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 p690  Leges Juliae

Article by George Long, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College
on pp690‑693 of

William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.:
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.

LE′GES JU′LIAE, leges, most of which were passed in the time of C. Julius Caesar and Augustus.

De Adulteriis. [Adulterium.]

Agraria is referred to by Suetonius (Jul. Caesar, c20), and in the Digest, De Termino Moto (47 21). But the lex of C. Caesar, referred to in the Digest, is probably a lex of Caligula. The Agraria lex of the dictator Caesar was passed B.C. 59, when he was consul (Dion Cass. XXXVIII.1‑17, &c.; Appian, Bell. Civ. II.10; Vell. Pat. II.44; Cic. Phil. II.39, ad Att. II.16, 18; Rudorff, Lex Manilia de Coloniis, Zeitschrift, vol. IX).

De Ambitu. [Ambitus.]

De Annona. (Dig. 48 tit. 1 s1)

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 (Gaius, III.78) It is doubtful if this lex was passed in the time of Julius Caesar or of Augustus, though probably of the former (Caesar, Bell. Civ. III.1; Sueton. Caes. 42; Tacit. Ann. VI.16; Dion  p691 Cass. LVIII.21). The beneficium of the lex was extended to the provinces by the imperial constitutions (Cod. 7 tit. 71 s4).

Caducaria is the same as the Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea.º

De Caede et Veneficio (Sueton. Nero c33), 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 (Suet. Caes. c42; Caesar, de Bell. Civil. III.1). 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 (compare Caesar, de Bell. Civ. III.1, with Sueton. Caes. c42). A passage of Tacitus (Ann. VI.16) is sometimes considered as referring to this lex, and sometimes to the Lex de Bonis Cedendis; but it does not seem to refer to either of them. The passage of Dion Cassius (LVIII.21 Περὶ τῶν συμβολαίων) seems to refer to this Lex de Mutuis Pecuniis.

De Fundo Dotali. The provisions as to the Fundus Dotalis were contained in the Lex Julia de Adulteriis (Gaius, II.63; Paulus, S.R. II. tit. 21 s2; Dig. De Fundo Dotali, 23 tit. 5 s1, 2, 13). This Julia Lex was commented on by Papinian, Ulpian, and Paulus. [Adulterium.]

Judiciariae. The lex referred to in the Digest (4 tit. 8 s41) by which a person under twenty years of age was not compelled to be a judex, is probably one of the Leges Juliae Judiciariae (Gell. XIV. c2). As to the other Juliae Leges Judiciariae, see Judex.

De Liberis Legationibus. (Cic. ad Att. XV.11). [Legatus.]

Majestatis. (Cic. Phil. I.91). The Lex Majestatis of the Digest (48 4) is probably a lex of Augustus. [Majestas.]

De Maritandis Ordinibus. [Julia et Papia Poppaea.]

Municipalis: see separate page.

 p692  Julia et Papia Poppaea: see separate page.

Peculatus. [Peculatus.]

Julia et Plautia, which enacted that there could be no usucapion in things obtained by robbery (vi possessae). The Twelve Tables had already provided that there could be no usucapion in stolen things (Gaius, II.45; Inst. 2 6). This lex was probably passed B.C. 89.

Julia Papiria. [Papiria.]

De Provinciis. (Dion Cass. XLIII.25; Orelli, Onomasticon, refers to this Lex Julia de Repetundis the regulations de Provincialibus Sumptibus, which Ernesti considers to belong to the Lex Julia de Repetundis). [Provinciae.]

 p693  De Publicanis. (Cic. ad Attic. II.16, pro Cn. Plancio, c14, ed. Wunder; Appian, Bell. Civ. II.13).

Repetundarum. [Repetundae.]

De Residuis. [Peculatus.]

De Sacerdotiis. (Cic. Ep. ad Brutum, I.5).

De Sacrilegis. [Peculatus.]

Sumtuaria, passed in the time of Julius Caesar (Dion Cass. XLIII.25) and one under Augustus (Gell. II.24). [Sumtuariae Leges.]

Theatralis (Sueton. Aug. 40; Plin. XXXIII.2), 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. 67.

Julia et Titia (Inst. 1 20) empowered the praeses of a province to appoint a tutor for women and pupilli who had none (Ulp. Frag. XI.18). A Lex Atilia of earlier but uncertain date had given the same power at Rome to the praetor urbanus and the majority of the tribuni plebis; and the new lex was passed in order to extend the same advantages to the provinces. There are some reasons for supposing that there were two leges, a Julia and a Titia; and among those reasons, is the circumstance that it is not usual to unite by the word et the two names which belong to one lex, though this is done by Cicero (Brut. c16, Pro Balbo, c21) in speaking of the Lex Licinia and Mucia.

De Vi Publica et Privata. [Vis.]

Vicesimaria. [Vicesima.]

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