Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The Twelve Tables

Blog #1- Due Sunday, December 6th


The Twelve Tables were the first set of written Roman laws. As the name suggests, the laws were carved onto twelve stone tablets and were posted in the Forum for all Roman citizens to see. These laws, created in 451 BC, became the basis for law in the Roman Empire and the foundation of laws that still exist today.

Why was it important that Roman laws were written and posted in a public place for all people to see?

What are some laws that all societies should have?

59 comments:

  1. i was the first!!:) but the written laws were posted in public places because if a person did sumthin iilegal they cant sayy they didnt knoe.
    some laws theyy shud have iz tht if you kill someone you shud have life in prison.

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  2. some laws that all sicoities should have today, should have the power to be free, do what ever and the people could and or would want to do. they should also have the right to vote for people runing in elections. that is what laws that the socities should have today.

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  3. It was important that the laws were displayed for everyone to see, because the laws must be known to everyone so they are not broken.


    Some laws that every society should have are, If you steal something, you must repay the person you stole something from.

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  4. It was important for the laws to be written in a public place so all the citizens knew what they were. If they all knew what they were, they were, they wouldn't break them.

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  5. All societies should have laws such as voting and being free. It also should have laws that are more along the line of stealing and not hurting anyone majorly.

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  6. I agree with bigdaddyb123. As a matter of fact, that is what I was just going to say. If a person does something wrong/illigal or the person is thinking about it, they can look up on the place where the laws was posted and learn the law. This was a good way of showing the community their rules and consequences.

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  7. The laws should be posted for people to see so that they know what they can and can't do in society and what rules they have to follow. If someone was to get in trouble for not following the rules they cant use the excuse that they didnt know.

    Some laws all societies should have is speed limits for driving, no killing or torture to humans, no stealling or robbing public bussiness.

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  8. i disagree with fireexp700 because life would be chaotic if there were no laws or regulations in society for citizens to abide by. i think way more people would be vengeful when other people made them angry.

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  9. it was imortant because so that nobody would brake the rules in ant matter what so ever and if somebody didnt know it they would be reminded. if they did break the laws they would knoe ehat the consequences were.

    some of the laws that a society should have is that u do anything harmful to anybody you will be punished. All laws should allow you to vote.

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  10. i agree with fashion1415 said how laws on consisted on what on normal society does and how each society acts towards one another.

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  11. It was important for the laws to be put where everyone could see them because if you broke a law the consequenses were serious and you could be put to death as a punishment. In America people can be put in jail or some other appropriate punishment for that action. In Rome though I don't think the laws and punisments were as reasonable.

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  12. I think its important the the laws were written and posted for all to see because they all have a fair chance of knowing what the right and wrong things were.and what was and wasnt against the law.
    and some laws that all cities should have is some kind of punishment for ppl who do wrong, and an economic statagey. and lastly some way of having the people being able to have a say in how the government should be run

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  13. I think it was important to put the laws where everyone could see them because if they are in sight people will be able to see their limits. Also, if someone breaks a law and tries to deny that he did anything wrong, people can just go to the twelve tables and prove him wrong. Another reason is that you can also see your consequenses or punishment to the law that you have broken.

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  14. I also disagree with fireexp700...societies should and need to have laws so people don't get hurt. In most societies the people are free to do whatever they want, but not to a certain extent that people are getting hurt or abusing anything that should not be.

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  15. with romans putting laws on actual tablets that were large made it possible for 2 things to happen.
    the laws were written and couldnt be changed every day by the patricians
    also every one could see what laws said and could know what they were.

    in my opinion i think that all countries and nations should all have equal rights in there set of laws. Also there should be a fair set of rules for criminal acts and violence.

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  16. I agree with jetdude because modern day societies have similar laws that should be followed. He/she said that there should be speed limits for driving and no major type of torture should be set to a person or animal. There should also be limits upon drug use and abuse, and dont get distracted while driving. For example, dont eat cereal, text, and drive with your knees at the same time.

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  17. Icecoffee,
    I agree- eating cereal while driving would definitely be a BAD idea. I once tried to eat oatmeal while driving, and it ended up on my lap. Oatmeal in the lap burns!!!

    On a serious note, texting while driving is a major problem. It was just in the news the other day that a women got into a fatal accident. the cause- she was texting and crossed into the other land right into the path of a semi truck.

    Specter,
    Thank you for adding the part about having laws written so that they could not be randomly changed by the patricians (the law makers). That is a very important point.

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  18. I agree specter1995.. he stated that he/she thinks that " in my opinion i think that all countries and nations should all have equal rights in there set of laws. Also there should be a fair set of rules for criminal acts and violence." because countries nedd some sort of structure because if someone wants to run around and burn the city down there are no rules that say they can't and the civilization falls...

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  19. i think it was important that laws were wtitten because without them the Roman Empire would of been less organized and somewhat out of control. It was impotant that laws was put out where a Roman citizen could see it because it would prevent more crimes and if some one did committ a crime they couldnt say they ddnt know it was wrong...

    Some laws that every society shud have is the right to vote and have equal rights.

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  20. It is important for the laws to be posted so the people can read them and know exactly what they are. If they break them, they have no excuse because they are right there for them to see. No one can change them either to get out of trouble.

    If they break the law, they should pay the consequences. I think one of the laws for everywhere should be to arrest anyone who was drinking and driving and keep them in jail. It is just like attempted murder because they are risking killing someone by driving drunk. It seems they are let out after a day and then wind up killing somebody after five times of being arrested.

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  21. these rules were hung up so the people can see, respect, and obey these rules so no punishments are made inflicting these rules. i also agree with specter1995 on how he stated that all countries should have equal rights and laws no matter what!!

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  22. It is important that every one can see the laws so that not knowing the laws is not an excuse

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  23. Some laws that all should have is to killing unsele it is self defence

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  24. "Why was it important that Roman laws were written and posted in a public place for all people to see?"

    It was very important that the laws were posted for all to see because if someone did not know about a law it would be a disaster because someone could say that they did not know but if it was posted then they should have read it.

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  25. What are some laws that all societies should have?

    Some laws that all societies should have are , speed limits; if vehicles are present ,i agree with icecofee as well because you should not drive and text and eat cereal all at the same time that is very dangerous.Also another accident that happened because of texting and driving was when the four girls got in the accident and died.another law that is a must is to not drink and drive a proven accident prone happening this year already there has been 10,919 deaths due to drunk driving.

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  26. I agree with Name13 also because if you break a law you need to pay for what you did.we also have the constitution to help with our laws.

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  27. all societies should have some sort of laws against racism and violence to maintain order in the empire.

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  28. i agree to this statement from specter1995 in my opinion i think that all countries and nations should all have equal rights in there set of laws. Also there should be a fair set of rules for criminal acts and violence.
    i agree with this becasue with out equal rights governments checks and balances will not check out.

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  29. I agree with jetdude because people need to know what's right and wrong and what they can or can not do. And it's also a good point that people couldn't make up reasons so they wouldn't get in trouble.

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  30. Roman laws that were written and put in a public place for people to see is important beceause it shows that they cared about the well being of their country. Also if they didn't have laws and penalties to those laws, Rome woud be a hectic with a lot of crimes. Some laws that all societies should have are no drinking and driving laws and no stealing.

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  31. Name13, i have to agree with you about having laws where everyone can see them. it is important with crimianls to proove that there are actual laws against their crime so they cant deny it and get away with a crime

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  32. it is important for the romans to have the set of written laws in public so that people could see them and so they obay it. i think that all societies should have a law against murder and theft

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  33. i agree with specter1995 because laws are ment to be kept and never change so the romans laws shouldn't be changed

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  34. It was important that Roman laws were written and posted in a public place for all people to see because so the people know what the laws are. Some laws that all societies should have are not killing and not stealing.

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  35. I agree with jetdude because if there were no laws people would do anything they want and they would not care.

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  36. I'm another one to disagree with fireexp700 because if you don't have any laws in a society then everyone would be going crazy! Everyone would be stealing, and driving without care. Therefore effecting the health and well being of the people in that society.

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  37. I think that it is important to have written laws because now peoplecan not make rules as they go so if they break the law then there is no getiing out of the consequences.

    I believe a law that all societies should have is that all men should be treated equal no matter how much money or intelligence a person has.

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  38. it is important for the romans to see the laws hung in a public place so that they know what not to do and how to prevent future law breakers. some laws all societies should have is laws against violence, every town or society has it but there should be major consequences to prevent future violent acts.

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  39. it was inportant that they were writtin out for everyone to see so that they were all fair and no body could change them. if they werent writin out people would be changing the laws every day for there own advantage

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  40. i agree with spencer on his opinion about every nation or country should all have their own writin laws. so that it would be equal for everyone.

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  41. This is important because when someone got in trouble such as a patrician they could not make laws that would get them out of trouble.

    I think that a law that all societies should have is equal laws and rights no matter your wealth or intelligence.

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  42. I agree with name13 because people could prove people wrong using the tablets because they are right there and people cant deny the law

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  43. 1)i think putting laws in public is important because the citizens would know all the laws and know what they should obey and disobey. they will also find out their punishements if they break a law or rule.

    2)publik urinasion, if you merder someone u will get jailed or merdered back., NO stealing, you will face many punishements as if getting something stolin from yuo

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  44. 1)It is important to have laws out for people to see so the people know to obey the law and if they don't it's their fault because it is noticeable by all people.

    2)No stealing, no murdering and no littering.

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  45. i agree with tiger woods fan#1 because he is right that since the laws are up, they have no excuses for what they have done. and they would know what the consequences were and can be proved that they disobeyed the law.

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  46. i agree with panda_lover because it would be unfair and wrong to get people in trouble with the law if they didn't know what the laws were. Also i agree that every person that lives in a city should have a say in the government.

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  47. It was impotant that the twelve tablets were hung up for everyone to see so no one would forget them or disobey them. If they disobey them as it says in some of the tablets they would be killed or a limb would be cut off. It depends how bad the crime is.
    Some laws that all societies should have is that if you kill someone for a certian reason, you should be killed the same way. But, to say if you killed someone by trying to defend yourself you should go into protective custody in what you have done. Also though, all countries and nations should have the same rules and laws so they do not get kicked out of the country because of something they were not familiar in.

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  48. It was important that the laws were written so a leader couldn't just go around changing laws based on what he wants....

    Some laws societies should have are no stealing harrassin or battering another person also treat one how u would like to be treated

    I also agree with specter1995 laws should be fair not unjust and unfair

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  49. all civilizations should have there rules wriiten because if they didnt then people of that society could change them to benefit there own self or use them against the government or maybe to hurt someone also patricians could not change them to benfit only the high class people and people could see them everyday.


    also some rules every civilization should have are. . everyone should be considered a citizen and every citizen should have equal rights rich or poor. also people should be innocent until proven guilty in a case of crime .

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  50. i agree with name 13 because societies do need to have some form of laws and written rules to protect the citizens of that society.
    i also agree with spectator 1995 because the Romans writing there laws on twelve tablets did cause those main two things.

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  51. i feel that important law should be part of the tables and it is that those who kill should be killed. or in other words the death penelty.(sorry i might have spelled that wrong)and the reason for the tabels being outside i feel is to show everyone the rules. also by having them easy to see no one can say oh i didnt know that was a rule and if you really didnt know them then you should learn them

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  52. one thing i would like to add to my last post was that a reason i feel that the rules were wrote in stone to show that can and will not be changed. also i would like to say that i mainly agree with everyone here. i feel that most people think that these law should be placed in a public place because its fair for everyone. so just think that i have similar feeling on this one much like everyone else :)

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  53. I think that it was important for the romans to see the writen laws in a public place because, at the time the patricians originally ruled and they could make up any law they wanted the twelve tables were writen in stone and were the laws for everyone.

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  54. I agree with ladygaga because the rules are put to protect everyone in society not to restrict people.

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  55. so that everyone would know what what the laws were and what not to get in trouble for.

    All societies should have laws for killing people and stealing stuff.But if thier is different social classes there should be different penalties like hammurabi's code.

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  56. its important to have them posted in a pulic place bcuz then ppl cant say they didnt know what the laws were.

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  57. i agree with wipeout176, all societies should have laws for murders and for thievery. i dont think there should too much in difference for penalties between social classes. you know what the laws are and the consiquenses should be about the same given some exceptions.

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  58. but the written laws were not written to the best of the ability to the ancient nasdacks.

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  59. So everyone can see them and you cant get in trouble for somthing you didnt know you wern't suposed to do.


    I think every society should have rules like: No stealing and no killing, and

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