to which a further two may have been added later. These were inscribed onto
bronze and set up in the Forum for all to read. Although the original tablets do
not survive, much of their content was copied by later historians into other
documents that have been preserved.
In some ways, the early Roman laws were similar to previous codes–the
principle of‘an eye for an eye’continued, but the payment of fines was a
frequent alternative. The death penalty was invoked for treason,‘nocturnal
meetings’, murder, arson, libel and slander, perjury, destruction of farms, and
the use of magic. The stated aim of the laws was that they were applicable to
all classes of society, but the provision that for many crimes, even the death
penalty could be avoided on payment of a large enough fine, meant that the
law was less severe on the rich than on the poor.
Over time, the laws were changed or added to, as society and the empire
became more complex. There were originally no professional lawyers, but
there were jurists–people who had studied the law and gave their opinions to
private citizens. In the early period there were no judges either; the parties
involved in a dispute would appoint a third party, on whom both sides agreed,
to listen to the evidence and offer a decision. Later, this system was replaced
by the appointment of magistrates whose responsibility was to define the
matter under dispute, state the relevant law in the case, and refer it to an
appointed judge.
Professional lawyers appeared as Roman life became more controlled and
bureaucratic. They would make speeches for or against the parties involved,
and commanded very large fees. Many became extremely rich, and were
notable for their large staffs and rich attire. The writer Juvenal said‘Legal
eloquence does not often appear in rags’. There was also a lower class of
lawyer to represent poorer clients–they did not enjoy the luxury or status of
their upper class colleagues. Various Roman writers noted how corrupt
lawyers could be!
Information on criminals could be gained by the use of slaves. A system of
slaveinformers was used, to identify wrongdoers and amass evidence against
them. Initially, these informers were asked to‘grass’on fellowslaves, but
over time their role expanded to include the gathering of evidence against
citizens. There was a massive slave population in Rome–possibly even larger
than the Romans themselves were normally aware. Owners were forbidden in
most cases to make slaves dress differently from other citizens or in particular
liveries, in case once so identified, the slaves would realise how many of them
there were in the city, that they outnumbered the citizens, and could rise up in
rebellion. Successful slaveinformers were promised their freedom but there
CLASSICAL CRIMES