Chapter XXII: Part II: The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (21)

LĒGĀTUS, from _lego_, a person commissioned or deputed to do certain things. They may be divided into three classes:--1. Legati or ambassadors sent to Rome by foreign nations; 2. Legati or ambassadors sent from Rome to foreign nations and into the provinces; 3. Legati who accompanied the Roman generals into the field, or the proconsuls and praetors into the provinces. 1. Foreign legati at Rome, from whatever country they came, had to go to the temple of Saturn, and deposit their names with the quaestors. Previous to their admission into the city, foreign ambassadors seem to have been obliged to give notice from what nation they came and for what purpose; for several instances are mentioned, in which ambassadors were prohibited from entering the city, especially in case of a war between Rome and the state from which they came. In such cases the ambassadors were either not heard at all, and obliged to quit Italy, or an audience was given to them by the senate (_senatus legatis datur_) outside the city, in the temple of Bellona. This was evidently a sign of mistrust, but the ambassadors were nevertheless treated as public guests, and some public villa outside the city was sometimes assigned for their reception. In other cases, however, as soon as the report of the landing of foreign ambassadors on the coast of Italy was brought to Rome, especially if they were persons of great distinction, or if they came from an ally of the Roman people, some one of the inferior magistrates, or a legatus of a consul, was despatched by the senate to receive, and conduct them to the city at the expense of the republic. When they were introduced into the senate by the praetor or consul, they first explained what they had to communicate, and then the praetor invited the senators to put their questions to the ambassadors. The whole transaction was carried on by interpreters, and in the Latin language. [INTERPRES.] After the ambassadors had thus been examined, they were requested to leave the assembly of the senate, who now began to discuss the subject brought before them. The result was communicated to the ambassadors by the praetor. In some cases ambassadors not only received rich presents on their departure, but were at the command of the senate conducted by a magistrate, and at the public expense, to the frontier of Italy, and even farther. By the Lex Gabinia it was decreed, that from the 1st of February to the 1st of March, the senate should every day give audience to foreign ambassadors. There was a place on the right-hand side of the senate-house, called Graecostasis, in which foreign ambassadors waited. All ambassadors, whencesoever they came, were considered by the Romans throughout the whole period of their existence as sacred and inviolable. 2. Legati to foreign nations in the name of the Roman republic were always sent by the senate; and to be appointed to such a mission was considered a great honour, which was conferred only on men of high rank or eminence: for a Roman ambassador had the powers of a magistrate and the venerable character of a priest. If a Roman during the performance of his mission as ambassador died or was killed, his memory was honoured by the republic with a public sepulchre and a statue in the Rostra. The expenses during the journey of an ambassador were, of course, paid by the republic; and when he travelled through a province, the provincials had to supply him with every thing he wanted. 3. The third class of legati, to whom the name of ambassadors cannot be applied, were persons who accompanied the Roman generals on their expeditions, and in later times the governors of provinces also. They are mentioned at a very early period as serving along with the tribunes, under the consuls. They were nominated (_legabantur_) by the consul or the dictator under whom they served, but the sanction of the senate was an essential point, without which no one could be legally considered a legatus. The persons appointed to this office were usually men of great military talents, and it was their duty to advise and assist their superior in all his undertakings, and to act in his stead both in civil and military affairs. The legati were thus always men in whom the consul placed great confidence, and were frequently his friends or relations: but they had no power independent of the command of their general. Their number varied according to the greatness or importance of the war, or the extent of the province: three is the smallest number that we know of, but Pompey, when in Asia, had fifteen legati. Whenever the consuls were absent from the army, or when a proconsul left his province, the legati or one of them took his place, and then had the insignia as well as the power of his superior. He was in this case called legatus pro praetore, and hence we sometimes read that a man governed a province as legatus without any mention being made of the proconsul whose vicegerent he was. During the latter period of the republic, it sometimes happened that a consul carried on a war, or a proconsul governed his province, through his legati, while he himself remained at Rome, or conducted some other more urgent affairs. When the provinces were divided at the time of the empire [PROVINCIA], those of the Roman people were governed by men who had been either consuls or praetors, and the former were always accompanied by three legati, the latter by one. The provinces of the emperor, who was himself the proconsul, were governed by persons whom the emperor himself appointed, and who had been consuls or praetors, or were at least senators. These vicegerents of the emperor were called _legati augusti pro praetore_, _legati praetorii_, _legati consulares_, or simply _legati_, and they, like the governors of the provinces of the Roman people, had one or three legati as their assistants. During the latter period of the republic it had become customary for senators to obtain from the senate the permission to travel through or stay in any province at the expense of the provincials, merely for the purpose of managing and conducting their own personal affairs. There was no restraint as to the length of time the senators were allowed to avail themselves of this privilege, which was a heavy burden upon the provincials. This mode of sojourning in a province was called _legatio libera_, because those who availed themselves of it enjoyed all the privileges of a public legatus or ambassador, without having any of his duties to perform. At the time of Cicero the privilege of legatio libera was abused to a very great extent. Cicero, therefore, in his consulship (B.C. 63) endeavoured to put an end to it, but, owing to the opposition of a tribune, he only succeeded in limiting the time of its duration to one year. Julius Caesar afterwards extended the time during which a senator might avail himself of the legatio libera to five years.

LĔGĬO. [EXERCITUS.]

LEITURGIA (λειτουργία, from λεῖτον, Ion. λήϊτον, _i.e._ δημόσιον, or, according to others, πρυτανεῖον), a liturgy, is the name of certain personal services which, at Athens, every citizen who possessed a certain amount of property had to perform towards the state. These personal services, which in all cases were connected with considerable expenses, were at first a natural consequence of the greater political privileges enjoyed by the wealthy, who, in return, had also to perform heavier duties towards the republic; but when the Athenian democracy was at its height the original character of these liturgies became changed, for, as every citizen now enjoyed the same rights and privileges as the wealthiest, they were simply a tax upon property connected with personal labour and exertion. All liturgies may be divided into two classes: 1, ordinary or encyclic liturgies (ἐγκύκλιοι λειτουργίαι); and 2, extraordinary liturgies. The former were called encyclic, because they recurred every year at certain festive seasons, and comprised the _Choregia_, _Gymnasiarchia_, _Lampadarchia_, _Architheoria_, and _Hestiasis_. Every Athenian who possessed three talents and above was subject to them, and they were undertaken in turns by the members of every tribe who possessed the property qualification just mentioned, unless some one volunteered to undertake a liturgy for another person. But the law did not allow any one to be compelled to undertake more than one liturgy at a time, and he who had in one year performed a liturgy was free for the next, so that legally a person had to perform a liturgy only every other year. Those whose turn it was to undertake any of the ordinary liturgies were always appointed by their own tribe. The persons who were exempt from all kinds of liturgies were the nine archons, heiresses, and orphans until after the commencement of the second year of their coming of age. Sometimes the exemption from liturgies (ἀτελεία) was granted to persons for especial merits towards the republic. The only kind of extraordinary liturgy to which the name is properly applied is the _trierarchia_ (τριηραρχία); in the earlier times, however, the service in the armies was in reality no more than an extraordinary liturgy. [See EISPHORA and TRIERARCHIA.] In later times, during and after the Peloponnesian war, when the expenses of a liturgy were found too heavy for one person, we find that in many instances two persons combined to defray its expenses. Such was the case with the choragia and the trierarchy.

LEMBUS, a skiff or small boat, used for carrying a person from a ship to the shore. The name was also given to the light boats which were sent ahead of a fleet to obtain information of the enemy’s movements.

LEMNISCUS (λημνίσκος), a kind of coloured ribbon which hung down from crowns or diadems at the back part of the head. Coronae adorned with lemnisci were a greater distinction than those without them. This serves to explain an expression of Cicero (_palma lemniscata, pro Rosc. Am._ 35), where palma means a victory, and the epithet lemniscata indicates the contrary of infamis, and at the same time implies an honourable as well as lucrative victory. Lemnisci were also worn alone and without being connected with crowns, especially by ladies, as an ornament for the head.

LĔMŬRĬA, a festival for the souls of the departed, which was celebrated at Rome every year in the month of May. It was said to have been instituted by Romulus to appease the spirit of Remus, whom he had slain, and to have been called originally Remuria. It was celebrated at night and in silence, and during three alternate days, that is, on the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth of May. During this season the temples of the gods were closed, and it was thought unlucky for women to marry at this time and during the whole month of May, and those who ventured to marry were believed to die soon after, whence the proverb, _mense Maio malae nubent_. Those who celebrated the Lemuria walked barefooted, washed their hands three times, and threw black beans nine times behind their backs, believing by this ceremony to secure themselves against the Lemures. As regards the solemnities on each of the three days, we only know that on the second there were games in the circus in honour of Mars, and that on the third day the images of the thirty Argei, made of rushes, were thrown from the Pons Sublicius into the Tiber by the Vestal virgins [ARGEI]. On the same day there was a festival of the merchants, probably because on this day the temple of Mercury had been dedicated in the year 495 B.C.

LĒNAEA. [DIONYSIA.]

LESCHĒ (λέσχη), an Ionic word, signifying _council_ or _conversation_, and _a place for council or conversation_. There is frequent mention of places of public resort, in the Greek cities, by the name of _Leschae_, some set apart for the purpose, and others so called because they were so used by loungers; to the latter class belong the agora and its porticoes, the gymnasia, and the shops of various tradesmen. The former class were small buildings or porticoes, furnished with seats, and exposed to the sun, to which the idle resorted to enjoy conversation, and the poor to obtain warmth and shelter: at Athens alone there were 360 such. In the Dorian states the word retained the meaning of a place of meeting for deliberation and intercourse, a council-chamber or club-room. There were generally chambers for council and conversation, called by this name, attached to the temples of Apollo. The _Lesche_ at Delphi was celebrated through Greece for the paintings with which it was adorned by Polygnotus.

LEX. Of Roman leges, viewed with reference to the mode of enactment, there were properly two kinds, _Leges Curiatae_ and _Leges Centuriatae_. Plebiscita are improperly called leges, though they were laws, and in the course of time had the same effect as leges. [PLEBISCITUM.] Originally the leges curiatae were the only leges, and they were passed by the populus in the comitia curiata. After the establishment of the comitia centuriata, the comitia curiata fell almost into disuse; but so long as the republic lasted, and even under Augustus, a shadow of the old constitution was preserved in the formal conferring of the imperium by a lex curiata only, and in the ceremony of adrogation being effected only in these comitia. [ADOPTIO.] Those leges, properly so called, with which we are acquainted, were passed in the comitia centuriata, and were proposed (_rogabantur_) by a magistratus of senatorial rank, after the senate had approved of them by a decretum. Such a lex was also designated by the name _Populi Scitum_.--The word _rogatio_ (from the verb _rogo_) properly means any measure proposed to the legislative body, and therefore is equally applicable to a proposed lex and a proposed plebiscitum. It corresponds to our word _bill_, as opposed to _act_. When the measure was passed, it became a lex or plebiscitum; though rogationes, after they had become laws, were sometimes, but improperly, called rogationes. A rogatio began with the words _velitis_, _jubeatis_, &c., and ended with the words _ita vos Quirites rogo_. The corresponding expression of assent to the rogatio on the part of the sovereign assembly was _uti rogas_. The phrases for proposing a law are _rogare legem_, _legem ferre_, and _rogationem promulgare_; the phrase _rogationem accipere_ applies to the enacting body. The terms relating to legislation are thus explained by Ulpian the jurist:--“A lex is said either _rogari_ or _ferri_; it is said _abrogari_, when it is repealed; it is said _derogari_, when a part is repealed; it is said _subrogari_, when some addition is made to it; and it is said _obrogari_, when some part of it is changed.”--A _privilegium_ is an enactment that had for its object a single person, which is indicated by the form of the word (_privilegium_), _privae res_ being the same as _singulae res_. The word privilegium did not convey any notion of the character of the legislative measures; it might be beneficial to the party to whom it referred, or it might not. Under the empire, the word is used in the sense of a special grant proceeding from the imperial favour.--The title of a lex was generally derived from the gentile name of the magistratus who proposed it, as the _Lex Hortensia_ from the dictator Hortensius. Sometimes the lex took its name from the two consuls or other magistrates, as the _Acilia Calpurnia_, _Aelia_ or _Aelia Sentia_, _Papia_ or _Papia Poppaea_, and others. It seems to have been the fashion to omit the word _et_ between the two names, though instances occur in which it was used. A lex was also designated, with reference to its object, as the _Lex Cincia de Donis et Muneribus_, _Lex Furia Testamentaria_, _Lex Julia Municipalis_, and many others. Leges which related to a common object, were often designated by a collective name, as _Leges Agrariae_, _Judiciariae_, and others. A lex sometimes took its name from the chief contents of its first chapter, as _Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus_. Sometimes a lex comprised very various provisions, relating to matters essentially different, and in that case it was called _Lex Satura_.--The number of leges was greatly increased in the later part of the republican period, and Julius Caesar is said to have contemplated a revision of the whole body. Under him and Augustus numerous enactments were passed, which are known under the general name of Juliae Leges. It is often stated that no leges, properly so called, or plebiscita, were passed after the time of Augustus; but this is a mistake. Though the voting might be a mere form, still the form was kept. Besides, various leges are mentioned as having been passed under the Empire, such as the Lex Junia under Tiberius, the Lex Visellia, the Lex Mamilia under Caligula, and a Lex Claudia on the tutela of women. It does not appear when the ancient forms of legislation were laid aside. A particular enactment is always referred to by its name. The following is a list of the principal leges, properly so called; but the list includes also various plebiscita and privilegia:--

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 (about A.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 in B.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.]

ANTŌNĬA DE THERMENSIBUS, about B.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 tribune B.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.

CLAUDĬA DE 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 AUSPICIIS prevented 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 SODALITATIBUS or DE COLLEGIIS restored the Sodalitia,
which had been abolished by a senatus-consultum of the year B.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 it _testamentaria_ and _nummaria_.

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 by _dolus 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 a _judicium publicum_, &c.

SUMPTUARIAE. [LEGES SUMPTUARIAE.]

TRIBUNICIA, which diminished the power of the Tribuni Plebis.

UNCIARIA appears 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 about
B.C. 67. One limited the edictal power by compelling the praetors
_Jus dicere ex edictis suis perpetuis_.--Another lex of the same
tribune enacted that no one _legibus 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 year B.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 elected B.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 provision which 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. tabularum_ or _Duodecim_, and sometimes they are
referred to under the names of _Leges_ and _Lex_ simply, 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, in B.C. 228
according to Cicero, or in B.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 CIVITATE was passed in the consulship of L. Julius Caesar and P.
Rutilius Lupus, 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 in B.C. 45.

JULIA ET PAPIA POPPAEA. Augustus appears to have caused a lex to
be enacted about B.C. 18, which is cited as the _Lex Julia de
Maritandis Ordinibus_, and is referred to in the Carmen Seculare of
Horace, which was written in the year B.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 year B.C. 13. In the year A.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 called _Lex Julia_, sometimes _Papia
Poppaea_, sometimes _Lex Julia et Papia_, sometimes _Lex de
Maritandis Ordinibus_, from the chapter which treated of the
marriages of the senators, sometimes _Lex 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 the _Jus
Liberorum_, and sometimes the _Jus 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, proposed B.C. 126, by M. Junius Pennus, a
tribune, banished peregrini from the city. A lex of C. Fannius,
consul B.C. 122, contained the same provisions respecting the
Latini and Italici; and a lex of C. Papius, perhaps B.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 about A.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
from B.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 year B.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 passed _contra
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 patres _ante auctores fieri_ in 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 Maenius B.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 year B.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 no _aedes_ should be
declared _consecratae_ without a plebiscitum.

PĂPĪRIA PLAUTĬA, a plebiscitum of the year B.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. [See CIVITAS; 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 consulship B.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, about B.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 they wished.
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 of B.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, consul B.C.
9, for the preservation of the aquaeductus.

RĒGĬA. A _Lex Regia_ during 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 a _Lex 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 called _Leges 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 the _Jus Civile
Papirianum_ or _Papisianum_. The second meaning of _Lex Regia_
during the kingly period was undoubtedly the same as that of the
_Lex Curiata de Imperio_. [IMPERIUM.] This indeed is not mentioned
by any ancient writer, but must be inferred from the _Lex Regia_
which 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 a _Lex Curiata de Imperio_, which was now
usually called _Lex Regia_. The imperium, however, which this
_Regia Lex_ conferred 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 phrase _sedere in quatuordecim ordinibus_ is equivalent to
having the proper census equestris which was required by the lex.
There are numerous allusions 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 year B.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.