Decemvirs

de-sem'vers, in Roman history, ten men appointed to systematize or codify the laws of the city. About 302 B. C. they presented their report. It was engraved on tablets of bronze erected in the Roman forum that all might read. A year later two additional tablets were added. The laws thus published are known as the Twelve Tables. School boys learned them by heart. The significance of the work of the decemvirs lies in the fact that their appointment and the publicity of the code were demanded by the common people, that all might know what the laws were, and be secure from prosecution under little known or forgotten enactments. Written laws are a safeguard against tryanny. See Code; Sibyls