The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1904-01-18


king; and a mythical tale Of the anci
ent historians tells how he derived his
system from an immortal nymph
who inspired his work with heavenly
wisdom. It Is now certain that the
constitution Of the government was es.
tablished and the laws and methods OF
procedure revised and formulated by
Servius Tulllus the sixthand next 10
the last of the kings. though much
that is ascribed to him represents a
growth Of perhaps many preceding
years.
BY the time Of the republic, howev-
Ter. the Jurisprudence which regulated
( the domestic relations of the Roman
citizens. their business transactions
with each other. their individual rights
and methods of enforcing them. were
largely developed upon principles and
with rules that continued to be, in
many important respects. the govern
ing law of The citizens for nearly
thousand years.
About 470 b. c. It was consolidated
for the first time. by a commission of
Decemvirs. with many additions from
Grecian sources, into the famous code
known as "The Twelve Tables = which
for centuries regulated. in an extreme
ly complex and technical system, the
domestic and business relations of
Roman citizens. II was administered
at first by a single officer, the praetor
urbanus elected annually. Later the
number was increased, but one--the
urban praetor-was always the head
OF the judi;iary.
In the course Of the growth of the
city and the influx Of foreigners It be-
came necessary to provide some regli-
lations for their conduct, for the gov
ernment Of their business transactions
with each other and with the citizens, /
and the litigation arising therefrom;
and. about 200 years B. c., another
court was established and another iu-
dicial officer, the praetor peregrinus,
Or Judge for aliens, was also annually
elected This court was not governed
by the technical rules of the JUS cfvile
but by what was styled the jus gen
tium, he law Of nations, which did
not mean international law but the
principles Of right and justice com
mon to all mankind: a system of gen
sral equity. as declared by the praetor
This was at first strictly confined to
and suits between, or re-
aiing TO, foreigners but, by its liberal
principles and rules, gradually came
o be applied to the business relations .
If citizens themselves. where the I
strict rules of the older law failed to
prevent injustice, mach as the growth
If tie powers Of the court of chancery
relieved the deficiencies of the courts J
IF the common law in England. In
act, however, both systems continued I
10 exist side by side for more than
our hundred years. until the Emperor I
yaracalla, by giving the rights OF Ro-
man citizens to all the free inhabit-
sn Of tht whole empire. made It im-
possible to maintain the technical law I
of the city among so great and diverse
a population, aBd sort Of compound .
system based upon the jus gentium--
in reality an elaborate equitable juris-
pru elce. became the general law of
The whole people.
The written portion of this law came
from two sOurces--the response pru.
1entium-the answers of the learned
and the praetorlan edict
Unlike the practice under the com
mon law where the decisions of the
Judges form the prCcedents for future
eases. the Romans took their prece-
dents from the opinions Of counsel. \
q number of learned and worthy men. lI
who had made a special study of the |
law and is Interpretation, rendered \
opinions 70 their clients ami pupils up. 1
IN real or imaginary cases; and some
lines. when requested, to the judges
themselves. interpreting the brief
and grabbed passages of the
Twelve tables and expounding the gen.
aral principles of the law Of nations. "
of common rights and duties Origin.
Ally they we're independent of the gov
arnment and the value of their opin-
Ions rested upon the character and
reputation of the individual by whom
they were given; but when the empire /
was established, Augustus and his sue
cessors confined the right of giving
opinions to a limited number OF coun-
sci, usually eminent for learning Sc
ected by the emperor. and forming a