How do the Roman Twelve Tables and the Ten Commandments relate to our laws today?

Answer 1

The Roman Law of the Twelve Tables hardly relates to our laws today. It was Rome's first set of laws. It was issued in 450 and 449 BC in the archaic days of Rome. It therefore reflected the mores and provisions typical of civilisations in their archaic stage. After that there were more than nine hundred years of development of Roman law and most of the provisions of the Law of the Twelve tables fell out of use. Roman law became a lot more complex and sophisticated. The influence of Roman law on modern laws has come from the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law), which was commissioned by the emperor Justinian I and was published in 534, 983 years after the Law of the Twelve tables, which by then had been forgotten for centuries.

Answer 2

The Roman Twelve Tables of Law* (2500 years ago) were one of the sources of later Western law, as were the Ten Commandments* (3300 years ago).

For example, the requirement to appear in court, occurs in the Tables as well as in the Torah (these examples refer to the whole Torah, not necessarily the limited Ten Commandments). The same goes for the requirement to conclude court cases speedily, the law that a nocturnal break-and-enter burglar's life was forfeit, the legal acceptance of agreeable out-of-court settlement, the illegality of fencing stolen goods, the binding status of wills, double-payment for thievery (in the Torah) or damages (Table Six), liability for damage done by one's animal, payment as reparation for verbal insults, the prohibition of withholding testimony by a witness who had undertaken to testify, and more.

Clearly, much of this has become part of later Western law.

**See the Related Links.

Other information (a comparison):

Many of the ethics that today are taken for granted were as unknown to the Romans, until they became exposed, through proximity or interest, to Judaism and its daughter-religion, Christianity.

1) Under Israelite law, "an eye for an eye" has always meant the monetary value placed upon it by the court (Talmud, Bava Kama 83b). Roman law, however, included literal retaliation (Twelve Tables of Law, 7:9).

2) Romans were killed for the crime of slander (Twelve Tables, 7:8).

3) A Roman could be killed for assembling a noisy crowd at night and disturbing the town (Twelve Tables, 9:6).

4) In Roman law, anyone could accuse a man of owing them money and the debtor could be killed (Twelve Tables, 3:10).

5) Children had no rights. The Roman law of Patrias Potestas (Table Four) permitted a man to kill his male descendants of any age and for any reason. Professor and former President of the American Historical Association, William L. Langer (in The History of Childhood), writes concerning the ancient world: "Children, being physically unable to resist aggression, were the victims of forces over which they had no control, and they were abused in almost unimaginable ways."

6) Slaves were killed for thievery (Roman Table Two). In Israelite law, the debt would be worked off.

Rome, and Western society in general, changed thanks to the Israelite Ten Commandments.

1) "I am the Lord your God..." has shaped the Western beliefs about God. Pantheism and polytheism, which were excuses for immorality, are out.
2) The 7-day week, including a day of rest for everyone, is thanks to the Fourth Commandment.
3) Without the Fifth Commandment, society might still permit abandoning our aged parents to die.

4) Without the Sixth Commandment, we might still be killing our own babies, as was done in ancient Rome and elsewhere. The above are just a few examples.

Link: Roman Twelve Tables of Law

Link: The Ten Commandments

Link: European infanticide

Link: More about Judaism's influence