decemviral

Updated: June 2, 2025

Nor do the provisions of the decemviral code, with which we are acquainted, show that enlightened regard to natural justice which characterized jurisprudence in its subsequent development. It allowed insolvent debtors to be treated with great cruelty; they could be imprisoned for sixty days, loaded with chains, and then might be sold into foreign slavery.

John Lord - The Old Roman World, : the Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization.