Lex Licinia Sextia
Lex Licinia Sextia was a
Roman law passed in
367 BCE and took effect in
366 BCE. It restored the
consulship, allegedly reserved one of the two consular positions for a
plebeian (though subsequent years did see two
patricians as consul), and introduced new limits on the possession of conquered land.
It is named for the
plebeian tribunes Gaius Licinius Stolo and
Lucius Sextius Lateranus who held office in this year and promoted the legislation.
The law was championed for the
plebeians in their struggle for power with the war-weakened
patricians during what is often referred to as the Later
Conflict of the Orders, following major wars with Gaul and the Latins. It combines agrarian and constitutional demands of the
plebeians.
Patrician conservative leader
Marcus Furius Camillus may have seen the law as a required concession. The law comes near the end of a period described as 'anarchy' (
375 BC) during which no legitimate chief magistrates were elected at Rome. Some of the constitutional aspects of the bill were intended to address this and at the same time ensure more power for the
plebeians.
The agrarian portions of the law may have been more form than substance, as it has been suggested they were easily evaded. The year following the passage of the law did see a plebeian stand for consul. Some historians present this as the first time plebeians as permitted to serve as consuls; others suggest that as many as 30% of the consuls in the early republic may have been plebeian. In any case, at this time there was fairly intense conflict between the orders and lex Licinia Sextia was a significant event in that conflict.
* It restored the
consulship.
* It stipulated that one of the two yearly-elected
consuls should be from the
plebeian order.
* It limited grants and ownership of
ager publicus, "public land" conquered by the Roman army, to less than 500
iugera, or 320 acres, for a single person. This was intended to prevent patricians from seizing all the
ager publicus, but in reality this law was ignored.
* It limited the number of sheep and cattle that can be kept on public pastures.
* Leges Liciniae Sextiae
* Lex Licinia
* Licinian Rogations
* The Licinian Laws
* Licinio-Sextian Rogations
* Lex de modo agrorum
*
Roman Law*
List of Roman Laws*
Roman Republic*
Conflict of the Orders* http://www.geocities.com/bwduncan/rhr/leges.html
* http://www.vroma.org/~jruebel/timeline/republic-4th.html
* http://www.unrv.com/government/index-of-roman-laws.php
* http://www.ghg.net/shetler/rome/rulers/coss389-301.html
*
The Roman Law Library, incl. Leges
