Most civilizations have created some form of a legal code, which gives an insight into their societies view of justice. These legal codes allow civilizations to run more smoothly in terms of combating crime and they also help citizens live a somewhat structured life. These legal codes give us an understanding of the structure of the government and how the government punished certain crimes gives us an even deeper understanding into what the society valued the most. The Twelve Tables and The Code of the Salian Franks are very similar in what legal subjects they cover, however, they differ greatly in the justice of crimes and what is more valued/emphasized in their societies through their legal codes.
The Twelve Tables were ancient Rome's attempt to create a structured code of law. This law code emphasizes marriage and the family rights, inheritance, contracts, and property. Justice in this time was very harsh, hands on and sometimes
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It is also less harsh and aimed at establishing fixed consequences and penalties for a wider range of offenses. It emphasized more specific crimes like rape, the killing of women and children, insults, and inflicting wounds. For example, "If any person strike another on the head so that the brain appears, and the three bones which lie above the brain shall project, he shall be sentenced to 1200 denars, which make 30 shillings" (Title 17, 3). Their legal code was concerned more with not adding more violence to crimes and more having a structured repayment system for crimes. This law code is also much more detailed and applies how each member of society will be treated in the legal system in terms of class and punishment (i.e. the Franks, Romans, Barbarians, Freeman, slaves). I believe the idea of justice in this society is much more widespread and is concerned with stopping acts of violence rather than combating it with more