1.
Amsterdam
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Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization. The city is also the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League
2.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
3.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is a university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. VU is one of two large, publicly funded universities in the city, the other being the University of Amsterdam. The literal translation of the Dutch name Vrije Universiteit is Free University. Free refers to independence of the university from both the State and Church, both within and outside the university, the institution is commonly referred to as the VU. Although founded as an institution, VU has received government funding on a parity basis with public universities since 1970. Over the past decades, VU has transformed from an institution into a broad. While the Netherlands does not have a ranking system, according to the CWTS Leiden Ranking. The university is located on an urban campus in the southern Buitenveldert neighbourhood of Amsterdam. In 2014, VU had 23,656 registered students, most of whom were full-time students and that year, the university had 2,263 faculty members and researchers, and 1,410 administrative, clerical and technical employees, based on FTE units. The universitys annual endowment for 2014 was circa €480 million, about three quarters of this endowment is government funding, the remainder is made up of tuition fees, research grants, and private funding. The official university seal is entitled The Virgin in the Garden, in 1990, the university adopted the mythical griffin as its common emblem. The position of its wings symbolizes the freedom in the name from both the State and Church. The bright and blue postmodern symbol has been the point of the universitys Main Building ever since. The VU was founded in 1880 by a group of orthodox-Protestant Christians led by Abraham Kuyper as the first orthodox-Protestant university in the Netherlands, Kuyper was a theologian, journalist, politician, and prime minister of the Netherlands from 1901 to 1905. He was a professor of theology at VU as well as the universitys first rector magnificus, kuypers worldview and philosophy is referred to as Neo-Calvinism. As a reflection of his beliefs, Vrije Universiteit literally means Free University to signify independence from government and church. Teaching at the Vrije Universiteit started in 1880 in a few rooms rented at the Scottish Missionary Church, here, Kuyper and four fellow professors began lecturing in three faculties, theology, law, and the arts. By the turn of the 20th century, the Scottish Missionary Church became too small for the number of students. In the following years, the university acquired more buildings throughout the city, in 1905, VU was formally accredited and granted the legal right to award academic degrees
4.
King's Commissioner
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The King’s Commissioner is the head of a province in the Netherlands, and is chairman of both the Provincial Council and the Provincial Executive, but has a right to vote only in the latter. When the reigning monarch is a female, the office is Queens Commissioner, there are two levels of local government in the Netherlands, the provinces and the municipalities. The twelve provinces form the tier of administration between central government and the municipalities, the three tiers are organised in largely the same way, with a directly elected parliament, which in turn chooses the executive branch, headed by an appointed chairman. At the national and municipal levels, these are the king, the King’s Commissioner is not elected by the residents of the province, but appointed by the Dutch Crown, for a term of six years, which may be extended by a second term. The King’s Commissioner can be dismissed only by the Dutch Crown, when a vacancy arises, the provincial council gives the Minister of the Interior a profile of the kind of candidate it would like to see in the job. Although all King’s Commissioners are prominent members of one or another of the national political parties. The Kings Commissioners play a role within the administration and are the official representatives of central government in the provinces. They coordinate disaster management and prevention and pay regular visits to the municipalities in their region. The Kings Commissioners play an important part in the appointment of municipal mayors, when a vacancy arises, the Kings Commissioner first asks the municipal council for its views as to a successor, then writes to the Minister of the Interior, recommending a candidate. Since the Kings Commissioners are both the chairs and full members of the executives, they may include some of the executives tasks in their portfolio. They also oversee the official apparatus and any provincial utilities and represent the province in its dealings with business, in the Dutch province of Limburg, the King’s Commissioner is usually called Gouverneur, as in Belgium. Similarly, the Provinciehuis at Maastricht is called Gouvernement and this local custom arose from the particular status of the province in the nineteenth century. The official name of the office is currently the same as in the other provinces
5.
Utrecht
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Utrecht is the capital and most populous city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the corner of the Randstad conurbation and is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of 330,772 in 2014. Utrechts ancient city centre features many buildings and structures several dating as far back as the High Middle Ages and it has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the 8th century. It lost the status of prince-bishopric but remains the religious center in the country. Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands until the Dutch Golden Age, Utrecht is host to Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands, as well as several other institutions of higher education. Due to its position within the country, it is an important transport hub for both rail and road transport. It has the second highest number of events in the Netherlands. In 2012, Lonely Planet included Utrecht in the top 10 of the world’s unsung places, a series of such fortresses was built after the Roman emperor Claudius decided the empire should not expand north. To consolidate the border the limes Germanicus defense line was constructed along the branch of the river Rhine. These fortresses were designed to house a cohort of about 500 Roman soldiers, near the fort settlements would grow housing artisans, traders and soldiers wives and children. In Roman times, the name of the Utrecht fortress was simply Traiectum, Traiectum became Dutch Trecht, with the U from Old Dutch uut added to distinguish U-trecht from Maas-tricht. In 11th-century official documents it was Latinized as Ultra Traiectum, around the year 200, the wooden walls of the fortification were replaced by sturdier tuff stone walls, remnants of which are still to be found below the buildings around Dom Square. From the middle of the 3rd century Germanic tribes regularly invaded the Roman territories, around 275 the Romans could no longer maintain the northern border and Utrecht was abandoned. Little is known about the next period 270–650, Utrecht is first spoken of again several centuries after the Romans left. Under the influence of the realms of the Franks, during Dagobert Is reign in the 7th century. In ongoing border conflicts with the Frisians this first church was destroyed, by the mid-7th century, English and Irish missionaries set out to convert the Frisians. The pope appointed their leader, Willibrordus, bishop of the Frisians, the tenure of Willibrordus is generally considered to be the beginning of the Bishopric of Utrecht. In 723, the Frankish leader Charles Martel bestowed the fortress in Utrecht, from then on Utrecht became one of the most influential seats of power for the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands
6.
Hans Wiegel
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Hans Wiegel is a retired Dutch politician of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy. Wiege, a director by occupation, was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 18 April 1967 after the Dutch general election of 1967. He became youngest leader of a party in Netherlands ever at the age of just twenty-nine on 1 July 1971. Wiegel became the Parliamentary leader of the Peoples Party for Freedom, for the Dutch general election of 1972 Wiegel was the Lijsttrekker and won six seats in the House of Representatives. Wiegel served as leader against then Prime Minister Joop den Uyl. Wiegel became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior serving from 19 December 1977 until 11 September 1981, Wiegel served as Queens Commissioner of Friesland from 16 June 1982 until 1 February 1994. After the Dutch Senate election of 1995, Wiegel became a Member of the Senate serving from 13 June 1995 until 1 April 2000, in 1999 Wiegel caused a short cabinet crisis by voting against the constitutional revision that would make national referendums possible. This crisis is called the Night of Wiegel, Wiegel retired from active politics at the age of fifty-eight. Following the end of his political career, Wiegel occupied numerous seats on supervisory boards in the business and industry world. Wiegel is known for his abilities as a leader and debater. Wiegel also has been active as a pundit and lobbyist. Wiegel continues to comment on political affairs as an elder statesman, hans Wiegel was born on 16 July 1941 in Amsterdam in the Province of North Holland in a secular family as the only son of Wilhelm Wiegel III and Sophia Maria Alberdina Smolenaars. After completing gymnasium in Hilversum in 1959, Wiegel started studying law at the University of Amsterdam, after a couple of months he switched his major to political science and earned a Bachelor of Social Science in 1965. He decided not to pursue a masters degree, instead, he became involved in politics. Wiegel has been active within the wing of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy. In 1963 he was appointed to its board and served as Chairman from 1965 until 1966. In 1967 Wiegel was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives, in 1971, when he was only thirty years old, he became the Leader of his party. During the period of the Cabinet Den Uyl Wiegel acted as the main Leader of the Opposition against the Cabinet and Prime Minister Joop den Uyl
7.
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke
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Johan Rudolph Thorbecke was a Dutch politician and statesman of liberal signature, one of the most important Dutch politicians of the 19th century. In 1848 he virtually single-handedly drafted the revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands, giving power to the king. His father Frederik Willem was a Lutheran tobacco manufacturer of German descent, johan Rudolph proved to be diligent and exemplary at a young age, showing intelligence and curiosity. Because of the sacrifices of his parents, who continued to struggle financial problems. He enjoyed primary education in his birthplace and in Amsterdam, where he lived until 1806, Thorbecke began studying classical literature and philosophy in Amsterdam, studies he finished in Leiden defending a thesis on Asinius Pollio in 1820. Shortly after his promotion, Thorbecke was granted a scholarship for a journey through Germany. At Giessen he lectured as a professor, and at Göttingen, in 1824, published his treatise. He would spend four years travelling, during which he was introduced to historism and Romanticism, upon his return to the Netherlands in 1824, he settled in Amsterdam, where he wrote his first political work of significance, Bedenkingen aangaande het Regt en Den Staat. The climax of series was Over het hedendaags burgerschap, literally On contemporary citizenship, published in 1844. On 21 May 1844, Thorbecke was elected into the House of Representatives for South Holland, four years later, with much of Europe convulsed by the Revolutions of 1848, William II agreed upon the formation of a committee for revision of the constitution. Thorbecke was appointed as head of committee on 17 March. The changes were all created by Thorbecke, as the other members of the committee did little. The drafted constitution was reluctantly approved by the States General. Despite initial reluctance, William II appointed Thorbecke as formateur in late October 1849, in this cabinet, Thorbecke served as minister of the Interior and chaired the Council of Ministers, thus becoming de facto Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Thorbeckes first cabinet passed several acts of importance, including the Electoral Act and the Province Act in 1850. Despite these successes, Thorbeckes reforms were increasingly subjected to resistance, in 1853, the Catholic Church sought to restore the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands. Common people, pastors and conservative notables showed resistance to this in a movement known as the Aprilbeweging. Thorbecke, who remained passive in the issue in defence of the separation of church and state, was accused of catholic sympathies, Thorbecke spent nine years as leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives
8.
Rector (academia)
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A rector is a term used in non-English-speaking countries for a university chancellor. In the sphere of academia, it is the highest academic official of universities and in certain other institutions of higher education. The term and office of a rector are called a rectorate, the title is used widely in universities in Europe. And is very common in Latin American countries and it is also used in Brunei, Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Israel and the Middle East. In some universities, the title is phrased in an even loftier manner and this term is generally not used in English-speaking countries. In England and elsewhere in Great Britain, the head of a university is referred to as a chancellor. This pattern has been followed in the Commonwealth, the United States, in Scotland, many universities are headed by a chancellor, with the Lord Rector designated as an elected representative of students at the head of the university court. The head of a university in Germany is called a president, rector magnificus or rectrix magnifica, in Dutch universities, the rector magnificus is the most publicly prominent member of the board, responsible for the scientific agenda of the university. In the Netherlands, the rector is, however, not the chair of the university board, the chair has, in practice, the most influence over the management of the University. In some countries, including Germany, the position of teacher in secondary schools is also designated as rector. In the Netherlands, the rector and conrector are used commonly for high school directors. This is also the case in some Maltese secondary schools, in the Scandinavian countries, the head of a university or a gymnasium is called a rektor. In Sweden and Norway, this term is used for the heads of primary schools. For example, in Portugal, the rector of the University of Coimbra, the heads of Czech universities are called the rektor. The rector acts in the name of the university and decides the universitys affairs unless prohibited by law, the rector is nominated by the University Academic Senate and appointed by the President of the Czech Republic. The nomination must be agreed by a majority of all senators. The vote to elect or repeal a rector is secret, the term of office is four years and a person may hold it for at most two consecutive terms. The rector appoints vice-rectors, who act as deputies to the extent the Rector determines, Rectors salaries are determined directly by the Minister of Education
9.
Abraham Kuyper
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Abraham Kuijper, generally known as Abraham Kuyper, was a Dutch journalist, statesman and neo-Calvinist theologian. He founded the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, a newspaper, the Free University of Amsterdam, and he served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905. He vigorously denounced modernism in theology as a fad that would pass away, in politics, he dominated the Anti-Revolutionary Party from its founding in 1879 to his death in 1920. Abraham Kuijper was born on 29 October 1837 in Maassluis in the Netherlands and his father Jan Frederik Kuyper served as a minister for the Dutch Reformed Church in Hoogmade, Maassluis, Middelburg and Leiden. Kuijper was home-schooled by his father, the boy received no formal primary education, but received secondary education at the Gymnasium of Leiden. In 1855, he graduated from the Gymnasium and began to study literature, philosophy and he received his propaedeuse in literature in 1857, summa cum laude, and in philosophy in 1858, also summa cum laude. He also took classes in Arabic, Armenian and physics, in comparing the views of John Calvin and Jan Łaski, Kuyper showed a clear sympathy for the more liberal Łaski. During his studies Kuyper was a member of the tendency within the Dutch Reformed Church. In May 1862, he was declared eligible for the ministry and 1863 he accepted a call to minister for the Dutch Reformed Church for the town of Beesd. In the same year he married Johanna Hendrika Schaay and they would have five sons and three daughters. In 1864 he began corresponding with the anti-revolutionary MP Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, around 1866, he began to sympathise with the orthodox tendency within the Dutch Reformed Church. He was inspired by the robust reformed faith of Pietje Balthus, a woman in her early 30s. He began to oppose the centralization in the church, the role of the King and began to plead for the separation of church, in 1867, Kuyper was asked to become minister for the parish in Utrecht and he left Beesd. In 1870 he was asked to come to Amsterdam, in 1871 he began to write for the De Heraut. In 1872, he founded his own paper, De Standaard and this paper would lay the foundation for the network of Reformed organisation, which Kuyper would found. In 1886, Kuyper led an exodus from the Dutch Reformed Church and he grieved the loss of Reformed distinctives within this State Church, which no longer required office bearers to agree to the Reformed standards which had once been foundational. Kuyper and the consistory of Amsterdam insisted that both ministers and church members subscribe to the Reformed confessions and this was appealed to Classis, and Kuyper, along with about 80 members of the Amsterdam consistory, were suspended in Dec.1885. This was appealed to the synod, which upheld the ruling in a 1 July 1886 ruling
10.
Bilthoven
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Bilthoven is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of De Bilt and it has a railway station with connections to Utrecht, Amersfoort and Baarn. It is home to the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, RIVM, and to the Union Mundial pro Interlingua, UMI, the statistical area Bilthoven, which also can include the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 17560. The history of the town back to 20 August 1843. A station was placed at the junction of the line with the Soestdijkseweg. Initially the Dutch railways did not plan a station on this spot, around 1900, the first villas appeared round the new station. The train traffic to and from the new station increased strongly at the time, in 1902. As a result of rail connection with the city, and the fact that the land nearby was relatively cheap. At this time the name of the town was still Bilt-station, but since it was not just a station anymore, several names were presented, among which Bilt-Buiten, the Biltwijk and the Leyen. Eventually the name Biltsche Duinen was chosen, however, this name was not accepted by the Dutch railway company. For this reason, on 11 October 1917 another Council meeting was dedicated to the naming of the village, at this Council meeting several names were discussed, such as Leyenhoven, Bilt-Hoog and the Bilthof. The majority of the Council eventually agreed to the name of Bilthoven, the founding meetings of all three groups took place at the home of Kees and Betty Boeke. The experimental school De Werkplaats Kindergemeenschap, founded by Kees Boeke, has based in Bilthoven since 1926. The former Dutch Queen Beatrix went to this school
11.
Ed van Thijn
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Eduard Ed van Thijn is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party. Eduard van Thijn was born on 16 August 1934 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and he served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 23 February 1967 until 11 September 1981. When Joop den Uyl became Prime Minister, Van Thijn became the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives,16 June 1983, Van Thijn became Mayor of Amsterdam, serving as Mayor until resignation on 18 January 1994. Hundreds of people were homeless by the crash, the citys municipal buses were used to transport survivors to emergency shelters. Firefighters and police also were forced to deal with reports of looting in the area, in January 1994, van Thijn became Minister of the Interior again serving from 18 January 1994 until 27 May 1994, when he resigned following the IRT-affair. He later served as a Member of the Senate from 8 June 1999 until 12 June 2007, Van Thijn had two ex-wives and a domestic partner. In 1992, Van Thijn married Odette Taminiau, Van Thijns children are Carla van Thijn and Marion van Thijn. Although not raised religiously observant, in recent years he orients himself with Progressive Judaism
12.
Roman law
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The historical importance of Roman law is reflected by the continued use of Latin legal terminology in many legal systems influenced by it. After the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman law remained in effect in the Eastern Roman Empire, from the 7th century onward, the legal language in the East was Greek. Roman law also denotes the legal system applied in most of Western Europe until the end of the 18th century, in Germany, Roman law practice remained in place longer under the Holy Roman Empire. Roman law thus served as a basis for legal practice throughout Western continental Europe, as well as in most former colonies of these European nations, including Latin America, English and North American common law were influenced also by Roman law, notably in their Latinate legal glossary. Eastern Europe was also influenced by the jurisprudence of the Corpus Juris Civilis, especially in such as medieval Romania which created a new system. Also, Eastern European law was influenced by the Farmers Law of the medieval Byzantine legal system. g and it is believed that Roman Law is rooted in the Etruscan religion, emphasising ritual. The first legal text is the Law of the Twelve Tables, terentilius Arsa, proposed that the law should be written, in order to prevent magistrates from applying the law arbitrarily. In 451 BC, according to the story, ten Roman citizens were chosen to record the laws. While they were performing this task, they were given political power. In 450 BC, the decemviri produced the laws on ten tablets, a second decemvirate is said to have added two further tablets in 449 BC. The new Law of the Twelve Tables was approved by the peoples assembly, modern scholars tend to challenge the accuracy of Roman historians. They generally do not believe that a second decemvirate ever took place, the decemvirate of 451 is believed to have included the most controversial points of customary law, and to have assumed the leading functions in Rome. Furthermore, the question on the Greek influence found in the early Roman Law is still much discussed, many scholars consider it unlikely that the patricians sent an official delegation to Greece, as the Roman historians believed. Instead, those scholars suggest, the Romans acquired Greek legislations from the Greek cities of Magna Graecia, the original text of the Twelve Tables has not been preserved. The tablets were probably destroyed when Rome was conquered and burned by the Gauls in 387 BC, the fragments which did survive show that it was not a law code in the modern sense. It did not provide a complete and coherent system of all applicable rules or give legal solutions for all possible cases, rather, the tables contained specific provisions designed to change the then-existing customary law. Although the provisions pertain to all areas of law, the largest part is dedicated to private law, many laws include Lex Canuleia, Leges Licinae Sextiae, Lex Ogulnia, and Lex Hortensia. Another important statute from the Republican era is the Lex Aquilia of 286 BC, however, Romes most important contribution to European legal culture was not the enactment of well-drafted statutes, but the emergence of a class of professional jurists and of a legal science
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