Twelve Tables
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The Laws of the Twelve Tables was the legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. Formally promulgated in 449 BC, the Tables consolidated earlier traditions into an enduring set of laws.
Publication of the Twelve Tables in Rome, approx. 2 BC. Drawing by Silvestre David Mirys (1742–1810); engraved by Claude-Nicolas Malapeau (1755–1803)
Roman civilians examining the Twelve Tables after they were first implemented.
The fragment of lawcode of Gortyn in Crete (around 450 BC). This Greek lawcode was inscribed in twelve columns on the inner face of a circular wall. Scholars observed that its content and focus on the private law offers striking parallels with the Twelve Tables
Jacques Godefroy
Roman law
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Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables, to the Corpus Juris Civilis ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law forms the basic framework for civil law, the most widely used legal system today, and the terms are sometimes used synonymously. The historical importance of Roman law is reflected by the continued use of Latin legal terminology in many legal systems influenced by it, including common law.
Title page of a late 16th-century edition of the Digesta, part of Emperor Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis