(3) Fragments which not only are fused with the sentences of the citer but also are much distorted, although these preserve in paraphrase the purport of the provisions of a law;

(4) Passages which present only an interpretation (or an opinion based on interpretation) or a title or a convenient designation of a law.

Only in very few cases do we know or can we conjecture the number of the tablet whereon any law appeared.  Consequently of the arrangement very little is ascertainable and the attribution of some items to certain tablets is debatable.  The probable order of the fragments, which total over 115, has been inferred from various statements and from other indications of ancient authors.

The amount of detail apparently varies either with the importance of the matter or with the degree of general or particular knowledge of the subject supposed by the commissioners to be held commonly by the citizens.  The style is characterized by such simplicity and by such brevity that the meaning in some instances borders upon obscurity,—­at least so far as modern interpretation is concerned.

The value of the Twelve Tables consists not in any approach to symmetrical classification or even to terse clarity of expression, but in the publication of the method of procedure to be adopted, especially in civil cases, in the knowledge furnished to every Roman of high or low degree as to what were both his legal rights and his legal duties, in the political victory won by the plebeians, who compelled the codification and the promulgation of what had been largely customary law interpreted and administered by the patricians primarily in their own interests.

THE TWELVE TABLES[5]

TABLE I. PROCEEDINGS PRELIMINARY TO TRIAL

1.  If he (the plaintiff) summon [the defendant] to court (in ius), he (the defendant) shall go.  If he (the defendant) go not, he (the plaintiff) shall call a witness thereto.  Then only he (the plaintiff) shall take [the defendant] by force.

2.  If he (the defendant) attempt evasion or take to flight, he (the plaintiff) shall lay hand [on the defendant].

3.  If disease or [old] age shall be an impediment, he who shall summon [the defendant] to court (in ius) shall grant [him] a conveyance; if he (the plaintiff) shall not wish, he (the plaintiff) shall not spread [with cushions] a covered carriage.

4.  For a freeholder (taxpayer whose fortune is valued at not less than 1,500 asses[6]) a freeholder shall be surety (vindex) [for his appearance at trial].  For a proletary (non-taxpayer whose fortune is rated at less than a freeholder’s) any one who shall be willing shall be surety (vindex).

5.  When they (the parties) come to terms, [an official] shall announce [it].[7]

6.  If they (the parties) agree not on terms, they shall state [their] case in the comitium (meeting-place) or, in the forum (market-place) ere noon.  Both (parties) shall appear in person and shall argue the matter.