious law, which applied to larger social constructs and institutions.
The Twelve Tables did not rewrite existing law or create new law. Rather, they simply transferred established customary law (ius) to a written form (lex). Neither did the Twelve Tables commit all existing law to written form. Instead, they focused on specific facets that had led or could lead to dispute or disagreement, and they addressed the technical aspects of legal procedure, so that a citizen had a guide to the proper ways to pursue legal action. While the Twelve Tables were destroyed during the Celtic invasions of the fourth century BCE, their legacy was very strong and much of their content remained known-Cicero (106–43 BCE) the great statesman, jurist and orator of the late Republic, wrote that he was made to memorize and recite their provisions as a student.