<P> Displayed in the Forum , `` The Twelve Tables '' stated the rights and duties of the Roman citizen . Their formulation was the result of considerable agitation by the plebeian class , who had hitherto been excluded from the higher benefits of the Republic . The law had previously been unwritten and exclusively interpreted by upper - class priests , the pontifices . Something of the regard with which later Romans came to view the Twelve Tables is captured in the remark of Cicero ( 106 - 43 BC ) that the `` Twelve Tables ... seems to me , assuredly to surpass the libraries of all the philosophers , both in weight of authority , and in plenitude of utility '' . Cicero scarcely exaggerated ; the Twelve Tables formed the basis of Roman law for a thousand years . </P>
<P> Displayed in the Forum , `` The Twelve Tables '' stated the rights and duties of the Roman citizen . Their formulation was the result of considerable agitation by the plebeian class , who had hitherto been excluded from the higher benefits of the Republic . The law had previously been unwritten and exclusively interpreted by upper - class priests , the pontifices . Something of the regard with which later Romans came to view the Twelve Tables is captured in the remark of Cicero ( 106 - 43 BC ) that the `` Twelve Tables ... seems to me , assuredly to surpass the libraries of all the philosophers , both in weight of authority , and in plenitude of utility '' . Cicero scarcely exaggerated ; the Twelve Tables formed the basis of Roman law for a thousand years . </P>
where were the first tables of rome written law code displayed
where were the first tables of rome written law code displayed
the Forum
the Forum