Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) Mr. Dawson Fall 2016

Here are a few of the laws in the Twelve Tables These have been reworded    If you are called to go to court, you must go. If you don’t show up, you can be taken to court by force.   If you need a witness to testify and he will not show up, you can go once every three days and shout in front of his house. Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be bend crooked by the wind and lean over your farm, you may take legal action for removal of that tree. If it's your tree, it’s your fruit, even if it falls on another man’s land.   A person who had been found guilty of giving false witness shall be hurled down from the Tarpeian Rock. No person shall hold meetings by night in the city. A dead man shall not be buried or burned within the city. Marriages should not take place between plebeians and patricians. (As time went on, this law was changed. When the tables were first written, this was the law.)

The 12 tables and Justinian When Justinian came to power he discovered that many of the Roman laws contradicted one another. Citizens of Rome reading and discussing the laws found on the 12 tables, according to an artist’s conception.

Justinian and the “Code” In A.D. 528 the Emperor Justinian called for a review of the old Roman laws. There were thousands of Roman laws that ordered life in the empire. The emperor chose ten men to review 1,600 books full of Roman Law and create a simpler legal code. These men were able to create the Justinian Code with just over 4,000 laws.

Constantinople was powerful because… Trade flourished They taxed all the goods that came through the city

It was at a major crossroads

They also had strong walls and a secret weapon…