[POMPONIUS libro singulari enchiridii. ] §1.2.2.prNecessarium itaque nobis uidetur ipsius iuris originem atque processum demonstrare.
[POMPONIUS, in the single book of the Handbook.] It seems necessary to us, therefore, to show the origin and process of the law itself.
§1.2.2.1Et quidem initio ciuitatis nostrae populus sine lege certa, sine iure certo primum agere instituit omniaque manu a regibus gubernabantur.
Indeed, in the beginning of our city, the people first began to act without any certain law, without any certain right, and everything was governed by the kings with their personal power.
§1.2.2.2Postea aucta ad aliquem modum ciuitate ipsum Romulum traditur populum in triginta partes diuisisse, quas partes curias appellauit propterea quod tunc reipublicae curam per sententias partium earum expediebat.
Afterwards, when the city had increased to some extent, it is handed down that Romulus himself divided the people into thirty parts, which parts he called curiae, because at that time he dispatched the care of the state through the opinions of those parts.
et ita leges quasdam et ipse curiatas ad populum tulit: tulerunt et sequentes reges.
And so he himself proposed certain curiate laws to the people; and the succeeding kings also proposed them.
quae omnes conscriptae exstant in libro Sexti Papirii, qui fuit illis temporibus, quibus Superbus Demarati Corinthii filius, ex principalibus uiris.
All of these exist, written down in the book of Sextus Papirius, who lived in those times when Superbus, the son of Demaratus of Corinth, was among the leading men.
is liber, ut diximus, appellatur ius ciuile Papirianum, non quia Papirius de suo quicquam ibi adiecit, sed quod leges sine ordine latas in unum composuit.
This book, as we have said, is called the Papirian civil law, not because Papirius added anything of his own there, but because he compiled into one the laws that had been enacted without order.
§1.2.2.3Exactis deinde regibus lege tribunicia omnes leges hae exoleuerunt iterumque coepit populus Romanus incerto magis iure et consuetudine aliqua uti quam per latam legem, idque prope uiginti annis passus est.
Then, the kings having been expelled by the tribunician law, all these laws fell into disuse, and the Roman people again began to use uncertain law and some custom rather than enacted law, and endured this for nearly twenty years.
§1.2.2.4Postea ne diutius hoc fieret, placuit publica auctoritate decem constitui uiros, per quos peterentur leges a Graecis ciuitatibus et ciuitas fundaretur legibus: quas in tabulas eboreas perscriptas pro rostris composuerunt, ut possint leges apertius percipi: datumque est eis ius eo anno in ciuitate summum, uti leges et corrigerent, si opus esset, et interpretarentur neque prouocatio ab eis sicut a reliquis magistratibus fieret.
Afterwards, lest this should happen any longer, it was decided by public authority that ten men should be appointed, through whom laws should be requested from the Greek cities and the state founded upon laws. They set these up, written out on ivory tablets, before the rostra, so that the laws might be more clearly perceived; and supreme power in the state was given to them in that year, to correct the laws, if there were need, and to interpret them, and no appeal was to be made from them as from the other magistrates.
qui ipsi animaduerterunt aliquid deesse istis primis legibus ideoque sequenti anno alias duas ad easdem tabulas adiecerunt: et ita ex accedenti appellatae sunt leges duodecim tabularum.
They themselves noticed that something was lacking in those first laws, and therefore in the following year they added two others to the same tablets; and thus from the addition they were called the Laws of the Twelve Tables.
quarum ferendarum auctorem fuisse decemuiris Hermodorum quendam Ephesium exulantem in Italia quidam rettulerunt.
Some have related that Hermodorus, an Ephesian exiled in Italy, was the adviser to the decemvirs for the passing of these laws.
§1.2.2.5His legibus latis coepit (ut naturaliter euenire solet, ut interpretatio desideraret prudentium auctoritatem) necessariam esse disputatione fori.
Once these laws were passed, it began to be necessary (as it naturally tends to happen that interpretation requires the authority of the learned) to have discussion in the forum.
haec disputatio et hoc ius, quod sine scripto uenit compositum a prudentibus, propria parte aliqua non appellatur, ut ceterae partes iuris suis nominibus designantur, datis propriis nominibus ceteris partibus, sed communi nomine appellatur ius ciuile.
This discussion and this law, which came unwritten, composed by the learned, is not called by any specific name, as the other parts of the law are designated by their own names, specific names having been given to the other parts, but is called by the common name of civil law.
§1.2.2.6Deinde ex his legibus eodem tempore fere actiones compositae sunt, quibus inter se homines disceptarent: quas actiones ne populus prout uellet institueret, certas sollemnesque esse uoluerunt: et appellatur haec pars iuris legis actiones, id est legitimae actiones.
Then, from these laws, at almost the same time, actions were composed by which men might dispute among themselves; lest the people should institute these actions as they pleased, they wished them to be certain and solemn. And this part of the law is called the actions of the law, that is, statutory actions.
et ita eodem paene tempore tria haec iura nata sunt: lege duodecim tabularum ex his fluere coepit ius ciuile, ex isdem legis actiones compositae sunt.
And so at almost the same time these three laws were born: from the Law of the Twelve Tables the civil law began to flow, and from the same the actions of the law were composed.
omnium tamen harum et interpretandi scientia et actiones apud collegium pontificum erant, ex quibus constituebatur, quis quoquo anno praeesset priuatis.
Yet the knowledge of interpreting all of these and the actions themselves were in the hands of the college of pontiffs, from whom it was determined who should preside over private matters each year.
et fere populus annis prope centum hac consuetudine usus est.
And the people used this custom for nearly a hundred years.
§1.2.2.7Postea cum Appius Claudius proposuisset et ad formam redegisset has actiones, Gnaeus Flauius scriba eius libertini filius subreptum librum populo tradidit, et adeo gratum fuit id munus populo, ut tribunus plebis fieret et senator et aedilis curulis.
Afterwards, when Appius Claudius had proposed and reduced these actions to a form, Gnaeus Flavius, his scribe, the son of a freedman, delivered the stolen book to the people; and this gift was so pleasing to the people that he became a tribune of the plebs, a senator, and a curule aedile.
hic liber, qui actiones continet, appellatur ius ciuile Flauianum, sicut ille ius ciuile Papirianum: nam nec Gnaeus Flauius de suo quicquam adiecit libro.
This book, which contains the actions, is called the Flavian civil law, just as that other is called the Papirian civil law; for Gnaeus Flavius also added nothing of his own to the book.
augescente ciuitate quia deerant quaedam genera agendi, non post multum temporis spatium Sextus Aelius alias actiones composuit et librum populo dedit, qui appellatur ius Aelianum.
As the city grew, since certain types of action were lacking, not long afterwards Sextus Aelius composed other actions and gave the book to the people, which is called the Aelian law.
§1.2.2.8Deinde cum esset in ciuitate lex duodecim tabularum et ius ciuile, essent et legis actiones, euenit, ut plebs in discordiam cum patribus perueniret et secederet sibique iura constitueret, quae iura plebi scita uocantur.
Then, when the Law of the Twelve Tables, the civil law, and the actions of the law existed in the state, it happened that the plebeians came into discord with the patricians, seceded, and established laws for themselves, which laws are called plebiscites.
mox cum reuocata est plebs, quia multae discordiae nascebantur de his plebis scitis, pro legibus placuit et ea obseruari lege Hortensia: et ita factum est, ut inter plebis scita et legem species constituendi interesset, potestas autem eadem esset.
Soon, when the plebeians were recalled, since many discords arose concerning these plebiscites, it was decided by the Hortensian law that they also should be observed as laws; and thus it happened that while there was a difference in the manner of establishment between plebiscites and a law, the power was the same.