006- The Twelve Tables

Cincinnatus was famously appointed dictator of Rome in 458 BC and then resigned soon after, securing his place in history as a paradigm of republican virtue. 

The years after the creation of the Twelve Tables were hard. Political discord, grain shortages and famine all conspired to weaken the city, but the Romans soldiered on in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity. 

In 1215 at Runnymede (doo dah, doo dah) the nobles and the king agreed to end a rebellion against the power of the English throne. While the treaty that emerged contained all sorts of arcane Medieval details, it also contained the seeds of Western liberty and civil rights.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas brought together under Justinian I, Byzantine emperor in the 6th century AD, which were rediscovered in Western Europe in the Middle Ages and became very influential in the development of laws in many European nations and elsewhere.WithCa ...  Show more

Dangerous dogs, identity cards and now legal aid - just some of the legislation that solicitor Rosemary Davies has worked on as a Government lawyer. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-gove ...  Show more

At the end of 1793, the Committee of Public Safety completed it's consolidation of power.