ACĪLĬA, De Coloniis Deducendis. (Liv. xxxii. 29.)ACĪLIA. [Repetundae.]ACĪLIA CALPURNĬA or CALPURNIA. [Ambitus.]AEBUTĬA, of uncertain date, which with two Juliae Leges put an end to the Legis Actiones, except in certain cases. This or another lex of the same name prohibited the proposer of a lex, which created any office or power (curatio ac potestas), from having such office or power, and even excluded his collegae, cognati, and affines.AELIA. This lex and a Fufia Lex, passed about the end of the sixth century of the city, gave to all the magistrates the obnunciatio, or power of preventing or dissolving the comitia, by observing the omens and declaring them to be unfavourable.AELĬA, De Coloniis Deducendis. (Liv. xxxiv. 53.)AELĬA SENTĬA, passed in the time of Augustus (aboutA.D.3). This lex contained various provisions as to the manumission of slaves.AEMĬLĬA. A lex passed in the dictatorship of Mamercus Aemilius (B.C.433), by which the censors were elected for a year and a half, instead of a whole lustrum. After this lex they had accordingly only a year and a half allowed them for holding the census and letting out the public works to farm.AEMĬLĬA BAEBĬA. [Cornelia Baebia.]AEMĬLĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]AGRĀRÏAE, the name of laws which had relation to the ager publicus. [Ager Publicus.] The most important of these are mentioned under the names of their proposers. [Appuleia;Cassia;Cornelia;Flaminia;Flavia;Julia;Licinia;Sempronia;Servilia;Thoria.]AMBĬTUS. [Ambitus.]AMPĬA, to allow Cn. Pompeius to wear a crown of bay at the Ludi Circenses, &c. Proposed by T. Ampius and T. Labienus, tr. pl.B.C.64.ANNĀLIS or VILLĬA, proposed by L. Villius Tapulus inB.C.179, fixed the age at which a Roman citizen might become a candidate for the higher magistracies. It appears that until this law was passed, any office might be enjoyed by a citizen after completing his twenty-seventh year. The Lex Annalis fixed 31 as the age for the quaestorship, 37 for the aedileship, 40 for the praetorship, and 43 for the consulship.ANTĬA. [Sumptuariae Leges.]ANTŌNĬADe Thermensibus, aboutB.C.72, by which Thermessus in Pisidia was recognised as Libera.ANTŌNĬAE, the name of various enactments proposed or passed by the influence of M. Antonius, after the death of the dictator J. Caesar.APPŬLĒIA, respecting sureties.APPŬLĒIA AGRĀRĬA, proposed by the tribune L. Appuleius Saturninus,B.C.101.APPŬLĒIA FRŪMENTĀRĬA, proposed about the same time by the same tribune.APPŬLĒIA,De Coloniis Deducendis. (Cic.pro Balbo, 21.)APPŬLĒIA MAJESTĀTIS. [Majestas.]ATERNIA TARPĒIA,B.C.455. This lex empowered all magistrates to fine persons who resisted their authority; but it fixed the highest fine at two sheep and thirty cows, or two cows and thirty sheep, for the authorities vary in this.ĂTĬA DE SĂCERDŌTIIS (B.C.63), proposed by the tribune T. Atius Labienus, repealed the Lex Cornelia de Sacerdotiis.ĂTĪLĬA MARCĬA,B.C.312, empowered the populus to elect 16 tribuni militum for each of four legions.ĂTĪLĬA, respecting tutores.ĂTĪNĬA, respecting thefts.ĂTĪNĬA, of uncertain date, was a plebiscitum which gave the rank of senator to a tribune. This measure probably originated with C. Atinius, who was tribuneB.C.130.AUFĬDĬA. [Ambitus.]AURĒLĬA (B.C.70), enacted that the judices should be chosen from the senators, equites, and tribuni aerarii. [Judex.]AURĒLĬA TRĬBŪNĬCĬA, respecting the tribunes.BAEBĬA (B.C.192 or 180), enacted that four praetors and six praetors should be chosen alternately; but the law was not observed.BAEBĬA CORNĒLĬA. [Ambitus.]CAECĬLĬA DE CENSŌRĬBUS or CENSŌRIA (B.C.54), proposed by Metellus Scipio, repealed a Clodia Lex (B.C.58), which had prescribed certain regular forms of proceeding for the censors in exercising their functions as inspectors of mores, and had required the concurrence of both censors to inflict the nota censoria. When a senator had been already convicted before an ordinary court, the lex permitted the censors to remove him from the senate in a summary way.CAECĬLĬA DE VECTĪGĀLĬBUS (B.C.62), released lands and harbours in Italy from the payment of taxes and dues (portoria). The only vectigal remaining after the passing of this lex was the Vicesima.CAECĬLĬA DĪDĬA (B.C.98) forbade the proposing of a Lex Satura, on the ground that the people might be compelled either to vote for something which they did not approve, or to reject something which they did approve, if it was proposed to them in this manner. This lex was not always operative.CAELIA. [Leges Tabellariae.]CĂLĬGŬLAE LEX AGUĀRĬA. [Mamilia.]CALPURNĬA DE AMBĬTU. [Ambitus.]CALPURNĬA DE RĔPĔTUNDIS. [Repetundae.]CĂNŬLĒIA. (B.C.445) established connubium between the patres and plebs, which had been taken away by the law of the Twelve Tables.CASSĬA (B.C.104), proposed by the tribune L. Cassius Longinus, did not allow a person to remain a senator who had been convicted in a judicium populi, or whose imperium had been abrogated by the populus.CASSĬA empowered the dictator Caesar to add to the number of the patricii, to prevent their extinction.CASSĬA AGRĀRĬA, proposed by the consul Sp. Cassius,B.C.486. This is said to have been the first agrarian law. It enacted that of the land taken from the Hernicans, half should be given to the Latins, and half to the plebs, and likewise that part of the public land possessed by the patricians should be distributed among the plebeians. This law met with the most violent opposition, and appears not to have been carried. Cassius was accused of aiming at the sovereignty, and was put to death. [Ager Publicus.]CASSĬA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [Leges Tabellariae.]CASSĬA TĔRENTĬA FRŪMENTĀRĬA (B.C.73) for the distribution of corn among the poor citizens and the purchasing of it.CINCĬA DE DŌNIS ET MŪNĔRĬBUS, a plebiscitum passed in the time of the tribune M. Cincius Alimentus (B.C.204). It forbade a person to take any thing for his pains in pleading a cause. In the time of Augustus, the Lex Cincia was confirmed by a senatus-consultum, and a penalty of four times the sum received was imposed on the advocate. The law was so far modified in the time of Claudius, that an advocate was allowed to receive ten sestertia; if he took any sum beyond that, he was liable to be prosecuted for repetundae. It appears that this permission was so far restricted in Trajan’s time, that the fee could not be paid till the work was done.CLAUDĬA, passed under the emperor Claudius, took away the agnatorum tutela in case of women.CLAUDĬAde Senatoribus,B.C.218 (Liv. xxi. 63), the provisions of which are alluded to by Cicero as antiquated and dead in his time.CLŌDIAE, the name of various plebiscita, proposed by Clodius, when tribune,B.C.58.Clodia de Auspiciisprevented the magistratus from dissolving the comitia tributa, by declaring that the auspices were unfavourable. This lex therefore repealed the Aelia and Fufia. It also enacted that a lex might be passed on the dies fasti. [Aelia Lex.]Clodia de Censoribus.[Caecilia.]Clodia de Civibus Romanis Interemptis, to the effect that “qui civem Romanum indemnatum interemisset, ei aqua et igni interdiceretur.” It was in consequence of this lex that the interdict was pronounced against Cicero, who considers the whole proceeding as a privilegium.Clodia Frumentaria, by which the corn, which had formerly been sold to the poor citizens at a low rate, was given.Clodia de Sodalitatibusorde Collegiisrestored the Sodalitia, which had been abolished by a senatus-consultum of the yearB.C.80, and permitted the formation of new Sodalitia.Clodia de Libertinorum Suffragiis.(Cic.pro Mil.12, 33.)Clodia de Rege Ptolemaeo et de Exsulibus Byzantinis.(Vell. Pat. ii. 45.)There were other so-called Leges Clodiae, which were however privilegia.COMMISSORĬA LEX, respecting sales.CORNĒLĬAE. Various leges passed in the dictatorship of Sulla, and by his influence, are so called.Agraria, by which many of the inhabitants of Etruria and Latium were deprived of the complete civitas, and retained only the commercium, and a large part of their lands were made public, and given to military colonists.De Civitate.(Liv.,Epit.86.)De Falsis, against those who forged testaments or other deeds, and against those who adulterated or counterfeited the public coin, whence Cicero calls ittestamentariaandnummaria.De Injuriis.[Injuria.]Judiciaria.[Judex.]De Magistratibus, partly a renewal of old plebiscita. (Appian,B.C.i. 100, 101.)Majestatis.[Majestas.]De Parricidio.[See below:De Sicariis.]De Proscriptione et Proscriptis.[Proscriptio.]De Provinciis Ordinandis.(Cic.ad Fam.i. 9; iii. 6, 8, 10.)De Repetundis.[Repetundae.]De Sacerdotiis.[Sacerdos.]De Sicariis et Veneficis, contained provisions as to death or fire caused bydolus malus, and against persons going about armed with the intention of killing or thieving. The law not only provided for cases of poisoning, but contained provisions against those who made, sold, bought, possessed, or gave poison for the purpose of poisoning; also against a magistratus or senator who conspired in order that a person might be condemned in ajudicium publicum, &c.Sumptuariae.[Leges Sumptuariae.]Tribunicia, which diminished the power of the Tribuni Plebis.Unciariaappears to have been a lex which lowered the rate of interest, and to have been passed about the same time with the Leges Sumptuariae of Sulla.CORNĒLĬAE, which were proposed by the tribune C. Cornelius aboutB.C.67. One limited the edictal power by compelling the praetorsJus dicere ex edictis suis perpetuis.—Another lex of the same tribune enacted that no onelegibus solveretur, unless such a measure was agreed on in a meeting of the senate at which two hundred members were present, and afterwards approved by the people; and it enacted that no tribune should put his veto on such a senatus-consultum.—There was also a Lex Cornelia concerning the wills of those Roman citizens who died in captivity (apud hostes).CORNĒLIA DE NOVIS TABELLIS, proposed by P. Corn. Dolabella,B.C.47.CORNĒLIA ET CAECĬLĪA,B.C.57, gave Cn. Pompeius the superintendence of the Res Frumentaria for five years.CORNĒLĬA BAEBĬA DE AMBĬTU, proposed by the consuls P. Cornelius Cethegus and M. Baebius Tamphilus,B.C.181. This law is sometimes, but erroneously, attributed to the consuls of the preceding year, L. Aemilius and Cn. Baebius. [Ambitus.]CŪRIĀTA LEX DE IMPERIO. [Imperium.]CŪRIĀTA LEX DE ADOPTIONE. [Adoptio.]DĔCEMVĬRĀLIS. [Lex Duodecim Tabularum.]DĔCĬA DE DUUMVIRIS NAVALIBUS. (Liv. ix. 30.)DĪDĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]DOMĬTĬA DE SĂCERDŌTIIS. [Sacerdos.]DUĪLĬA (B.C.449), a plebiscitum proposed by the tribune Duilius, which enacted that whoever left the people without tribunes, or created a magistrate from whom there was no appeal (provocatio), should be scourged and beheaded.DUĪLĬA MAENĬA, proposed by the tribunes Duilius and Maenius (B.C.357), restored the old uncial rate of interest (unciarium fenus), which had been fixed by the Twelve Tables. [Fenus.] The same tribunes carried a measure which was intended, in future, to prevent such unconstitutional proceedings as the enactment of a lex by the soldiers out of Rome, on the proposal of the consul.DŬŎDĔCIM TĂBŬLĀRUM. In the yearB.C.454 the Senate assented to a Plebiscitum, pursuant to which commissioners were to be sent to Athens and the Greek cities generally, in order to make themselves acquainted with their laws. Three commissioners were appointed for the purpose. On the return of the commissioners,B.C.452, it was agreed that persons should be appointed to draw up the code of laws (decemviri Legibus scribundis), but they were to be chosen only from the Patricians, with a provision that the rights of the Plebeians should be respected by the decemviri in drawing up the laws. In the following year (B.C.451) the Decemviri were appointed in the Comitia Centuriata, and during the time of their office no other magistratus were chosen. The body consisted of ten Patricians, including the three commissioners who had been sent abroad: Appius Claudius, Consul designatus, was at the head of the body. Ten Tables of Laws were prepared during the year, and after being approved by the Senate were confirmed by the Comitia Centuriata. As it was considered that some further Laws were wanted, Decemviri were again electedB.C.450, consisting of Appius Claudius and his friends. Two more Tables were added by these Decemviri, which Cicero calls “Duae tabulae iniquarum legum.” The provisionwhich allowed no connubium between the Patres and the Plebs is referred to the Eleventh Table. The whole Twelve Tables were first published in the consulship of L. Valerius and M. Horatius after the downfall of the Decemviri,B.C.449. This the first attempt to make a code remained also the only attempt for near one thousand years, until the legislation of Justinian. The Twelve Tables are mentioned by the Roman writers under a great variety of names:Leges Decemvirales,Lex Decemviralis,Leges XII.,Lex XII. tabularumorDuodecim, and sometimes they are referred to under the names ofLegesandLexsimply, as being pre-eminently The Law. The Laws were cut on bronze tablets and put up in a public place. They contained matters relating both to the Jus Publicum and the Jus Privatum (fons publici privatique juris). The Jus Publicum underwent great changes in the course of years, but the Jus Privatum of the Twelve Tables continued to be the fundamental law of the Roman State. The Roman writers speak in high terms of the precision of the enactments contained in the Twelve Tables, and of the propriety of the language in which they were expressed.FĂBĬA DE PLĂGIO. [Plagium.]FĂBĬA DE NUMERO SECTATORUM. (Cic.pro Murena, 34.)FALCIDIA. [Lex Voconia.]FANNĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]FANNĬA. [Junia de Peregrinis.]FLĀMĬNĬA was an Agraria Lex for the distribution of lands in Picenum, proposed by the tribune C. Flaminius, inB.C.228 according to Cicero, or inB.C.232 according to Polybius. The latter date is the more probable.FLĀVĬA AGRĀRĬA,B.C.60, for the distribution of lands among Pompey’s soldiers, proposed by the tribune L. Flavius, who committed the consul Caecilius Metellus to prison for opposing it.FRŪMENTĀRĬAE. Various leges were so called which had for their object the distribution of grain among the people, either at a low price or gratuitously. [Frumentariae Leges,p. 182.]FŪFĬA DE RĒLĬGĬŌNE,B.C.61, was a privilegium which related to the trial of Clodius.FŪFĬA JŪDĬCĬĀRĬA. [Judex,p. 217.]FŪRIA or FŪSĬA CĂNĪNĬA limited the number of slaves to be manumitted by testament.FŪRIA or FŪSĬA TESTĂMENTĀRĬA, enacted that a testator should not give more than three-fourths of his property in legacies, thus securing one-fourth to the heres.GĂBĪNĬA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [Leges Tabellariae.] There were various Gabiniae Leges, some of which were privilegia, as that for conferring extraordinary power on Cn. Pompeius for conducting the war against the pirates. A Gabinia Lex,B.C.58, forbade all loans of money at Rome to legationes from foreign parts. The object of the lex was to prevent money being borrowed for the purpose of bribing the senators at Rome.GALLĬAE CISALPĪNAE. [Rubria.]GELLIA CORNĒLĬA,B.C.72, which gave to Cn. Pompeius the extraordinary power of conferring the Roman civitas on Spaniards in Spain, with the advice of his consilium.GENUCĬA,B.C.341, forbade altogether the taking of interest for the use of money.HĬĔRŎNĬCA was not a lex properly so called. Before the Roman conquest of Sicily, the payment of the tenths of wine, oil, and other produce had been fixed by Hiero; and the Roman quaestors, in letting these tenths to farm, followed the practice which they found established.HŎRĀTĬAE ET VALĔRĬAE. [Leges Valeriae.]HORTENSIA DE PLĒBISCĪTIS. [Leges Publiliae;Plebiscitum.] Another Lex Hortensia enacted that the nundinae, which had hitherto been feriae, should be dies fasti. This was done for the purpose of accommodating the inhabitants of the country.ICILĬA,B.C.456, by which the Aventinus was assigned to the plebs. This was the first instance of the ager publicus being assigned to the plebs. Another Lex Icilia, proposed by the tribune Sp. Icilius,B.C.470, had for its object to prevent all interruption to the tribunes while acting in the discharge of their duties. In some cases the penalty was death.JŪLĬAE. Most of the Juliae Leges were passed in the time of C. Julius Caesar and Augustus.De Adulteriis.[Adulterium.]Agraria,B.C.59, in the consulship of Caesar, for distributing the ager publicus in Campania among 20,000 poor citizens, who had each three children or more.De Ambitu.[Ambitus.]De Bonis Cedendis.This lex provided that a debtor might escape all personal molestation from his creditors by giving up his property to them for the purpose of sale and distribution. It is doubtful if this lex was passed in the time of Julius Caesar or of Augustus, though probably of the former.De Caede et Veneficio(Suet.Ver.33), perhaps the same as the Lex De Vi Publica.De Civitatewas passed in the consulship of L. Julius Caesar and P. RutiliusLupus,B.C.90. [Civitas;Foederatae Civitates.]De Fenore, or rather De Pecuniis Mutuis or Creditis (B.C.47), passed in the time of Julius Caesar. The object of it was to make an arrangement between debtors and creditors, for the satisfaction of the latter. The possessiones and res were to be estimated at the value which they had before the civil war, and to be surrendered to the creditors at that value; whatever had been paid for interest was to be deducted from the principal. The result was, that the creditor lost about one-fourth of his debt; but he escaped the loss usually consequent on civil disturbance, which would have been caused by novae tabulae.Judiciariae.[Judex.]De Liberis Legationibus.[Legatus.]De Majestate.[Majestas.]De Maritandis Ordinibus.[See below:Julia et Papia Poppaea.]Municipalis, commonly called the Table of Heraclea. In the year 1732 there were found near the Gulf of Tarentum and in the neighbourhood of the city of ancient Heraclea, large fragments of a bronze table, which contained on one side a Roman lex, and on the other a Greek inscription. The whole is now in the Museo Borbonico at Naples. The lex contains various provisions as to the police of the city of Rome, and as to the constitution of communities of Roman citizens (municipia,coloniae,praefecturae,fora,conciliabula civium Romanorum). It was accordingly a lex of that kind which is called Satura. It was probably passed inB.C.45.Julia et Papia Poppaea.Augustus appears to have caused a lex to be enacted aboutB.C.18, which is cited as theLex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus, and is referred to in the Carmen Seculare of Horace, which was written in the yearB.C.17. The object of this lex was to regulate marriages, as to which it contained numerous provisions; but it appears not to have come into operation till the yearB.C.13. In the yearA.D.9, and in the consulship of M. Papius Mutilus and Q. Poppaeus Secundus (consules suffecti), another lex was passed as a kind of amendment and supplement to the former lex, and hence arose the title of Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea, by which this lex is often quoted. The lex is often variously quoted, according as reference is made to its various provisions; sometimes it is calledLex Julia, sometimesPapia Poppaea, sometimesLex Julia et Papia, sometimesLex de Maritandis Ordinibus, from the chapter which treated of the marriages of the senators, sometimesLex Caducaria, Decimaria, &c. from the various chapters. The Lex Julia forbade the marriage of a senator or senator’s children with a libertina, with a woman whose father or mother had followed an ars ludicra, and with a prostitute; and also the marriage of a libertinus with a senator’s daughter. In order to promote marriage, various penalties were imposed on those who lived in a state of celibacy (caelibatus) after a certain age, and various privileges were given to those who had three or more children. A candidate for the public offices who had several children was preferred to one who had fewer. After the passing of this lex, it became usual for the senate, and afterwards the emperor (princeps), to give occasionally, as a privilege to certain persons who had not children, the same advantage that the lex secured to those who had children. This was called theJus Liberorum, and sometimes theJus trium Liberorum.Peculatus, cited in the Digest, related to sacrilege as well as peculatus.Julia et Plautia, respecting stolen things.Julia Papiria.[Papiria.]De Provinciis.[Provinciae.]Repetundarum.[Repetundae.]Sacrilegis.[See above:Julia Peculatus.]Sumptuariae.[Leges Sumptuariae.]Theatralis, which permitted Roman equites, in case they or their parents had ever had a census equestris, to sit in the fourteen rows (quatuordecim ordines) fixed by the Lex Roscia Theatralis,B.C.69.Julia et Titia, respecting Tutors.De Vi Publica and Privata.[Vis.]Vicesimaria.[Vicesima.]JŪNĬA DE PĔRĔGRĪNIS, proposedB.C.126, by M. Junius Pennus, a tribune, banished peregrini from the city. A lex of C. Fannius, consulB.C.122, contained the same provisions respecting the Latini and Italici; and a lex of C. Papius, perhapsB.C.65, contained the same respecting all persons who were not domiciled in Italy.JŪNĬA LĬCĬNĬA. [Licinia Junia.]JŪNIA NORBĀNA, of uncertain date, but probably aboutA.D.17, enacted that when a Roman citizen had manumitted a slave without the requisite formalities, the manumission should not in all cases be ineffectual, but the manumitted person should have the status of a Latinus.JŪNIA RĒPĔTUNDĀRUM. [Repetundae.]LAETŌRIA, the false name of the Lex Plaetoria. [Curator.] Sometimes the lex proposed by Volero for electing plebeian magistrates at the comitia tributa is cited as a Lex Laetoria.LĬCĬNĬA DE SŎDĀLĬTIIS. [Ambitus.]LĬCĬNIA. [Aebutia.]LĬCĬNIA DE LŪDIS ĂPOLLĬNĀRĬBUS. (Liv. xxvii. 23.)LĬCĬNIA JŪNIA, or, as it is sometimes called, Junia et Licinia, passed in the consulship of L. Licinius Murena and Junius Silanus,B.C.62, enforced the Caecilia Didia, in connection with which it is sometimes mentioned.LĬCĬNIA MŪCĬA DE CĪVĬBUS RĔGUNDIS, passed in the consulship of L. Licinius Crassus and Q. Mucius Scaevola,B.C.95, enacted a strict examination as to the title to citizenship, and deprived of the exercise of civic rights all those who could not make out a good title to them. This measure partly led to the Marsic war.LĬCĬNIA SUMPTUĀRIA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]LĬCĬNIAE, proposed by C. Licinius, who was tribune of the people fromB.C.376 to 367, and who brought the contest between the patricians and plebeians to a happy termination. He was supported in his exertions by his colleague L. Sextius. The laws which he proposed were: 1. That in future no more consular tribunes should be appointed, but that consuls should be elected as in former times, one of whom should always be a plebeian. 2. That no one should possess more than 500 jugera of the public land, nor keep upon it more than 100 head of large, or 500 of small cattle. It is related that Licinius was accused and condemned for violating his own law. Livy states that Licinius, together with his son, held 1000 jugera of the public land, and by emancipating his son had acted in fraud of the law. The son thus possessed 500 jugera in his own name, while his father had the actual enjoyment. 3. A law regulating the affairs between debtor and creditor, which ordained that the interest already paid for borrowed money should be deducted from the capital, and that the remainder of the latter should be paid back in three yearly instalments. 4. That the Sibylline books should be entrusted to a college of ten men (decemviri), half of whom should be plebeians, in order that no falsifications might be introduced in favour of the patricians. These rogations were passed after a most vehement opposition on the part of the patricians, and L. Sextius was the first plebeian who, in accordance with the first of them, obtained the consulship for the yearB.C.366.LĬCĬNIA, also called MANLĬA,B.C.196, created the triumviri epulones.LĪVĬAE, various enactments proposed by the tribune M. Livius Drusus,B.C.91, for establishing colonies in Italy and Sicily, distributing corn among the poor citizens at a low rate, and admitting the foederatae civitates to the Roman civitas. He is also said to have been the mover of a law for adulterating silver by mixing with it an eighth part of brass. Drusus was assassinated, and the senate declared that all his laws were passedcontra auspicia, and were therefore not leges.LUTĀTIA DE VI, proposed by the consul Q. Lutatius Catulus, with the assistance of Plautius the tribune: usually called Lex Plautia or Plotia. [Vis.]MAENĬA LEX, is only mentioned by Cicero, who says that M. Curius compelled the patresante auctores fieriin the case of the election of a plebeian consul, “which,” adds Cicero, “was a great thing to accomplish, as the Lex Maenia was not yet passed.” The lex therefore required the patres to give their consent at least to the election of a magistratus, or, in other words, to confer or agree to confer the imperium on the person whom the comitia should elect. It was probably proposed by the tribune MaeniusB.C.287.MAJESTĀTIS. [Majestas.]MAMILĬA DE JŬGURTHAE FAUTŌRĬBUS. (Sall.Jug.40.)MAMILIA FINIUM RĔGUNDŌRUM,B.C.239 or 165, respecting boundaries.MĀNĪLĬA, proposed by the tribune C. Manilius,B.C.66, was a privilegium by which was conferred on Pompey the command in the war against Mithridates. The lex was supported by Cicero when praetor.MANLĬA. [Licinia.]MANLIA DE VĪCĒSĬMA,B.C.357, imposed the tax of five per cent. (vicesima) on the value of manumitted slaves.MARCĬA, probably about the yearB.C.352,adversus feneratores.MARCĬA, an agrarian law proposed by the tribune L. Marcius Philippus,B.C.104.MĂRĬA, proposed by Marius when tribune,B.C.119, for narrowing the pontes at elections.MEMMIA or REMMĬA. [Calumnia.]MENSĬA, respecting the marriage of a Roman woman with a peregrinus, declared the offspring of such marriages peregrini.MĬNŬCĬA,B.C.216, created the triumviri mensarii.NERVAE AGRĀRIA, the latest known instance of a lex.OCTĀVĬA,B.C.91, one of the numerous leges frumentariae which repealed a Sempronia Frumentaria. It is mentioned by Cicero as a more reasonable measure than the Sempronia, which was too profuse.OGULNĬA, proposed by the tribunes,B.C.300, increased the number of pontifices to eight, and that of the augurs to nine; it also enacted that four of the pontifices and five of the augurs should be taken from the plebes.OPPĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]ORCHĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]ŎVĪNĬA, of uncertain date, was a plebiscitum which gave the censors certain powers in regulating the lists of the senators (ordo senatorius): the main object seems to have been to exclude all improper persons from the senate, and to prevent their admission, if in other respects qualified.PĀPĬA DE PĔRĔGRĪNIS. [Lex Junia de Peregrinis.]PĀPIA POPPAEA. [Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea.]PĂPĪRĬA or JŪLIA PĂPĪRIA DE MULCTĀRUM AESTĬMĀTIŌNE (B.C.430), fixed a money value according to which fines were paid, which formerly were paid in sheep and cattle. Some writers make this valuation part of the Aternian law [Aternia Tarpeia], but in this they appear to have been mistaken.PĂPĪRIA, by which the as was made semuncialis, one of the various enactments which tampered with the coinage.PĂPĪRĬA,B.C.332, proposed by the praetor Papirius, gave the Acerrani the civitas without the suffragium. It was properly a privilegium, but is useful as illustrating the history of the extension of the civitas Romana.PĂPĪRĬA, of uncertain date, enacted that noaedesshould be declaredconsecrataewithout a plebiscitum.PĂPĪRIA PLAUTĬA, a plebiscitum of the yearB.C.89, proposed by the tribunes C. Papirius Carbo and M. Plautius Silvanus, in the consulship of Cn. Pompeius Strabo and L. Porcius Cato, is called by Cicero a lex of Silvanus and Carbo. [SeeCivitas;Foederatae Civitates.]PĂPĪRIA POETELĬA. [Lex Poetelia.]PĂPĪRIA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [Leges Tabellariae.]PĔDĬA, relating to the murderers of Caesar.PĒDŪCAEA,B.C.113, a plebiscitum, seems to have been merely a privilegium, and not a general law against incestum.PESULĀNĬA, provided that if an animal did any damage, the owner should make it good, or give up the animal.PĔTILLĬA,De Pecunia Regis Antiochi. (Liv. xxxviii. 54.)PETRĒIA,de decimatione militum, in case of mutiny.PETRŌNĬA, probably passed in the time of Augustus, and subsequently amended by various senatusconsulta, forbade a master to deliver up his slave to fight with wild beasts.PĪNĀRĬ, related to the giving of a judex within a limited time.PLAETŌRĬA. [Curator.]PLAUTĬA or PLŎTIA DE VI. [Vis.]PLAUTIA or PLŌTIA JŪDĬCĬĀRIA, enacted that fifteen persons should be annually taken from each tribe to be placed in the Album Judicum.PLAUTIA ET PLŌTIA DE RĔDĬTU LĔPĬDĀNORUM. (Suet. Caes. 5.)POETELĬA,B.C.358, a plebiscitum, was the first lex against ambitus.POETELIA PĂPĪRIA,B.C.326, made an important change in the liabilities of the Nexi.POMPĒIAE. There were various leges so called.De Civitate, proposed by Cn. Pompeius Strabo, the father of Cn. Pompeius Magnus, probably in his consulshipB.C.89, gave the jus Latii or Latinitas to all the towns of the Transpadani, and probably the civitas to the Cispadani.De Ambitu.[Ambitus.]De Imperio Caesari Prorogando.(Vell. Pat. ii. 46; Appian,B.C.ii. 18.)Judiciaria.[Judex,p. 217,a.]De Jure Magistratuum, forbade a person to be a candidate for public offices (petitio honorum) who was not at Rome; but J. Caesar was excepted. This was doubtless the old law, but it had apparently become obsolete.De Parricidiis.[Parricidium.]Tribunitia(B.C.70), restored the old tribunitia potestas, which Sulla had nearly destroyed. [Tribuni.]De Vi, was a privilegium, and only referred to the case of Milo.PORCĬAE DE CĂPĬTE CĪVĬUM, or DE PRŌVŎCĀTIŌNE, enacted that no Roman citizen should be scourged or put to death.PORCIA DE PRŌVINCIIS, aboutB.C.198, the enactments of which are doubtful.PUBLĬCĬA, permitted betting at certain games which required strength.PUBLĪLĬA. In the consulship of L. Pinarius and P. Furius,B.C.471, the tribune Publilius Volero proposed, in the assembly of the tribes, that the tribunes should in future be appointed in the comitia of the tribes (ut plebeii magistratus tributis comitiis fierent), instead of by the centuries, as had formerly been the case; since the clients of the patricians were so numerous in the centuries, that the plebeians could not elect whom theywished. This measure was violently opposed by the patricians, who prevented the tribes from coming to any resolution respecting it throughout this year; but in the following year,B.C.471, Publilius was re-elected tribune, and together with him C. Laetorius, a man of still greater resolution than Publilius. Fresh measures were added to the former proposition: the aediles were to be chosen by the tribes, as well as the tribunes, and the tribes were to be competent to deliberate and determine on all matters affecting the whole nation, and not such only as might concern the plebes. This proposition, though still more violently resisted by the patricians than the one of the previous year, was carried. Some said that the number of the tribunes was now for the first time raised to five, having been only two previously.PUBLĪLĬAE, proposed by the dictator Q. Publilius Philo,B.C.339. According to Livy, there were three Publiliae Leges. 1. The first is said to have enacted, that plebiscita should bind all Quirites, which is to the same purport as the Lex Hortensia ofB.C.286. It is probable, however, that the object of this law was to render the approval of the senate a sufficient confirmation of a plebiscitum, and to make the confirmation of the curiae unnecessary. 2. The second law enacted,ut legum quae comitiis centuriatis ferrerentur ante initum suffragium patres auctores fierent. By patres Livy here means the curiae; and accordingly this law made the confirmation of the curiae a mere formality in reference to all laws submitted to the comitia centuriata, since every law proposed by the senate to the centuries was to be considered to have the sanction of the curiae also. 3. The third law enacted that one of the two censors should necessarily be a plebeian. It is probable that there was also a fourth law, which applied the Licinian law to the praetorship as well as to the censorship, and which provided that in each alternate year the praetor should be a plebeian.PŪPĬA, mentioned by Cicero, seems to have enacted that the senate could not meet on comitiales dies.QUINTĬA, was a lex proposed by T. Quintius Crispinus, consulB.C.9, for the preservation of the aquaeductus.RĒGĬA. ALex Regiaduring the kingly period of Roman history might have a two-fold meaning. In the first place it was a law which had been passed by the comitia under the presidency of the king, and was thus distinguished from aLex Tribunicia, which was passed by the comitia under the presidency of the tribunus celerum. In later times all laws, the origin of which was attributed to the time of the kings, were calledLeges Regiae, though it by no means follows that they were all passed under the presidency of the kings, and much less, that they were enacted by the kings without the sanction of the curies. Some of these laws were preserved and followed at a very late period of Roman history. A collection of them was made, though at what time is uncertain, by Papisius or Papirius, and this compilation was called theJus Civile PapirianumorPapisianum. The second meaning ofLex Regiaduring the kingly period was undoubtedly the same as that of theLex Curiata de Imperio. [Imperium.] This indeed is not mentioned by any ancient writer, but must be inferred from theLex Regiawhich we meet with under the empire, for the name could scarcely have been invented then; it must have come down from early times, when its meaning was similar, though not nearly so extensive. During the empire the curies continued to hold their meetings, though they were only a shadow of those of former times; and after the election of a new emperor, they conferred upon him the imperium in the ancient form by aLex Curiata de Imperio, which was now usually calledLex Regia. The imperium, however, which thisRegia Lexconferred upon an emperor, was of a very different nature from that which in former times it had conferred upon the kings. It now embraced all the rights and powers which the populus Romanus had formerly possessed, so that the emperor became what formerly the populus had been, that is, the sovereign power in the state. A fragment of such a lex regia, conferring the imperium upon Vespasian, engraved upon a brazen table, is still extant in the Lateran at Rome.REMNĬA. [Calumnia.]RĔPĔTUNDĀRUM. [Repetundae.]RHŎDĬA. The Rhodians had a maritime code which was highly esteemed. Some of its provisions were adopted by the Romans, and have thus been incorporated into the maritime law of European states. It was not, however, a lex in the proper sense of the term.ROSCĬA THEĀTRĀLIS, proposed by the tribune L. Roscius Otho,B.C.67, which gave the equites a special place at the public spectacles in fourteen rows or seats (in quatuordecim gradibus sive ordinibus) next to the place of the senators, which was in the orchestra. This lex also assigned a certain place to spendthrifts. The phrasesedere in quatuordecim ordinibusis equivalent to having the proper census equestris which was required by the lex. There are numerousallusions to this lex, which is sometimes simply called the Lex of Otho, or referred to by his name. It is erroneously supposed by some writers to have been enacted in the consulship of Cicero,B.C.63.RUBRĬA. The province of Gallia Cisalpina ceased to be a provincia, and became a part of Italia, about the yearB.C.43. When this change took place, it was necessary to provide for the administration of justice, as the usual modes of provincial administration would cease with the determination of the provincial form of government. This was effected by a lex, a large part of which, on a bronze tablet, is preserved in the Museum at Parma. The name of this lex is not known, but it is supposed by some to be the Lex Rubria.RŬPĬLĬAE LĒGES (B.C.131), were the regulations established by P. Rupilius, and ten legati, for the administration of the province of Sicily, after the close of the first servile war. They were made in pursuance of a consultum of the senate. Cicero speaks of these regulations as a decretum of Rupilius, which he says they call Lex Rupilia; but it was not a lex proper. The powers given to the commissioners by the Lex Julia Municipalis were of a similar kind.SĂCRĀTAE. Leges were properly so called which had for their object to make a thing or personsacer. A lex sacrata militaris is also mentioned by Livy.SAENĬA DE PATRICIORUM NUMERO AUGENDO, enacted in the 5th consulship of Augustus.SĂTŬRA. [Lex,p. 226,a.]SCANTĪNĬA, proposed by a tribune; the date and contents are not known, but its object was to suppress unnatural crimes. It existed in the time of Cicero.SCRĪBŌNĬA. The date and whole import of this lex are not known; but it enacted that a right to servitutes should not be acquired by usucapion.SCRĪBŌNIA VĬĀRIA or DE VIIS MUNIENDIS,B.C.51.SEMPRŌNĬAE, the name of various laws proposed by Tiberius and Caius Sempronius Gracchus.Agraria.InB.C.133 the tribune Tib. Gracchus revived the Agrarian law of Licinius [Leges Liciniae]: he proposed that no one should possess more than 500 jugera of the public land, and that the surplus land should be divided among the poor citizens, who were not to have the power of alienating it: he also proposed, as a compensation to the possessors deprived of the land on which they had frequently made improvements, that the former possessors should have the full ownership of 500 jugera, and each of their sons, if they had any, half that quantity: finally, that three commissioners (triumviri) should be appointed every year to carry the law into effect. This law naturally met with the greatest opposition, but it was eventually passed in the year in which it was proposed, and Tib. Gracchus, C. Gracchus, and Appius Claudius were the three commissioners appointed under it. It was, however, never carried fully into effect, in consequence of the murder of Tib. Gracchus. Owing to the difficulties which were experienced in carrying his brother’s agrarian law into effect, it was again brought forward by C. Gracchus,B.C.123.De Capite Civium Romanorum, proposed by C. GracchusB.C.123, enacted that the people only should decide respecting the caput or civil condition of a citizen. This law continued in force till the latest times of the republic.Frumentaria, proposed by C. GracchusB.C.123, enacted that corn should be sold by the state to the people once a month at the price of 6⅓ asses for each modius, which was equal to 1 gallon and nearly 8 pints English. This was only a trifle more than half the market price.Judiciaria.[Judex,p. 216.]Militaris, proposed by C. GracchusB.C.123, enacted that the soldiers should receive their clothing gratis, and that no one should be enrolled as a soldier under the age of seventeen. Previously a fixed sum was deducted from the pay for all clothes and arms issued to the soldiers.Ne quis Judicio circumveniretur, proposed by C. Gracchus,B.C.123, punished all who conspired to obtain the condemnation of a person in a judicium publicum. One of the provisions of the Lex Cornelia de Sicariis was to the same effect.De Provinciis Consularibus, proposed by C. GracchusB.C.123, enacted that the senate should fix each year, before the comitia for electing the consuls were held, the two provinces which were to be allotted to the two new consuls. There was also a Sempronian law concerning the province of Asia, which probably did not form part of the Lex de Provinciis Consularibus: it enacted that the taxes of this province should be let out to farm by the censors at Rome. This law was afterwards repealed by J. Caesar.SEMPRŌNIA DE FĒNŎRE,B.C.193, was a plebiscitum proposed by a tribune, M. Sempronius, which enacted that the law (jus) about money lent (pecunia credita) should be the same for the Socii and Latini (Socii ac nomen Latinum) as for Roman citizens. The object of the lex was to prevent Romans fromlending money in the name of the Socii, who were not bound by the fenebres leges. The lex could obviously only apply within the jurisdiction of Rome.SERVĪLĬA AGRĀRIA, proposed by the tribune P. S. Rullus in the consulship of Cicero,B.C.63, was a very extensive agrarian rogatio. It was successfully opposed by Cicero; but it was in substance carried by J. Caesar,B.C.59 [Lex Julia Agraria], and is the lex called by CiceroLex Campana, from the public land called ager campanus being assigned under this lex.SERVĪLĬA GLAUCIA DE CĪVĬTĀTE. [Repetundae.]SERVĪLIA GLAUCIA DE RĔPĔTUNDIS. [Repetundae.]SERVĪLIA JŪDĬCĬĀRIA,B.C.106. [Judex,p. 216.] It is assumed by some writers that a lex of the tribune Servius Glaucia repealed the Servilia Judiciaria two years after its enactment.SĪLĬA, relating to Publica Pondera.SILVĀNI ET CARBŌNIS. [Lex Papiria Plautia.]SULPĬCĬAE, proposed by the tribune P. Sulpicius Rufus, a supporter of Marius,B.C.88, enacted the recall of the exiles, the distribution of the new citizens and the libertini among the thirty-five tribes, that the command in the Mithridatic war should be taken from Sulla and given to Marius, and that a senator should not contract debt to the amount of more than 2000 denarii. The last enactment may have been intended to expel persons from the senate who should get in debt. All these leges were repealed by Sulla.SULPĬCĬA SEMPRŌNĬA,B.C.304. No name is given to this lex by Livy, but it was probably proposed by the consuls. It prevented the dedicatio of a templum or altar without the consent of the senate or a majority of the tribunes.SUMPTUĀRĬAE, the name of various laws passed to prevent inordinate expense (sumptus) in banquets, dress, &c. In the states of antiquity it was considered the duty of government to put a check upon extravagance in the private expenses of persons, and among the Romans in particular we find traces of this in the laws attributed to the kings, and in the Twelve Tables. The censors, to whom was entrusted thedisciplinaorcura morum, punished by thenota censoriaall persons guilty of what was then regarded as a luxurious mode of living; a great many instances of this kind are recorded. But as the love of luxury greatly increased with the foreign conquests of the republic and the growing wealth of the nation, various leges sumptuariae were passed at different times with the object of restraining it. These, however, as may be supposed, rarely accomplished their object, and in the latter times of the republic they were virtually repealed. The following list of them is arranged in chronological order:—Oppia, proposed by the tribune C. Oppius inB.C.215, enacted that no woman should have above half an ounce of gold, nor wear a dress of different colours, nor ride in a carriage in the city or in any town, or within a mile of it, unless on account of public sacrifices. This law was repealed twenty years afterwards, whence we frequently find the Lex Orchia mentioned as the first lex sumptuaria.Orchia, proposed by the tribune C. Orchius inB.C.181, limited the number of guests to be present at entertainments.Fannia, proposed by the consul C. Fannius,B.C.61, limited the sums which were to be spent on entertainments, and enacted that not more than 100 asses should be spent on certain festivals named in the lex, whence it is calledcentussisby Lucilius; that on ten other days in each month not more than 30 asses, and that on all other days not more than 10 asses, should be expended; also that no other fowl but one hen should be served up, and that not fattened for the purpose.Didia, passedB.C.143, extended the Lex Fannia to the whole of Italy, and enacted that not only those who gave entertainments which exceeded in expense what the law had prescribed, but also all who were present at such entertainments, should be liable to the penalties of the law. We are not, however, told in what these consisted.Licinia, agreed in its chief provisions with the Lex Fannia, and was brought forward, we are told, that there might be the authority of a new law upon the subject, inasmuch as the Lex Fannia was beginning to be neglected. It allowed 200 asses to be spent on entertainments upon marriage days, and on other days the same as the Lex Fannia; also, that on ordinary days there should not be served up more than three pounds of fresh, and one pound of salt meat. It was probably passed inB.C.103.Cornelia, a law of the dictator Sulla,B.C.81, was enacted on account of the neglect of the Fannian and Licinian Laws. Like these, it regulated the expenses of entertainments. Extravagance in funerals, which had been forbidden even in the Twelve Tables, was also restrained by a law of Sulla.Aemilia, proposed by the consul Aemilius Lepidus,B.C.78, did not limit the expensesof entertainments, but the kind and quantity of food that was to be used.Antia, of uncertain date, proposed by Antius Resto, besides limiting the expenses of entertainments, enacted that no actual magistrate, or magistrate elect, should dine abroad anywhere except at the houses of certain persons. This law however was little observed; and we are told that Antius never dined out afterwards, that he might not see his own law violated.Julia, proposed by the dictator C. Julius Caesar, enforced the former sumptuary laws respecting entertainments which had fallen into disuse. He stationed officers in the provision market to seize upon all eatables forbidden by the law, and sometimes sent lictors and soldiers to banquets to take everything which was not allowed by the law.Julia, a lex of Augustus, allowed 200 sesterces to be expended upon festivals on dies profesti, 300 on those of the calends, ides, nones, and some other festive days, and 1000 upon marriage feasts. There was also an edict of Augustus or Tiberius, by which as much as from 300 to 2000 sesterces were allowed to be expended upon entertainments, the increase being made with the hope of securing thereby the observance of the law. Tiberius attempted to check extravagance in banquets; and a senatusconsultum was passed in his reign for the purpose of restraining luxury, which forbade gold vases to be employed, except for sacred purposes, and also prohibited the use of silk garments to men. This sumptuary law, however, was but little observed. Some regulations on the subject were also made by Nero and by succeeding emperors, but they appear to have been of little or no avail in checking the increasing love of luxury in dress and food.TĂBELLĀRĬAE, the laws by which the ballot was introduced in voting in the comitia. As to the ancient mode of voting at Rome, seeComitia,p. 107.Gabinia, proposed by the tribune GabiniusB.C.139, introduced the ballot in the election of magistrates; whence Cicero calls the tabellavindex tacitae libertatis.Cassia, proposed by the tribune L. Cassius LonginusB.C.137, introduced the ballot in thejudicium populi, or cases tried in the comitia by the whole body of the people, with the exception of cases of perduellio.Papiria, proposed by the tribune C. Papirius Carbo,B.C.131, introduced the ballot in the enactment and repeal of laws.Caelia, proposed by C. Caelius Caldus,B.C.107, introduced the ballot in cases of perduellio, which had been excepted in the Cassian law. There was also a law brought forward by Marius,B.C.119, which, was intended to secure freedom and order in voting.TARPĒIA ATERNĬA. [Aternia Tarpeia.]TĔRENTĪLĬA, proposed by the tribune C. Terentilius,B.C.462, but not carried, was a rogatio which had for its object an amendment of the constitution, though in form it only attempted a limitation of the imperium consulare. This rogatio probably led to the subsequent legislation of the decemviri.TESTĀMENTĀRĬAE. Various leges, such as the Cornelia, Falcidia, Furia, and Voconia, regulated testamentary dispositions.THŎRĬA, passedB.C.121, concerned the public land in Italy as far as the rivers Rubico and Macra, or all Italy except Cisalpine Gaul, the public land in the province of Africa, the public land in the territory of Corinth, and probably other public land besides. It relieved a great part of the public land of the land-tax (vectigal). Some considerable fragments of this lex have come down to us, engraved on the back part of the same bronze tablet which contained the Servilia Lex Judiciaria, and on Repetundae.TĬTĬA, similar in its provisions to the Lex Publicia.TĬTĬA,De Tutoribus. [Julia et Titia.]TRĒBONĬA, a plebiscitum proposed by L. Trebonius,B.C.448, which enacted that if the ten tribunes were not chosen before the comitia were dissolved, those who were elected should not fill up the number (co-optare), but that the comitia should be continued till the ten were elected.TRĒBŌNĬA DE PRŌVINCIIS CONSULĀRĬBUS. (Plut.Cat. Min.43; Liv.Epit.105.)TRĬBŪNĬTĬA. (1) A law passed in the times of the kings under the presidency of the tribunus celerum, and was so called to distinguish it from one passed under the presidency of the king. [Lex Regia.]—(2) Any law proposed by a tribune of the plebs.—(3) The law proposed by Pompey inB.C.70, restoring to the tribunes of the plebs the power of which they had been deprived by Sulla.TULLĬA DE AMBĬTU. [Ambitus.]TULLIA DE LĒGĀTIŌNE LĪBĔRA. [Legatus,p. 224.]VĂLĔRĬAE, proposed by the consul P. Valerius Publicola,B.C.508, enacted, 1. That whoever attempted to obtain possession of royal power should be devoted to the gods, together with his substance. 2. That whoever was condemned by the sentence of a magistrate to be put to death, to be scourged, or to be fined, should possess the right of appeal (provocatio) to the people. The patricians possessed previously the rightof appeal from the sentence of a magistrate to their own council the curiae, and therefore this law of Valerius probably related only to the plebeians, to whom it gave the right of appeal to the plebeian tribes, and not to the centuries. Hence the laws proposed by the Valerian family respecting the right of appeal are always spoken of as one of the chief safeguards of the liberty of the plebs. The right of appeal did not extend beyond a mile from the city, where unlimited imperium began, to which the patricians were just as much subject as the plebeians.VĂLĔRĬAE ET HŎRĀTĬAE, three laws proposed by the consuls L. Valerius and M. Horatius,B.C.449, in the year after the decemvirate, enacted, 1. That a plebiscitum should be binding on the whole people, respecting the meaning of which expression, seePlebiscitum. 2. That whoever should procure the election of a magistrate without appeal should be outlawed, and might be killed by any one with impunity. 3. Renewed the penalty threatened against any one who should harm the tribunes and the aediles, to whom were now added the judices and decemviri. There is considerable doubt as to who are meant by thejudicesanddecemviri.VĂLĔRĬA, proposed by the consul M. Valerius,B.C.300, re-enacted for the third time the celebrated law of his family respecting appeal (provocatio) from the decision of a magistrate. The law specified no fixed penalty for its violation, leaving the judges to determine what the punishment should be.VĂRĬA. [Majestas.]VĂTĪNĬA DE PRŌVINCIIS, was the enactment by which Julius Caesar obtained the province of Gallia Cisalpina with Illyricum for five years, to which the senate added Gallia Transalpina. This plebiscitum was proposed by the tribune Vatinius. A Trebonia Lex subsequently prolonged Caesar’s imperium for five years.VĂTĪNĬA DE CŎLŌNIS, under which the Latina Colonia [Latinitas] of Novum-Comum in Gallia Cisalpina was planted,B.C.59.VĂTĪNIA DE REJECTIŌNE JŪDĬCUM. (Cic.in Vatin.11.)DE VI. [Vis.]VĬĀRĬA. A viaria lex which Cicero says the tribune C. Curio talked of; but nothing more seems to be known of it. Some modern writers speak of leges viariae, but there do not appear to be any leges properly so called. The provisions as to roads in many of the Agrarian laws were parts of such leges, and had no special reference to roads.VISELLĬA, made a Latinus who assumed the rights of an ingenuus liable to prosecution.VILLĬA ANNĀLIS. [Lex Annalis.]VŎCŌNIA, enacted on the proposal of Q. Voconius Saxa, a tribunus plebis,B.C.169. One provision of the lex was, that no person who should be rated in the census at 100,000 sesterces (centum millia aeris) after the census of that year, should make any female (virginem neve mulierem) his heres. The lex allowed no exceptions, even in favour of an only daughter. It applied simply to testaments, and therefore a daughter or other female could inherit ab intestato to any amount. The vestal virgins could make women their heredes in all cases, which was the only exception to the provisions of the lex. Another provision of the lex forbade a person who was included in the census to give more in amount, in the form of a legacy to any person, than the heres or heredes should take. This provision secured something to the heres or heredes, but still the provision was ineffectual, and the object of the lex was only accomplished by the Lex Falcidia,B.C.44, which enacted that a testator should not give more than three-fourths in legacies, thus securing a fourth to the heres.
ACĪLĬA, De Coloniis Deducendis. (Liv. xxxii. 29.)
ACĪLIA. [Repetundae.]
ACĪLIA CALPURNĬA or CALPURNIA. [Ambitus.]
AEBUTĬA, of uncertain date, which with two Juliae Leges put an end to the Legis Actiones, except in certain cases. This or another lex of the same name prohibited the proposer of a lex, which created any office or power (curatio ac potestas), from having such office or power, and even excluded his collegae, cognati, and affines.
AELIA. This lex and a Fufia Lex, passed about the end of the sixth century of the city, gave to all the magistrates the obnunciatio, or power of preventing or dissolving the comitia, by observing the omens and declaring them to be unfavourable.
AELĬA, De Coloniis Deducendis. (Liv. xxxiv. 53.)
AELĬA SENTĬA, passed in the time of Augustus (aboutA.D.3). This lex contained various provisions as to the manumission of slaves.
AEMĬLĬA. A lex passed in the dictatorship of Mamercus Aemilius (B.C.433), by which the censors were elected for a year and a half, instead of a whole lustrum. After this lex they had accordingly only a year and a half allowed them for holding the census and letting out the public works to farm.
AEMĬLĬA BAEBĬA. [Cornelia Baebia.]
AEMĬLĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]
AGRĀRÏAE, the name of laws which had relation to the ager publicus. [Ager Publicus.] The most important of these are mentioned under the names of their proposers. [Appuleia;Cassia;Cornelia;Flaminia;Flavia;Julia;Licinia;Sempronia;Servilia;Thoria.]
AMBĬTUS. [Ambitus.]
AMPĬA, to allow Cn. Pompeius to wear a crown of bay at the Ludi Circenses, &c. Proposed by T. Ampius and T. Labienus, tr. pl.B.C.64.
ANNĀLIS or VILLĬA, proposed by L. Villius Tapulus inB.C.179, fixed the age at which a Roman citizen might become a candidate for the higher magistracies. It appears that until this law was passed, any office might be enjoyed by a citizen after completing his twenty-seventh year. The Lex Annalis fixed 31 as the age for the quaestorship, 37 for the aedileship, 40 for the praetorship, and 43 for the consulship.
ANTĬA. [Sumptuariae Leges.]
ANTŌNĬADe Thermensibus, aboutB.C.72, by which Thermessus in Pisidia was recognised as Libera.
ANTŌNĬAE, the name of various enactments proposed or passed by the influence of M. Antonius, after the death of the dictator J. Caesar.
APPŬLĒIA, respecting sureties.
APPŬLĒIA AGRĀRĬA, proposed by the tribune L. Appuleius Saturninus,B.C.101.
APPŬLĒIA FRŪMENTĀRĬA, proposed about the same time by the same tribune.
APPŬLĒIA,De Coloniis Deducendis. (Cic.pro Balbo, 21.)
APPŬLĒIA MAJESTĀTIS. [Majestas.]
ATERNIA TARPĒIA,B.C.455. This lex empowered all magistrates to fine persons who resisted their authority; but it fixed the highest fine at two sheep and thirty cows, or two cows and thirty sheep, for the authorities vary in this.
ĂTĬA DE SĂCERDŌTIIS (B.C.63), proposed by the tribune T. Atius Labienus, repealed the Lex Cornelia de Sacerdotiis.
ĂTĪLĬA MARCĬA,B.C.312, empowered the populus to elect 16 tribuni militum for each of four legions.
ĂTĪLĬA, respecting tutores.
ĂTĪNĬA, respecting thefts.
ĂTĪNĬA, of uncertain date, was a plebiscitum which gave the rank of senator to a tribune. This measure probably originated with C. Atinius, who was tribuneB.C.130.
AUFĬDĬA. [Ambitus.]
AURĒLĬA (B.C.70), enacted that the judices should be chosen from the senators, equites, and tribuni aerarii. [Judex.]
AURĒLĬA TRĬBŪNĬCĬA, respecting the tribunes.
BAEBĬA (B.C.192 or 180), enacted that four praetors and six praetors should be chosen alternately; but the law was not observed.
BAEBĬA CORNĒLĬA. [Ambitus.]
CAECĬLĬA DE CENSŌRĬBUS or CENSŌRIA (B.C.54), proposed by Metellus Scipio, repealed a Clodia Lex (B.C.58), which had prescribed certain regular forms of proceeding for the censors in exercising their functions as inspectors of mores, and had required the concurrence of both censors to inflict the nota censoria. When a senator had been already convicted before an ordinary court, the lex permitted the censors to remove him from the senate in a summary way.
CAECĬLĬA DE VECTĪGĀLĬBUS (B.C.62), released lands and harbours in Italy from the payment of taxes and dues (portoria). The only vectigal remaining after the passing of this lex was the Vicesima.
CAECĬLĬA DĪDĬA (B.C.98) forbade the proposing of a Lex Satura, on the ground that the people might be compelled either to vote for something which they did not approve, or to reject something which they did approve, if it was proposed to them in this manner. This lex was not always operative.
CAELIA. [Leges Tabellariae.]
CĂLĬGŬLAE LEX AGUĀRĬA. [Mamilia.]
CALPURNĬA DE AMBĬTU. [Ambitus.]
CALPURNĬA DE RĔPĔTUNDIS. [Repetundae.]
CĂNŬLĒIA. (B.C.445) established connubium between the patres and plebs, which had been taken away by the law of the Twelve Tables.
CASSĬA (B.C.104), proposed by the tribune L. Cassius Longinus, did not allow a person to remain a senator who had been convicted in a judicium populi, or whose imperium had been abrogated by the populus.
CASSĬA empowered the dictator Caesar to add to the number of the patricii, to prevent their extinction.
CASSĬA AGRĀRĬA, proposed by the consul Sp. Cassius,B.C.486. This is said to have been the first agrarian law. It enacted that of the land taken from the Hernicans, half should be given to the Latins, and half to the plebs, and likewise that part of the public land possessed by the patricians should be distributed among the plebeians. This law met with the most violent opposition, and appears not to have been carried. Cassius was accused of aiming at the sovereignty, and was put to death. [Ager Publicus.]
CASSĬA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [Leges Tabellariae.]
CASSĬA TĔRENTĬA FRŪMENTĀRĬA (B.C.73) for the distribution of corn among the poor citizens and the purchasing of it.
CINCĬA DE DŌNIS ET MŪNĔRĬBUS, a plebiscitum passed in the time of the tribune M. Cincius Alimentus (B.C.204). It forbade a person to take any thing for his pains in pleading a cause. In the time of Augustus, the Lex Cincia was confirmed by a senatus-consultum, and a penalty of four times the sum received was imposed on the advocate. The law was so far modified in the time of Claudius, that an advocate was allowed to receive ten sestertia; if he took any sum beyond that, he was liable to be prosecuted for repetundae. It appears that this permission was so far restricted in Trajan’s time, that the fee could not be paid till the work was done.
CLAUDĬA, passed under the emperor Claudius, took away the agnatorum tutela in case of women.
CLAUDĬAde Senatoribus,B.C.218 (Liv. xxi. 63), the provisions of which are alluded to by Cicero as antiquated and dead in his time.
CLŌDIAE, the name of various plebiscita, proposed by Clodius, when tribune,B.C.58.
Clodia de Auspiciisprevented the magistratus from dissolving the comitia tributa, by declaring that the auspices were unfavourable. This lex therefore repealed the Aelia and Fufia. It also enacted that a lex might be passed on the dies fasti. [Aelia Lex.]
Clodia de Censoribus.[Caecilia.]
Clodia de Civibus Romanis Interemptis, to the effect that “qui civem Romanum indemnatum interemisset, ei aqua et igni interdiceretur.” It was in consequence of this lex that the interdict was pronounced against Cicero, who considers the whole proceeding as a privilegium.
Clodia Frumentaria, by which the corn, which had formerly been sold to the poor citizens at a low rate, was given.
Clodia de Sodalitatibusorde Collegiisrestored the Sodalitia, which had been abolished by a senatus-consultum of the yearB.C.80, and permitted the formation of new Sodalitia.
Clodia de Libertinorum Suffragiis.(Cic.pro Mil.12, 33.)
Clodia de Rege Ptolemaeo et de Exsulibus Byzantinis.(Vell. Pat. ii. 45.)
There were other so-called Leges Clodiae, which were however privilegia.
COMMISSORĬA LEX, respecting sales.
CORNĒLĬAE. Various leges passed in the dictatorship of Sulla, and by his influence, are so called.
Agraria, by which many of the inhabitants of Etruria and Latium were deprived of the complete civitas, and retained only the commercium, and a large part of their lands were made public, and given to military colonists.
De Civitate.(Liv.,Epit.86.)
De Falsis, against those who forged testaments or other deeds, and against those who adulterated or counterfeited the public coin, whence Cicero calls ittestamentariaandnummaria.
De Injuriis.[Injuria.]
Judiciaria.[Judex.]
De Magistratibus, partly a renewal of old plebiscita. (Appian,B.C.i. 100, 101.)
Majestatis.[Majestas.]
De Parricidio.[See below:De Sicariis.]
De Proscriptione et Proscriptis.[Proscriptio.]
De Provinciis Ordinandis.(Cic.ad Fam.i. 9; iii. 6, 8, 10.)
De Repetundis.[Repetundae.]
De Sacerdotiis.[Sacerdos.]
De Sicariis et Veneficis, contained provisions as to death or fire caused bydolus malus, and against persons going about armed with the intention of killing or thieving. The law not only provided for cases of poisoning, but contained provisions against those who made, sold, bought, possessed, or gave poison for the purpose of poisoning; also against a magistratus or senator who conspired in order that a person might be condemned in ajudicium publicum, &c.
Sumptuariae.[Leges Sumptuariae.]
Tribunicia, which diminished the power of the Tribuni Plebis.
Unciariaappears to have been a lex which lowered the rate of interest, and to have been passed about the same time with the Leges Sumptuariae of Sulla.
CORNĒLĬAE, which were proposed by the tribune C. Cornelius aboutB.C.67. One limited the edictal power by compelling the praetorsJus dicere ex edictis suis perpetuis.—Another lex of the same tribune enacted that no onelegibus solveretur, unless such a measure was agreed on in a meeting of the senate at which two hundred members were present, and afterwards approved by the people; and it enacted that no tribune should put his veto on such a senatus-consultum.—There was also a Lex Cornelia concerning the wills of those Roman citizens who died in captivity (apud hostes).
CORNĒLIA DE NOVIS TABELLIS, proposed by P. Corn. Dolabella,B.C.47.
CORNĒLIA ET CAECĬLĪA,B.C.57, gave Cn. Pompeius the superintendence of the Res Frumentaria for five years.
CORNĒLĬA BAEBĬA DE AMBĬTU, proposed by the consuls P. Cornelius Cethegus and M. Baebius Tamphilus,B.C.181. This law is sometimes, but erroneously, attributed to the consuls of the preceding year, L. Aemilius and Cn. Baebius. [Ambitus.]
CŪRIĀTA LEX DE IMPERIO. [Imperium.]
CŪRIĀTA LEX DE ADOPTIONE. [Adoptio.]
DĔCEMVĬRĀLIS. [Lex Duodecim Tabularum.]
DĔCĬA DE DUUMVIRIS NAVALIBUS. (Liv. ix. 30.)
DĪDĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]
DOMĬTĬA DE SĂCERDŌTIIS. [Sacerdos.]
DUĪLĬA (B.C.449), a plebiscitum proposed by the tribune Duilius, which enacted that whoever left the people without tribunes, or created a magistrate from whom there was no appeal (provocatio), should be scourged and beheaded.
DUĪLĬA MAENĬA, proposed by the tribunes Duilius and Maenius (B.C.357), restored the old uncial rate of interest (unciarium fenus), which had been fixed by the Twelve Tables. [Fenus.] The same tribunes carried a measure which was intended, in future, to prevent such unconstitutional proceedings as the enactment of a lex by the soldiers out of Rome, on the proposal of the consul.
DŬŎDĔCIM TĂBŬLĀRUM. In the yearB.C.454 the Senate assented to a Plebiscitum, pursuant to which commissioners were to be sent to Athens and the Greek cities generally, in order to make themselves acquainted with their laws. Three commissioners were appointed for the purpose. On the return of the commissioners,B.C.452, it was agreed that persons should be appointed to draw up the code of laws (decemviri Legibus scribundis), but they were to be chosen only from the Patricians, with a provision that the rights of the Plebeians should be respected by the decemviri in drawing up the laws. In the following year (B.C.451) the Decemviri were appointed in the Comitia Centuriata, and during the time of their office no other magistratus were chosen. The body consisted of ten Patricians, including the three commissioners who had been sent abroad: Appius Claudius, Consul designatus, was at the head of the body. Ten Tables of Laws were prepared during the year, and after being approved by the Senate were confirmed by the Comitia Centuriata. As it was considered that some further Laws were wanted, Decemviri were again electedB.C.450, consisting of Appius Claudius and his friends. Two more Tables were added by these Decemviri, which Cicero calls “Duae tabulae iniquarum legum.” The provisionwhich allowed no connubium between the Patres and the Plebs is referred to the Eleventh Table. The whole Twelve Tables were first published in the consulship of L. Valerius and M. Horatius after the downfall of the Decemviri,B.C.449. This the first attempt to make a code remained also the only attempt for near one thousand years, until the legislation of Justinian. The Twelve Tables are mentioned by the Roman writers under a great variety of names:Leges Decemvirales,Lex Decemviralis,Leges XII.,Lex XII. tabularumorDuodecim, and sometimes they are referred to under the names ofLegesandLexsimply, as being pre-eminently The Law. The Laws were cut on bronze tablets and put up in a public place. They contained matters relating both to the Jus Publicum and the Jus Privatum (fons publici privatique juris). The Jus Publicum underwent great changes in the course of years, but the Jus Privatum of the Twelve Tables continued to be the fundamental law of the Roman State. The Roman writers speak in high terms of the precision of the enactments contained in the Twelve Tables, and of the propriety of the language in which they were expressed.
FĂBĬA DE PLĂGIO. [Plagium.]
FĂBĬA DE NUMERO SECTATORUM. (Cic.pro Murena, 34.)
FALCIDIA. [Lex Voconia.]
FANNĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]
FANNĬA. [Junia de Peregrinis.]
FLĀMĬNĬA was an Agraria Lex for the distribution of lands in Picenum, proposed by the tribune C. Flaminius, inB.C.228 according to Cicero, or inB.C.232 according to Polybius. The latter date is the more probable.
FLĀVĬA AGRĀRĬA,B.C.60, for the distribution of lands among Pompey’s soldiers, proposed by the tribune L. Flavius, who committed the consul Caecilius Metellus to prison for opposing it.
FRŪMENTĀRĬAE. Various leges were so called which had for their object the distribution of grain among the people, either at a low price or gratuitously. [Frumentariae Leges,p. 182.]
FŪFĬA DE RĒLĬGĬŌNE,B.C.61, was a privilegium which related to the trial of Clodius.
FŪFĬA JŪDĬCĬĀRĬA. [Judex,p. 217.]
FŪRIA or FŪSĬA CĂNĪNĬA limited the number of slaves to be manumitted by testament.
FŪRIA or FŪSĬA TESTĂMENTĀRĬA, enacted that a testator should not give more than three-fourths of his property in legacies, thus securing one-fourth to the heres.
GĂBĪNĬA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [Leges Tabellariae.] There were various Gabiniae Leges, some of which were privilegia, as that for conferring extraordinary power on Cn. Pompeius for conducting the war against the pirates. A Gabinia Lex,B.C.58, forbade all loans of money at Rome to legationes from foreign parts. The object of the lex was to prevent money being borrowed for the purpose of bribing the senators at Rome.
GALLĬAE CISALPĪNAE. [Rubria.]
GELLIA CORNĒLĬA,B.C.72, which gave to Cn. Pompeius the extraordinary power of conferring the Roman civitas on Spaniards in Spain, with the advice of his consilium.
GENUCĬA,B.C.341, forbade altogether the taking of interest for the use of money.
HĬĔRŎNĬCA was not a lex properly so called. Before the Roman conquest of Sicily, the payment of the tenths of wine, oil, and other produce had been fixed by Hiero; and the Roman quaestors, in letting these tenths to farm, followed the practice which they found established.
HŎRĀTĬAE ET VALĔRĬAE. [Leges Valeriae.]
HORTENSIA DE PLĒBISCĪTIS. [Leges Publiliae;Plebiscitum.] Another Lex Hortensia enacted that the nundinae, which had hitherto been feriae, should be dies fasti. This was done for the purpose of accommodating the inhabitants of the country.
ICILĬA,B.C.456, by which the Aventinus was assigned to the plebs. This was the first instance of the ager publicus being assigned to the plebs. Another Lex Icilia, proposed by the tribune Sp. Icilius,B.C.470, had for its object to prevent all interruption to the tribunes while acting in the discharge of their duties. In some cases the penalty was death.
JŪLĬAE. Most of the Juliae Leges were passed in the time of C. Julius Caesar and Augustus.
De Adulteriis.[Adulterium.]
Agraria,B.C.59, in the consulship of Caesar, for distributing the ager publicus in Campania among 20,000 poor citizens, who had each three children or more.
De Ambitu.[Ambitus.]
De Bonis Cedendis.This lex provided that a debtor might escape all personal molestation from his creditors by giving up his property to them for the purpose of sale and distribution. It is doubtful if this lex was passed in the time of Julius Caesar or of Augustus, though probably of the former.
De Caede et Veneficio(Suet.Ver.33), perhaps the same as the Lex De Vi Publica.
De Civitatewas passed in the consulship of L. Julius Caesar and P. RutiliusLupus,B.C.90. [Civitas;Foederatae Civitates.]
De Fenore, or rather De Pecuniis Mutuis or Creditis (B.C.47), passed in the time of Julius Caesar. The object of it was to make an arrangement between debtors and creditors, for the satisfaction of the latter. The possessiones and res were to be estimated at the value which they had before the civil war, and to be surrendered to the creditors at that value; whatever had been paid for interest was to be deducted from the principal. The result was, that the creditor lost about one-fourth of his debt; but he escaped the loss usually consequent on civil disturbance, which would have been caused by novae tabulae.
Judiciariae.[Judex.]
De Liberis Legationibus.[Legatus.]
De Majestate.[Majestas.]
De Maritandis Ordinibus.[See below:Julia et Papia Poppaea.]
Municipalis, commonly called the Table of Heraclea. In the year 1732 there were found near the Gulf of Tarentum and in the neighbourhood of the city of ancient Heraclea, large fragments of a bronze table, which contained on one side a Roman lex, and on the other a Greek inscription. The whole is now in the Museo Borbonico at Naples. The lex contains various provisions as to the police of the city of Rome, and as to the constitution of communities of Roman citizens (municipia,coloniae,praefecturae,fora,conciliabula civium Romanorum). It was accordingly a lex of that kind which is called Satura. It was probably passed inB.C.45.
Julia et Papia Poppaea.Augustus appears to have caused a lex to be enacted aboutB.C.18, which is cited as theLex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus, and is referred to in the Carmen Seculare of Horace, which was written in the yearB.C.17. The object of this lex was to regulate marriages, as to which it contained numerous provisions; but it appears not to have come into operation till the yearB.C.13. In the yearA.D.9, and in the consulship of M. Papius Mutilus and Q. Poppaeus Secundus (consules suffecti), another lex was passed as a kind of amendment and supplement to the former lex, and hence arose the title of Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea, by which this lex is often quoted. The lex is often variously quoted, according as reference is made to its various provisions; sometimes it is calledLex Julia, sometimesPapia Poppaea, sometimesLex Julia et Papia, sometimesLex de Maritandis Ordinibus, from the chapter which treated of the marriages of the senators, sometimesLex Caducaria, Decimaria, &c. from the various chapters. The Lex Julia forbade the marriage of a senator or senator’s children with a libertina, with a woman whose father or mother had followed an ars ludicra, and with a prostitute; and also the marriage of a libertinus with a senator’s daughter. In order to promote marriage, various penalties were imposed on those who lived in a state of celibacy (caelibatus) after a certain age, and various privileges were given to those who had three or more children. A candidate for the public offices who had several children was preferred to one who had fewer. After the passing of this lex, it became usual for the senate, and afterwards the emperor (princeps), to give occasionally, as a privilege to certain persons who had not children, the same advantage that the lex secured to those who had children. This was called theJus Liberorum, and sometimes theJus trium Liberorum.
Peculatus, cited in the Digest, related to sacrilege as well as peculatus.
Julia et Plautia, respecting stolen things.
Julia Papiria.[Papiria.]
De Provinciis.[Provinciae.]
Repetundarum.[Repetundae.]
Sacrilegis.[See above:Julia Peculatus.]
Sumptuariae.[Leges Sumptuariae.]
Theatralis, which permitted Roman equites, in case they or their parents had ever had a census equestris, to sit in the fourteen rows (quatuordecim ordines) fixed by the Lex Roscia Theatralis,B.C.69.
Julia et Titia, respecting Tutors.
De Vi Publica and Privata.[Vis.]
Vicesimaria.[Vicesima.]
JŪNĬA DE PĔRĔGRĪNIS, proposedB.C.126, by M. Junius Pennus, a tribune, banished peregrini from the city. A lex of C. Fannius, consulB.C.122, contained the same provisions respecting the Latini and Italici; and a lex of C. Papius, perhapsB.C.65, contained the same respecting all persons who were not domiciled in Italy.
JŪNĬA LĬCĬNĬA. [Licinia Junia.]
JŪNIA NORBĀNA, of uncertain date, but probably aboutA.D.17, enacted that when a Roman citizen had manumitted a slave without the requisite formalities, the manumission should not in all cases be ineffectual, but the manumitted person should have the status of a Latinus.
JŪNIA RĒPĔTUNDĀRUM. [Repetundae.]
LAETŌRIA, the false name of the Lex Plaetoria. [Curator.] Sometimes the lex proposed by Volero for electing plebeian magistrates at the comitia tributa is cited as a Lex Laetoria.
LĬCĬNĬA DE SŎDĀLĬTIIS. [Ambitus.]
LĬCĬNIA. [Aebutia.]
LĬCĬNIA DE LŪDIS ĂPOLLĬNĀRĬBUS. (Liv. xxvii. 23.)
LĬCĬNIA JŪNIA, or, as it is sometimes called, Junia et Licinia, passed in the consulship of L. Licinius Murena and Junius Silanus,B.C.62, enforced the Caecilia Didia, in connection with which it is sometimes mentioned.
LĬCĬNIA MŪCĬA DE CĪVĬBUS RĔGUNDIS, passed in the consulship of L. Licinius Crassus and Q. Mucius Scaevola,B.C.95, enacted a strict examination as to the title to citizenship, and deprived of the exercise of civic rights all those who could not make out a good title to them. This measure partly led to the Marsic war.
LĬCĬNIA SUMPTUĀRIA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]
LĬCĬNIAE, proposed by C. Licinius, who was tribune of the people fromB.C.376 to 367, and who brought the contest between the patricians and plebeians to a happy termination. He was supported in his exertions by his colleague L. Sextius. The laws which he proposed were: 1. That in future no more consular tribunes should be appointed, but that consuls should be elected as in former times, one of whom should always be a plebeian. 2. That no one should possess more than 500 jugera of the public land, nor keep upon it more than 100 head of large, or 500 of small cattle. It is related that Licinius was accused and condemned for violating his own law. Livy states that Licinius, together with his son, held 1000 jugera of the public land, and by emancipating his son had acted in fraud of the law. The son thus possessed 500 jugera in his own name, while his father had the actual enjoyment. 3. A law regulating the affairs between debtor and creditor, which ordained that the interest already paid for borrowed money should be deducted from the capital, and that the remainder of the latter should be paid back in three yearly instalments. 4. That the Sibylline books should be entrusted to a college of ten men (decemviri), half of whom should be plebeians, in order that no falsifications might be introduced in favour of the patricians. These rogations were passed after a most vehement opposition on the part of the patricians, and L. Sextius was the first plebeian who, in accordance with the first of them, obtained the consulship for the yearB.C.366.
LĬCĬNIA, also called MANLĬA,B.C.196, created the triumviri epulones.
LĪVĬAE, various enactments proposed by the tribune M. Livius Drusus,B.C.91, for establishing colonies in Italy and Sicily, distributing corn among the poor citizens at a low rate, and admitting the foederatae civitates to the Roman civitas. He is also said to have been the mover of a law for adulterating silver by mixing with it an eighth part of brass. Drusus was assassinated, and the senate declared that all his laws were passedcontra auspicia, and were therefore not leges.
LUTĀTIA DE VI, proposed by the consul Q. Lutatius Catulus, with the assistance of Plautius the tribune: usually called Lex Plautia or Plotia. [Vis.]
MAENĬA LEX, is only mentioned by Cicero, who says that M. Curius compelled the patresante auctores fieriin the case of the election of a plebeian consul, “which,” adds Cicero, “was a great thing to accomplish, as the Lex Maenia was not yet passed.” The lex therefore required the patres to give their consent at least to the election of a magistratus, or, in other words, to confer or agree to confer the imperium on the person whom the comitia should elect. It was probably proposed by the tribune MaeniusB.C.287.
MAJESTĀTIS. [Majestas.]
MAMILĬA DE JŬGURTHAE FAUTŌRĬBUS. (Sall.Jug.40.)
MAMILIA FINIUM RĔGUNDŌRUM,B.C.239 or 165, respecting boundaries.
MĀNĪLĬA, proposed by the tribune C. Manilius,B.C.66, was a privilegium by which was conferred on Pompey the command in the war against Mithridates. The lex was supported by Cicero when praetor.
MANLĬA. [Licinia.]
MANLIA DE VĪCĒSĬMA,B.C.357, imposed the tax of five per cent. (vicesima) on the value of manumitted slaves.
MARCĬA, probably about the yearB.C.352,adversus feneratores.
MARCĬA, an agrarian law proposed by the tribune L. Marcius Philippus,B.C.104.
MĂRĬA, proposed by Marius when tribune,B.C.119, for narrowing the pontes at elections.
MEMMIA or REMMĬA. [Calumnia.]
MENSĬA, respecting the marriage of a Roman woman with a peregrinus, declared the offspring of such marriages peregrini.
MĬNŬCĬA,B.C.216, created the triumviri mensarii.
NERVAE AGRĀRIA, the latest known instance of a lex.
OCTĀVĬA,B.C.91, one of the numerous leges frumentariae which repealed a Sempronia Frumentaria. It is mentioned by Cicero as a more reasonable measure than the Sempronia, which was too profuse.
OGULNĬA, proposed by the tribunes,B.C.300, increased the number of pontifices to eight, and that of the augurs to nine; it also enacted that four of the pontifices and five of the augurs should be taken from the plebes.
OPPĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]
ORCHĬA. [Leges Sumptuariae.]
ŎVĪNĬA, of uncertain date, was a plebiscitum which gave the censors certain powers in regulating the lists of the senators (ordo senatorius): the main object seems to have been to exclude all improper persons from the senate, and to prevent their admission, if in other respects qualified.
PĀPĬA DE PĔRĔGRĪNIS. [Lex Junia de Peregrinis.]
PĀPIA POPPAEA. [Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea.]
PĂPĪRĬA or JŪLIA PĂPĪRIA DE MULCTĀRUM AESTĬMĀTIŌNE (B.C.430), fixed a money value according to which fines were paid, which formerly were paid in sheep and cattle. Some writers make this valuation part of the Aternian law [Aternia Tarpeia], but in this they appear to have been mistaken.
PĂPĪRIA, by which the as was made semuncialis, one of the various enactments which tampered with the coinage.
PĂPĪRĬA,B.C.332, proposed by the praetor Papirius, gave the Acerrani the civitas without the suffragium. It was properly a privilegium, but is useful as illustrating the history of the extension of the civitas Romana.
PĂPĪRĬA, of uncertain date, enacted that noaedesshould be declaredconsecrataewithout a plebiscitum.
PĂPĪRIA PLAUTĬA, a plebiscitum of the yearB.C.89, proposed by the tribunes C. Papirius Carbo and M. Plautius Silvanus, in the consulship of Cn. Pompeius Strabo and L. Porcius Cato, is called by Cicero a lex of Silvanus and Carbo. [SeeCivitas;Foederatae Civitates.]
PĂPĪRIA POETELĬA. [Lex Poetelia.]
PĂPĪRIA TĂBELLĀRĬA. [Leges Tabellariae.]
PĔDĬA, relating to the murderers of Caesar.
PĒDŪCAEA,B.C.113, a plebiscitum, seems to have been merely a privilegium, and not a general law against incestum.
PESULĀNĬA, provided that if an animal did any damage, the owner should make it good, or give up the animal.
PĔTILLĬA,De Pecunia Regis Antiochi. (Liv. xxxviii. 54.)
PETRĒIA,de decimatione militum, in case of mutiny.
PETRŌNĬA, probably passed in the time of Augustus, and subsequently amended by various senatusconsulta, forbade a master to deliver up his slave to fight with wild beasts.
PĪNĀRĬ, related to the giving of a judex within a limited time.
PLAETŌRĬA. [Curator.]
PLAUTĬA or PLŎTIA DE VI. [Vis.]
PLAUTIA or PLŌTIA JŪDĬCĬĀRIA, enacted that fifteen persons should be annually taken from each tribe to be placed in the Album Judicum.
PLAUTIA ET PLŌTIA DE RĔDĬTU LĔPĬDĀNORUM. (Suet. Caes. 5.)
POETELĬA,B.C.358, a plebiscitum, was the first lex against ambitus.
POETELIA PĂPĪRIA,B.C.326, made an important change in the liabilities of the Nexi.
POMPĒIAE. There were various leges so called.
De Civitate, proposed by Cn. Pompeius Strabo, the father of Cn. Pompeius Magnus, probably in his consulshipB.C.89, gave the jus Latii or Latinitas to all the towns of the Transpadani, and probably the civitas to the Cispadani.
De Ambitu.[Ambitus.]
De Imperio Caesari Prorogando.(Vell. Pat. ii. 46; Appian,B.C.ii. 18.)
Judiciaria.[Judex,p. 217,a.]
De Jure Magistratuum, forbade a person to be a candidate for public offices (petitio honorum) who was not at Rome; but J. Caesar was excepted. This was doubtless the old law, but it had apparently become obsolete.
De Parricidiis.[Parricidium.]
Tribunitia(B.C.70), restored the old tribunitia potestas, which Sulla had nearly destroyed. [Tribuni.]
De Vi, was a privilegium, and only referred to the case of Milo.
PORCĬAE DE CĂPĬTE CĪVĬUM, or DE PRŌVŎCĀTIŌNE, enacted that no Roman citizen should be scourged or put to death.
PORCIA DE PRŌVINCIIS, aboutB.C.198, the enactments of which are doubtful.
PUBLĬCĬA, permitted betting at certain games which required strength.
PUBLĪLĬA. In the consulship of L. Pinarius and P. Furius,B.C.471, the tribune Publilius Volero proposed, in the assembly of the tribes, that the tribunes should in future be appointed in the comitia of the tribes (ut plebeii magistratus tributis comitiis fierent), instead of by the centuries, as had formerly been the case; since the clients of the patricians were so numerous in the centuries, that the plebeians could not elect whom theywished. This measure was violently opposed by the patricians, who prevented the tribes from coming to any resolution respecting it throughout this year; but in the following year,B.C.471, Publilius was re-elected tribune, and together with him C. Laetorius, a man of still greater resolution than Publilius. Fresh measures were added to the former proposition: the aediles were to be chosen by the tribes, as well as the tribunes, and the tribes were to be competent to deliberate and determine on all matters affecting the whole nation, and not such only as might concern the plebes. This proposition, though still more violently resisted by the patricians than the one of the previous year, was carried. Some said that the number of the tribunes was now for the first time raised to five, having been only two previously.
PUBLĪLĬAE, proposed by the dictator Q. Publilius Philo,B.C.339. According to Livy, there were three Publiliae Leges. 1. The first is said to have enacted, that plebiscita should bind all Quirites, which is to the same purport as the Lex Hortensia ofB.C.286. It is probable, however, that the object of this law was to render the approval of the senate a sufficient confirmation of a plebiscitum, and to make the confirmation of the curiae unnecessary. 2. The second law enacted,ut legum quae comitiis centuriatis ferrerentur ante initum suffragium patres auctores fierent. By patres Livy here means the curiae; and accordingly this law made the confirmation of the curiae a mere formality in reference to all laws submitted to the comitia centuriata, since every law proposed by the senate to the centuries was to be considered to have the sanction of the curiae also. 3. The third law enacted that one of the two censors should necessarily be a plebeian. It is probable that there was also a fourth law, which applied the Licinian law to the praetorship as well as to the censorship, and which provided that in each alternate year the praetor should be a plebeian.
PŪPĬA, mentioned by Cicero, seems to have enacted that the senate could not meet on comitiales dies.
QUINTĬA, was a lex proposed by T. Quintius Crispinus, consulB.C.9, for the preservation of the aquaeductus.
RĒGĬA. ALex Regiaduring the kingly period of Roman history might have a two-fold meaning. In the first place it was a law which had been passed by the comitia under the presidency of the king, and was thus distinguished from aLex Tribunicia, which was passed by the comitia under the presidency of the tribunus celerum. In later times all laws, the origin of which was attributed to the time of the kings, were calledLeges Regiae, though it by no means follows that they were all passed under the presidency of the kings, and much less, that they were enacted by the kings without the sanction of the curies. Some of these laws were preserved and followed at a very late period of Roman history. A collection of them was made, though at what time is uncertain, by Papisius or Papirius, and this compilation was called theJus Civile PapirianumorPapisianum. The second meaning ofLex Regiaduring the kingly period was undoubtedly the same as that of theLex Curiata de Imperio. [Imperium.] This indeed is not mentioned by any ancient writer, but must be inferred from theLex Regiawhich we meet with under the empire, for the name could scarcely have been invented then; it must have come down from early times, when its meaning was similar, though not nearly so extensive. During the empire the curies continued to hold their meetings, though they were only a shadow of those of former times; and after the election of a new emperor, they conferred upon him the imperium in the ancient form by aLex Curiata de Imperio, which was now usually calledLex Regia. The imperium, however, which thisRegia Lexconferred upon an emperor, was of a very different nature from that which in former times it had conferred upon the kings. It now embraced all the rights and powers which the populus Romanus had formerly possessed, so that the emperor became what formerly the populus had been, that is, the sovereign power in the state. A fragment of such a lex regia, conferring the imperium upon Vespasian, engraved upon a brazen table, is still extant in the Lateran at Rome.
REMNĬA. [Calumnia.]
RĔPĔTUNDĀRUM. [Repetundae.]
RHŎDĬA. The Rhodians had a maritime code which was highly esteemed. Some of its provisions were adopted by the Romans, and have thus been incorporated into the maritime law of European states. It was not, however, a lex in the proper sense of the term.
ROSCĬA THEĀTRĀLIS, proposed by the tribune L. Roscius Otho,B.C.67, which gave the equites a special place at the public spectacles in fourteen rows or seats (in quatuordecim gradibus sive ordinibus) next to the place of the senators, which was in the orchestra. This lex also assigned a certain place to spendthrifts. The phrasesedere in quatuordecim ordinibusis equivalent to having the proper census equestris which was required by the lex. There are numerousallusions to this lex, which is sometimes simply called the Lex of Otho, or referred to by his name. It is erroneously supposed by some writers to have been enacted in the consulship of Cicero,B.C.63.
RUBRĬA. The province of Gallia Cisalpina ceased to be a provincia, and became a part of Italia, about the yearB.C.43. When this change took place, it was necessary to provide for the administration of justice, as the usual modes of provincial administration would cease with the determination of the provincial form of government. This was effected by a lex, a large part of which, on a bronze tablet, is preserved in the Museum at Parma. The name of this lex is not known, but it is supposed by some to be the Lex Rubria.
RŬPĬLĬAE LĒGES (B.C.131), were the regulations established by P. Rupilius, and ten legati, for the administration of the province of Sicily, after the close of the first servile war. They were made in pursuance of a consultum of the senate. Cicero speaks of these regulations as a decretum of Rupilius, which he says they call Lex Rupilia; but it was not a lex proper. The powers given to the commissioners by the Lex Julia Municipalis were of a similar kind.
SĂCRĀTAE. Leges were properly so called which had for their object to make a thing or personsacer. A lex sacrata militaris is also mentioned by Livy.
SAENĬA DE PATRICIORUM NUMERO AUGENDO, enacted in the 5th consulship of Augustus.
SĂTŬRA. [Lex,p. 226,a.]
SCANTĪNĬA, proposed by a tribune; the date and contents are not known, but its object was to suppress unnatural crimes. It existed in the time of Cicero.
SCRĪBŌNĬA. The date and whole import of this lex are not known; but it enacted that a right to servitutes should not be acquired by usucapion.
SCRĪBŌNIA VĬĀRIA or DE VIIS MUNIENDIS,B.C.51.
SEMPRŌNĬAE, the name of various laws proposed by Tiberius and Caius Sempronius Gracchus.
Agraria.InB.C.133 the tribune Tib. Gracchus revived the Agrarian law of Licinius [Leges Liciniae]: he proposed that no one should possess more than 500 jugera of the public land, and that the surplus land should be divided among the poor citizens, who were not to have the power of alienating it: he also proposed, as a compensation to the possessors deprived of the land on which they had frequently made improvements, that the former possessors should have the full ownership of 500 jugera, and each of their sons, if they had any, half that quantity: finally, that three commissioners (triumviri) should be appointed every year to carry the law into effect. This law naturally met with the greatest opposition, but it was eventually passed in the year in which it was proposed, and Tib. Gracchus, C. Gracchus, and Appius Claudius were the three commissioners appointed under it. It was, however, never carried fully into effect, in consequence of the murder of Tib. Gracchus. Owing to the difficulties which were experienced in carrying his brother’s agrarian law into effect, it was again brought forward by C. Gracchus,B.C.123.
De Capite Civium Romanorum, proposed by C. GracchusB.C.123, enacted that the people only should decide respecting the caput or civil condition of a citizen. This law continued in force till the latest times of the republic.
Frumentaria, proposed by C. GracchusB.C.123, enacted that corn should be sold by the state to the people once a month at the price of 6⅓ asses for each modius, which was equal to 1 gallon and nearly 8 pints English. This was only a trifle more than half the market price.
Judiciaria.[Judex,p. 216.]
Militaris, proposed by C. GracchusB.C.123, enacted that the soldiers should receive their clothing gratis, and that no one should be enrolled as a soldier under the age of seventeen. Previously a fixed sum was deducted from the pay for all clothes and arms issued to the soldiers.
Ne quis Judicio circumveniretur, proposed by C. Gracchus,B.C.123, punished all who conspired to obtain the condemnation of a person in a judicium publicum. One of the provisions of the Lex Cornelia de Sicariis was to the same effect.
De Provinciis Consularibus, proposed by C. GracchusB.C.123, enacted that the senate should fix each year, before the comitia for electing the consuls were held, the two provinces which were to be allotted to the two new consuls. There was also a Sempronian law concerning the province of Asia, which probably did not form part of the Lex de Provinciis Consularibus: it enacted that the taxes of this province should be let out to farm by the censors at Rome. This law was afterwards repealed by J. Caesar.
SEMPRŌNIA DE FĒNŎRE,B.C.193, was a plebiscitum proposed by a tribune, M. Sempronius, which enacted that the law (jus) about money lent (pecunia credita) should be the same for the Socii and Latini (Socii ac nomen Latinum) as for Roman citizens. The object of the lex was to prevent Romans fromlending money in the name of the Socii, who were not bound by the fenebres leges. The lex could obviously only apply within the jurisdiction of Rome.
SERVĪLĬA AGRĀRIA, proposed by the tribune P. S. Rullus in the consulship of Cicero,B.C.63, was a very extensive agrarian rogatio. It was successfully opposed by Cicero; but it was in substance carried by J. Caesar,B.C.59 [Lex Julia Agraria], and is the lex called by CiceroLex Campana, from the public land called ager campanus being assigned under this lex.
SERVĪLĬA GLAUCIA DE CĪVĬTĀTE. [Repetundae.]
SERVĪLIA GLAUCIA DE RĔPĔTUNDIS. [Repetundae.]
SERVĪLIA JŪDĬCĬĀRIA,B.C.106. [Judex,p. 216.] It is assumed by some writers that a lex of the tribune Servius Glaucia repealed the Servilia Judiciaria two years after its enactment.
SĪLĬA, relating to Publica Pondera.
SILVĀNI ET CARBŌNIS. [Lex Papiria Plautia.]
SULPĬCĬAE, proposed by the tribune P. Sulpicius Rufus, a supporter of Marius,B.C.88, enacted the recall of the exiles, the distribution of the new citizens and the libertini among the thirty-five tribes, that the command in the Mithridatic war should be taken from Sulla and given to Marius, and that a senator should not contract debt to the amount of more than 2000 denarii. The last enactment may have been intended to expel persons from the senate who should get in debt. All these leges were repealed by Sulla.
SULPĬCĬA SEMPRŌNĬA,B.C.304. No name is given to this lex by Livy, but it was probably proposed by the consuls. It prevented the dedicatio of a templum or altar without the consent of the senate or a majority of the tribunes.
SUMPTUĀRĬAE, the name of various laws passed to prevent inordinate expense (sumptus) in banquets, dress, &c. In the states of antiquity it was considered the duty of government to put a check upon extravagance in the private expenses of persons, and among the Romans in particular we find traces of this in the laws attributed to the kings, and in the Twelve Tables. The censors, to whom was entrusted thedisciplinaorcura morum, punished by thenota censoriaall persons guilty of what was then regarded as a luxurious mode of living; a great many instances of this kind are recorded. But as the love of luxury greatly increased with the foreign conquests of the republic and the growing wealth of the nation, various leges sumptuariae were passed at different times with the object of restraining it. These, however, as may be supposed, rarely accomplished their object, and in the latter times of the republic they were virtually repealed. The following list of them is arranged in chronological order:—
Oppia, proposed by the tribune C. Oppius inB.C.215, enacted that no woman should have above half an ounce of gold, nor wear a dress of different colours, nor ride in a carriage in the city or in any town, or within a mile of it, unless on account of public sacrifices. This law was repealed twenty years afterwards, whence we frequently find the Lex Orchia mentioned as the first lex sumptuaria.
Orchia, proposed by the tribune C. Orchius inB.C.181, limited the number of guests to be present at entertainments.
Fannia, proposed by the consul C. Fannius,B.C.61, limited the sums which were to be spent on entertainments, and enacted that not more than 100 asses should be spent on certain festivals named in the lex, whence it is calledcentussisby Lucilius; that on ten other days in each month not more than 30 asses, and that on all other days not more than 10 asses, should be expended; also that no other fowl but one hen should be served up, and that not fattened for the purpose.
Didia, passedB.C.143, extended the Lex Fannia to the whole of Italy, and enacted that not only those who gave entertainments which exceeded in expense what the law had prescribed, but also all who were present at such entertainments, should be liable to the penalties of the law. We are not, however, told in what these consisted.
Licinia, agreed in its chief provisions with the Lex Fannia, and was brought forward, we are told, that there might be the authority of a new law upon the subject, inasmuch as the Lex Fannia was beginning to be neglected. It allowed 200 asses to be spent on entertainments upon marriage days, and on other days the same as the Lex Fannia; also, that on ordinary days there should not be served up more than three pounds of fresh, and one pound of salt meat. It was probably passed inB.C.103.
Cornelia, a law of the dictator Sulla,B.C.81, was enacted on account of the neglect of the Fannian and Licinian Laws. Like these, it regulated the expenses of entertainments. Extravagance in funerals, which had been forbidden even in the Twelve Tables, was also restrained by a law of Sulla.
Aemilia, proposed by the consul Aemilius Lepidus,B.C.78, did not limit the expensesof entertainments, but the kind and quantity of food that was to be used.
Antia, of uncertain date, proposed by Antius Resto, besides limiting the expenses of entertainments, enacted that no actual magistrate, or magistrate elect, should dine abroad anywhere except at the houses of certain persons. This law however was little observed; and we are told that Antius never dined out afterwards, that he might not see his own law violated.
Julia, proposed by the dictator C. Julius Caesar, enforced the former sumptuary laws respecting entertainments which had fallen into disuse. He stationed officers in the provision market to seize upon all eatables forbidden by the law, and sometimes sent lictors and soldiers to banquets to take everything which was not allowed by the law.
Julia, a lex of Augustus, allowed 200 sesterces to be expended upon festivals on dies profesti, 300 on those of the calends, ides, nones, and some other festive days, and 1000 upon marriage feasts. There was also an edict of Augustus or Tiberius, by which as much as from 300 to 2000 sesterces were allowed to be expended upon entertainments, the increase being made with the hope of securing thereby the observance of the law. Tiberius attempted to check extravagance in banquets; and a senatusconsultum was passed in his reign for the purpose of restraining luxury, which forbade gold vases to be employed, except for sacred purposes, and also prohibited the use of silk garments to men. This sumptuary law, however, was but little observed. Some regulations on the subject were also made by Nero and by succeeding emperors, but they appear to have been of little or no avail in checking the increasing love of luxury in dress and food.
TĂBELLĀRĬAE, the laws by which the ballot was introduced in voting in the comitia. As to the ancient mode of voting at Rome, seeComitia,p. 107.
Gabinia, proposed by the tribune GabiniusB.C.139, introduced the ballot in the election of magistrates; whence Cicero calls the tabellavindex tacitae libertatis.
Cassia, proposed by the tribune L. Cassius LonginusB.C.137, introduced the ballot in thejudicium populi, or cases tried in the comitia by the whole body of the people, with the exception of cases of perduellio.
Papiria, proposed by the tribune C. Papirius Carbo,B.C.131, introduced the ballot in the enactment and repeal of laws.
Caelia, proposed by C. Caelius Caldus,B.C.107, introduced the ballot in cases of perduellio, which had been excepted in the Cassian law. There was also a law brought forward by Marius,B.C.119, which, was intended to secure freedom and order in voting.
TARPĒIA ATERNĬA. [Aternia Tarpeia.]
TĔRENTĪLĬA, proposed by the tribune C. Terentilius,B.C.462, but not carried, was a rogatio which had for its object an amendment of the constitution, though in form it only attempted a limitation of the imperium consulare. This rogatio probably led to the subsequent legislation of the decemviri.
TESTĀMENTĀRĬAE. Various leges, such as the Cornelia, Falcidia, Furia, and Voconia, regulated testamentary dispositions.
THŎRĬA, passedB.C.121, concerned the public land in Italy as far as the rivers Rubico and Macra, or all Italy except Cisalpine Gaul, the public land in the province of Africa, the public land in the territory of Corinth, and probably other public land besides. It relieved a great part of the public land of the land-tax (vectigal). Some considerable fragments of this lex have come down to us, engraved on the back part of the same bronze tablet which contained the Servilia Lex Judiciaria, and on Repetundae.
TĬTĬA, similar in its provisions to the Lex Publicia.
TĬTĬA,De Tutoribus. [Julia et Titia.]
TRĒBONĬA, a plebiscitum proposed by L. Trebonius,B.C.448, which enacted that if the ten tribunes were not chosen before the comitia were dissolved, those who were elected should not fill up the number (co-optare), but that the comitia should be continued till the ten were elected.
TRĒBŌNĬA DE PRŌVINCIIS CONSULĀRĬBUS. (Plut.Cat. Min.43; Liv.Epit.105.)
TRĬBŪNĬTĬA. (1) A law passed in the times of the kings under the presidency of the tribunus celerum, and was so called to distinguish it from one passed under the presidency of the king. [Lex Regia.]—(2) Any law proposed by a tribune of the plebs.—(3) The law proposed by Pompey inB.C.70, restoring to the tribunes of the plebs the power of which they had been deprived by Sulla.
TULLĬA DE AMBĬTU. [Ambitus.]
TULLIA DE LĒGĀTIŌNE LĪBĔRA. [Legatus,p. 224.]
VĂLĔRĬAE, proposed by the consul P. Valerius Publicola,B.C.508, enacted, 1. That whoever attempted to obtain possession of royal power should be devoted to the gods, together with his substance. 2. That whoever was condemned by the sentence of a magistrate to be put to death, to be scourged, or to be fined, should possess the right of appeal (provocatio) to the people. The patricians possessed previously the rightof appeal from the sentence of a magistrate to their own council the curiae, and therefore this law of Valerius probably related only to the plebeians, to whom it gave the right of appeal to the plebeian tribes, and not to the centuries. Hence the laws proposed by the Valerian family respecting the right of appeal are always spoken of as one of the chief safeguards of the liberty of the plebs. The right of appeal did not extend beyond a mile from the city, where unlimited imperium began, to which the patricians were just as much subject as the plebeians.
VĂLĔRĬAE ET HŎRĀTĬAE, three laws proposed by the consuls L. Valerius and M. Horatius,B.C.449, in the year after the decemvirate, enacted, 1. That a plebiscitum should be binding on the whole people, respecting the meaning of which expression, seePlebiscitum. 2. That whoever should procure the election of a magistrate without appeal should be outlawed, and might be killed by any one with impunity. 3. Renewed the penalty threatened against any one who should harm the tribunes and the aediles, to whom were now added the judices and decemviri. There is considerable doubt as to who are meant by thejudicesanddecemviri.
VĂLĔRĬA, proposed by the consul M. Valerius,B.C.300, re-enacted for the third time the celebrated law of his family respecting appeal (provocatio) from the decision of a magistrate. The law specified no fixed penalty for its violation, leaving the judges to determine what the punishment should be.
VĂRĬA. [Majestas.]
VĂTĪNĬA DE PRŌVINCIIS, was the enactment by which Julius Caesar obtained the province of Gallia Cisalpina with Illyricum for five years, to which the senate added Gallia Transalpina. This plebiscitum was proposed by the tribune Vatinius. A Trebonia Lex subsequently prolonged Caesar’s imperium for five years.
VĂTĪNĬA DE CŎLŌNIS, under which the Latina Colonia [Latinitas] of Novum-Comum in Gallia Cisalpina was planted,B.C.59.
VĂTĪNIA DE REJECTIŌNE JŪDĬCUM. (Cic.in Vatin.11.)
DE VI. [Vis.]
VĬĀRĬA. A viaria lex which Cicero says the tribune C. Curio talked of; but nothing more seems to be known of it. Some modern writers speak of leges viariae, but there do not appear to be any leges properly so called. The provisions as to roads in many of the Agrarian laws were parts of such leges, and had no special reference to roads.
VISELLĬA, made a Latinus who assumed the rights of an ingenuus liable to prosecution.
VILLĬA ANNĀLIS. [Lex Annalis.]
VŎCŌNIA, enacted on the proposal of Q. Voconius Saxa, a tribunus plebis,B.C.169. One provision of the lex was, that no person who should be rated in the census at 100,000 sesterces (centum millia aeris) after the census of that year, should make any female (virginem neve mulierem) his heres. The lex allowed no exceptions, even in favour of an only daughter. It applied simply to testaments, and therefore a daughter or other female could inherit ab intestato to any amount. The vestal virgins could make women their heredes in all cases, which was the only exception to the provisions of the lex. Another provision of the lex forbade a person who was included in the census to give more in amount, in the form of a legacy to any person, than the heres or heredes should take. This provision secured something to the heres or heredes, but still the provision was ineffectual, and the object of the lex was only accomplished by the Lex Falcidia,B.C.44, which enacted that a testator should not give more than three-fourths in legacies, thus securing a fourth to the heres.