Roman Law :: essays research papers

Romans did not have very complicated laws but when they were broken there was very heavy punishment. Roman laws influenced most of the laws we have now and most of the laws of other countries. America’s court system was modeled around the Roman court system. They had upper courts and lower courts and that was what built our strong court system now. One thing that we did not take from the Romans is the right to be a Citizen. In Rome there were very strict class systems and they were classified greatly by clothes, shelter, and seating at the games. The word citizen for them meant that you had to be free and lived in Rome. The class system was always followed no matter what. You could move up from your rank in society but then you would have to work really hard and it was not easy because people would still look at you as a low class. The class systems from highest to lowest were the senators, councilmen and their families. Then came the regular middle class citizens, next were the Plebeians who were very poor but not slaves and last was the slaves who owned nothing at all not even the clothes on their back because it all belonged to their master. Therefore, if slaves were caught running away they were brought upon charges of theft for stealing themselves and their masters clothing. Stealing held a very heavy punishment and that punishment was always upheld. The punishment was capital punishment and all of this was done to teach them a lesson. Some say the Romans had a very strange way of doing things but, the way their country was setup most of their laws were necessary for them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All of this got started with the Twelve Tables of Rome. Which were much like the Ten Commandments except man made them up. They were engraved into Bronze tablets and made up by ten Roman Magistrates around early 450 BC. The laws were really made to please the Plebeians because they complained that they didn’t get any rights because the laws were never written down and were often changed. After this the Plebeians could no longer be fooled because the Twelve Tables covered all aspects of the law briefly stating the crime and then the punishment. This was where the court system came in because the courts were the ones that had to follow by the Twelve Tables and there was no way to cheat the Plebeians because the laws were in the main Forum hanging up for those purposes.