According to traditional, semi-legendary historical accounts preserved in Livy <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livy>, during the earliest period of the [Romane] Republic the laws were kept secret by the *pontifices<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifex_Maximus> * and other representatives of the patrician<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrician>class, and were enforced with untoward severity, especially against the plebeian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plebeian> class. A plebeian named Terentilius <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terentilius> proposed in 462 BC<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/462_BC>that an official legal code <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_%28law%29> should be published, so that plebeians could not be surprised and would know the law.
Patricians long opposed this request, but in ca. 450 BC<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/450_BC>, a Decemvirate <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decemviri>, or board of ten men, was appointed to draw up a code. ... The first Decemvirate <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decemvirate> completed the first ten codes in 450 BC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/450_BC>. Here is how Livy describes their creation, "...every citizen should quietly consider each point, then talk it over with his friends, and, finally, bring forward for public discussion any additions or subtractions which seemed desirable." In 449 BC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/449_BC>, the second Decemvirate completed the last two codes, and after a secessio plebis<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secessio_plebis>to force the Senate to consider them, the *Law of the Twelve Tables* was formally promulgated. The Twelve Tables were literally drawn up on twelve ivory tablets (Livy says bronze<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze>) which were posted in the Roman Forum<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum>so that all Romans could read and know them. - from Twelve Tables <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Tables>, Wikipedia Shouldn't this be considered the origin of Open Source ? -- Sivasubramanian Muthusamy Turiya http://www.linkedin.com/in/sivasubramanianmuthusamy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/ug-bosug/attachments/20080704/861e21a9/attachment.html>
