The Twelve Tables
The Twelve Tables was an important part of the plebeians life and politics. It was a physically written set of laws that were created to make sure that the patricians didn't alter the law in their favor. They were not exactly a constitution, but it was a compilation of laws that were already established which reflected the rural aspects of the people. Throughout time, these laws were edited and were added to as Roman society grew. In order to add to these laws, there was a process that needed to be followed. There were three types of assemblies. The Centuriate assembly, which were voters grouped by property and military class, the tribal assembly, which were voters grouped by geography, and the plebeian assembly, which were voter consisting of only plebeians. The senate would propose a law and then give the people time to discuss and debate about it. Afterwords, the citizens would vote on this matter. There was a structure to how a Roman law was written. First, there was the preamble, information about the sponsor, vote count, and date of adoption, Next was the main text that had the contents of the law. Finally, the sanctio, the penalties for breaking said law.
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