“His awkwardness at digging the hole with a shovel whose handle was twice as long as he was made us laugh, and we covered our mouths with our hands so he wouldn’t hear”. The reader can infer that Doodle’s family

Yes i agree, love this part of the book and movie!!

Assemblies do not have written codes of laws. laws are matters for magistrates and courts, not assemblies. codes of law are things such as civil law, criminal law, and constitutional law. what assemblies have are procedures regarding debating, voting and other business they might carry out.  also note that rome had three assemblies: the assembly of the soldiers, the assembly of the tribes, and the plebeian councils.