The law of matrilineal descent was first codified, as all Jewish Oral Law, in the Mishnah (c. 2nd century CE). The Talmud (c. 500 CE) adduces the law of matrilineal descent from Deuteronomy: You shall not intermarry with them: you shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son. For he will turn away your son from following Me, and they will worship the gods of others... Conservative Jewish Theologian Rabbi Louis Jacobs dismisses the suggestion that "the Tannaim were influenced by the Roman legal system..." and that "even if the Rabbis were familiar with the Roman law, they might have reacted to it by preserving the patrilineal principle, holding fast to their own system."