Believe it or not the ancient world had court just like we do now. There were people called tribunes. They were leaders of the large citizen assembly. Tribunes worked to make sure plebeians got fair trials. They also brought plebeian complaints before the Senate and the consuls. The consuls were the third branch of Romeís republic. Each year citizens assembly elected two men to become consuls. Consuls served as Romeís army commanders and the cityís most powerful judges. They could order anyone to be arrested. They could also propose new laws for Rome. There were two consuls, one patrician and one plebeian. There were also three- hundred senators. Half of them were patricians and the other half were plebeians. The citizen assemblies were all the citizens. Plebeian armies protected Rome and itís patrician leaders. Patrician leaders had ruled Rome according to laws that were unwritten. Only the patrician leaders knew what those laws were. As a result plebeians had no way of knowing what and was not against the law. In 450 BC the plebeians protested because of the fairness of Romeís unwritten laws. Finally the patricians agreed to write  a collection of laws on twelve wooden tablets. These became known as the Twelve Tables. The twelve Tables governed everything from marriage to slavery.