List of Roman laws

Updated on Jan 15, 2024

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This is a partial list of Roman laws. A law (Latin lex) is usually named for the sponsoring legislator and designated by the adjectival form of his family or gens name (nomen gentilicum). Because the noun lex (plural leges) is of feminine grammatical gender, its adjective is also feminine in form. When a law is the initiative of the two consuls, it is given the name of both, with the nomen of the senior consul first. Sometimes a law is further specified by a short phrase describing the content of the law, to distinguish that law from others sponsored by members of the same family.

Some laws listed have been made after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, but they were heavily influenced by Roman laws that were made before.

Roman laws

Lex Acilia Calpurnia (67 BC) – permanent exclusion from office in cases of electoral corruption

Lex Acilia de intercalando (191 BC) – adjustment of the calendar

Lex Acilia repetundarum (123 BC) – repetundae procedures for jurors in courts overseeing senatorial class to prevent corruption abroad

Lex Aebutia de formulis (c. 150 BC) – authorized praetor's discretion to be introduced into the court of the praetor urbanus, praetor able to remodel private law of Rome

Lex Aebutia de magistratibus extraordinariis (154 BC?) – proposer of extraordinary magistracy cannot hold it

Lex Aelia et Fufia (c. 150 BC?) – two laws probably regulating auspices

Lex Aelia Sentia (AD 4) – manumissions of slaves

Lex Aemilia – distribution of freedmen among tribes

Lex Aemilia De Censoribus (c. 433 BC) – reduced the terms of censors to a year and a half

Lex Ampia (64 BC) – allowed Pompey to wear the crown of bay at the Ludi Circenses

Lex Antonia de Termessibus (72 BC ) – alliance with Termessus

Leges Antoniae – measures of Mark Antony against dictatorship etc.

Lex Apuleia – gave a surety the right to take action against his co-sureties for whatever he paid above his share

Lex Apuleia Agraria (103 BC and 100 BC) – measures of the tribune Saturninus

Lex Aquilia (possibly 286 BC, at least before 3rd century BC) – provided compensation to the owners of property injured by someone's fault

Lex Aternia-Tarpeia (454 BC) – allowed magistrates to fine citizens, but set maximum fines

Lex Atilia Marcia (312 BC) – empowered the people to elect sixteen Military Tribunes for each of four legions

Lex Atinia (149 BC) – Tribunes of the plebs automatically promoted to the senate

Lex Atinia de usucapione (197 BC or 149 BC) – dealing with ownership

Lex Aufeia – settlement of Asia c. 124 BC

Lex Aufidia de ambitu (61 BC) – candidate who promises money and does not pay it should be unpunished

Lex Aurelia de tribunicia potestate (75 BC)

Lex Aurelia iudiciaria (70 BC) – judices should be chosen from senators, equites and tribuni aerarii

Lex Baebia (192 BC) – set number of praetors to alternate, but was never observed

Lex Caecilia De Censoria (54 BC) – repealed a law passed by the tribune Clodius in 58 BC, which had regulated the Censors

Lex Caecilia De Vectigalibus (62 BC) – released lands and harbors in Italy from the payment of taxes

Lex Caecilia Didia (98 BC) – Required laws to proposed at least three market days before any vote. Also forbade Omnibus bills, which are bills with a large amount of unrelated material.

Lex Calpurnia (149 BC) – establishes a permanent extortion court

Lex Canuleia (445 BC) – allows patricians and plebeians to intermarry

Lex Cassia (137 BC) – introduces secret votes in court jury decisions

Lex Cassia (104 BC) – required any senator to be expelled from the senate if they had been convicted of a crime, or if their power (imperium) had been revoked while serving as a magistrate

Lex Cassia (44 BC?) – allowed Julius Caesar to add new individuals to the patrician (aristocratic) class

Lex Cassia Terentia Frumentaria (73 BC) – required the distribution of corn among the poor citizens

Lex Cincia (204 BC) – tort reform concerning the payment of lawyers

Lex citationis (AD 426) – during court proceedings, only five Roman lawyers could be cited

Lex Claudia (218 BC) – prohibits senators from participating in overseas trade, obsolete by the time of Cicero

Leges Clodiae (58 BC) – a series of laws passed by the tribune Publius Clodius Pulcher

Lex Cornelia Annalis (81 BC) – a sanction law for Sulla's past acts; part of his program to strengthen the Senate

Lex Cornelia de maiestate – treason law passed by Sulla to regulate the activities of pro-magistrates in their provinces, especially unapproved war and unauthorized travel

Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficiis (80 BC) – dealing with injuries and deaths obtained by magic

Lex curiata was any law passed by the comitia curiata, including the lex curiata de imperio (following); Roman adoptions, particularly so-called "testamentary adoptions," were also recognized by a lex curiata, famously in 59 BC when the patrician Clodius Pulcher was adopted into a plebeian gens in order to run for the office of tribune of the plebs.

Lex curiata de imperio – granting imperium to senior Roman magistrates under the Republic. The traditional basis for the later Lex de Imperio allowing Imperial succession.

Lex Domitia de sacerdotis (104 BC) – establishes election of pontifex maximus, until then chosen by the college of priests

Lex Fufia (c. 150 BC) – substitute with the Lex Aelia in place of the obsolete patrum auctoritas

Lex Fufia Caninia (2 BC) – limitation of manumission

Lex Gabinia (67 BC) – Pompey has special powers in the Mediterranean to fight against pirates

Lex Gabinia tabellaria (139 BC) – introduces secret votes in election for magistrate offices

Lex Gellia Cornelia (72 BC ) – consuls of this year authorized Pompey to confer Roman citizenship to the deserving. Pompey's clientela and Spaniards were the beneficiaries

Leges Genuciae (342 BC) – no man can hold the same office before 10 years have elapsed from the first election

Lex Hadriana (?) – Hadrian's law that enabled permanent tenants to develop land, it was an extension of the Lex Manciana

Lex Hieronica (240 BC) – taxation of Sicily

Lex Hortensia (287 BC) – plebiscites approved by the Assembly of the People gain the status of law

Lex de Imperio Vespasiani (69 AD) – conferring powers, privileges and exemptions to the emperor Vespasian.

Lex Icilia (454 BC) – gave land to plebeians

Lex Iulia (90 BC) – brought by consul L. Caesar, offered citizenship to all Italians who had not raised arms against Rome in the Italian War (Social War)

Lex Iulia de Adulteriis Coercendis (18 BC) – made conjugal unfaithfulness a public as well as a private offense, with banishment a possible penalty

Lex Iulia de Maritandis Ordinibus (18 BC) – marrying-age celibates and young widows that would not marry were barred from receiving inheritances and from attending public games

Lex Iulia de Repetundis (59 BC) – regarding extortion in the provinces

Lex Iulia Municipalis (45 BC) – set regulations for the Italian municipalities

Leges Juliae (18 BC) – regarding marriage

Lex Junia Licinia that was a reinforcement law done in 62 BC to back up the original Lex Caecilia Didia law of 98 BC.

Lex Junia Norbana (AD 19) – regarding status of freedmen

Lex Licinia Mucia (95 BC) – removed Latin and Italian allies from Rome's citizen-rolls.

Lex Licinia Pompeia (55 BC) – Pompey and Crassus set forth to prolong Caesar's proconsulship in both the Gauls for another 5 years

Lex Licinia Sextia (367 BC) – resumes consulship, requires plebeian as a consul; aka Leges Liciniae Sextiae

Lex Maenia (after 293 BC) – plebeian achievement, it carried the principle of Lex Pubilia to elections

Lex Maenia Sestia (452 BC) – scale for fines, 1 ox = 12 sheep = 100 lb. of bronze

Lex Manciana (around Flavian dynasty) – dealt with imperial and private cases in North Africa, regulated relations between cultivators and the proprietors

Lex Manilia (66 BC) – Pompey's actions against Mithridates

Lex Minucia (216 BC) – appointment of three finance commissioners

Lex Ogulnia (300 BC) – the priesthoods are open to plebeians

Lex Oppia (215 BC) – limited female adornment

Lex Ovinia (318 BC) – transferred the right to appoint Senators from the Consuls to the Censors

Les Papia de Peregrinis (65 BC ) – challenged false claims of citizenship and deported foreigners from Rome

Lex Papia Poppaea (AD 9) – regarding marriage

Lex Papiria de dedicationibus (c. 304 BC) – forbade consecration of real property without approval of the popular assembly

Lex Papiria Julia (430 BC) – made payment of fines in bronze mandatory

Lex de Permutatione Provinciae (44 BC) – Marcus Antonius set this law which gave him a five year's command in Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul in lieu of Macedon. Also gave authorization to transfer Caesar's legions from Macedon to the new provinces.

Lex Petronia (?) – prevented a master from sending his slave to the beasts in the amphitheater without authorization

Lex Plautia de Reditu Lepidanorum (70 BC) – granted a pardon to Lepidus' former associates

Lex Plautia Judiciaria (?) – chose jurors from other classes, not just the Equites

Lex Plautia Papiria (89 BC) – granted citizenship to Roman allies

Lex Poetelia Papiria (326 BC) – regarding debt-slavery

Lex Pompeia de Transpadanis (89 BC) – granted Latin Right to the populations of Cisalpine Gaul

Lex Porcia (I) (199 BC) – proposed by tribune P. Porcius Laeca to give right of appeal in capital cases

Lex Porcia (II) (195 BC) – M. Porcius Cato prohibited scourging of citizens without appeal

Lex Porcia (III) (184 BC) – consul L. Porcius Licinus safeguarded citizens from summary execution on military service, all dealing with right of appeal (provocatio)

Leges provinciae (146 BC) – a set of laws designed to regulate and organize the administration of Roman provinces

Lex Publilia (339 BC) – restricted patrum auctoritas

Lex Pupia (72/61 BC) – Senate could not meet on Comitiales Dies

Lex Regia

Lex Romana Burgundionum – one of the law tables for Romans after the fall of Western Roman Empire

Lex Romana Visigothorum (AD 506) – one of the law tables for Romans after the fall of Western Roman Empire

Lex Roscia (49 BC) – Caesar proposed, full Latin Rights on the people of Transalpine Gaul

Lex Roscia theatralis (67 BC) – allocated a place in Roman theaters to the equestrian order

Lex Rubria (122 BC) – authorized a colony on the ruins of Carthage

Lex Sacrata (494 BC) – law after first secession of the plebeians that either affirmed the sacrosanctity of the tribunes or established the plebeians as a sworn confederacy against patricians

Lex Scantinia (c. 149 BC) – a poorly attested law regulating some aspects of homosexual behavior among citizens, primarily protecting freeborn male minors

Leges Semproniae Agrariae (133 BC) – set of laws issued by Tiberius Gracchus to redistribute land among the poor; repealed after his assassination

Lex Servilia Caepio (106 BC) – some control of the court de rebus repentundis was handed back to senators from the equites

Lex Servilia Glaucia (100 BC?) – provided allotments for veterans on land in southern Gaul

Lex Terentia Cassia (73 BC) – safeguarded Rome's grain supply and distributed grain at reduced rates

Lex Titia (43 BC) – gave Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus full powers to defeat the assassins of Julius Caesar; legalized the second triumvirate

Lex Trebonia (448 BC) – forbade the co-optation of additional tribunes of the plebs to fill vacant positions

Lex Trebonia (55 BC) – organization of the provinces

Lex Tullia (63 BC) – passed by Cicero in his consulship to regulate election fraud (see ambitus)

Lex Ursonensis foundation charter of the Caesarean colonia Iulia Genetiva

Lex Valeria (maybe in 509 BC and 449 BC or 300 BC) – it granted every Roman citizen legal right to appeal against a capital sentence, defined and confirmed the right of appeal (provocatio)

Lex Valeria (82 BC) – appointed Sulla dictator

Lex Valeria Cornelia (AD 5) – regarding voting in the Comitia Centuriata

Leges Valeria Horatiae (449 BC) – regarding the rights of the plebs

Leges Valeria Publicola (449 BC) – grants the right to appeal to the People of any decision of magistrates

Lex Vatinia (59 BC) – gave Julius Caesar governorship of Cisalpine Gaul and of Illyricum for five years

Lex Villia annalis (180 BC) – established minimum ages for the cursus honorum offices; determined an interval of two years between offices

Lex Voconia (169 BC) – disallowed women from being the main heir to a dead man's estate, including cases where there were no male relatives alive

General denominations

Lex Agraria – A law regulating distribution of public lands

Lex annalis – qualifications for magistracies

Lex ambitus – Laws involving electoral bribery and corruption; see ambitus

Lex curiata de imperio – Law that Comitia Curiata used to ratify the choice of a new king, also confirmed Octavian's adoption as Caesar's son in 43 BC

Lex frumentaria – A law regulating price of grain

Lex sumptuaria – A law regulating the use of luxury items and public manifestations of wealth

Resolutions of the Senate

Senatus consultum – A Senate decree

Senatus consultum ultimum or Senatus consultum de re publica defenda – a late republic alternative to nominating a dictator

Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus (186 BC) – concerning the Bacchanalia

Senatus consultum Tertullianum – concerning inheritance (time of Hadrian)

Senatus consultum Orphitianum (c. AD 200) – concerning inheritance

Senatus consultum Silanianum (AD 10) – concerning slaves

Senatus consultum Claudianum (AD 52) – concerning slaves

Senatus consultum Macedonianum – concerning loan/mutuum (time of Vespasian)

Senatus consultum Neronianum (c. AD 100) – concerning legatum

Senatus consultum Pegasianum (c. AD 100) – concerning fideicommissum

Senatus consultum Vellaeanum (AD 46) – concerning intercedere

Other

Constitution of the Roman Republic -Set the separation of powers and checks and balances of the Roman Republic

Acceptilatio – spoken statement of debt or obligation release

Constitutio Antoniniana – granted citizenship to the Empire's freemen

Corpus Iuris Civilis – codification by emperor Justinian

Stipulatio – basic oral contract

Twelve Tables – The first set of Roman laws published by the Decemviri in 451 BC, which would be the starting point of the elaborate Roman constitution. The twelve tables covered issues of civil, criminal and military law. Every Roman that went to school was supposed to know them by heart.

Notes

Note 1 – The word Republic derives from the Latin res publica (literally, public affairs). The Romans often wrote the two words as one, respublica and inflected both words.

References

List of Roman laws Wikipedia

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