The Twelve Tables: A Comparative Analysis

The Twelve Tables became of limited use when legal issues arose which they did not cover, for example, as commercial activity spread it became necessary to provide legal coverage of transactions and business deals between citizens and non-citizens and have laws which considered the behaviour and intent of the parties involved. These relationships became the focus of contracts and provisions and, from c. 242 BCE, disputes were presided over by a special magistrate specifically concerned with legal disputes involving foreigners and relations between Rome and foreign states, i.e. international