A (: ) was a
Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I.
Roman law also den ...
which dealt primarily with the viritane allotment of public lands. Such laws came largely from two sources: the disposition of lands annexed by Rome in consequence of expansion and the distribution of existing public lands to poor citizens as freeholds. Such legislation dealt almost exclusively with
public lands which were held by the state and not privately owned. There were other types of Roman laws related to agriculture, including those establishing new colonies and those regulating the holding of public lands ().
The most famous was that of the plebeian tribune
Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (; 163 – 133 BC) was a Roman politician best known for his agrarian reform law entailing the transfer of land from the Roman state and wealthy landowners to poorer citizens. He had also served in the ...
, passed in 133 BC, which allotted public lands across Italy to rural plebs. Such laws were not without precedent, such as the of 232 BC which authorised viritane distributions of lands in
Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul (, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the name given, especially during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, to a region of land inhabited by Celts (Gauls), corresponding to what is now most of northern Italy.
Afte ...
and
Picenum
Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name was assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum became ''Regio V'' in the Augustan territorial organisation of Roman Italy. It is now in Marche ...
. Further such laws were also passed in the years after 133 BC, including that of Tiberius'
younger brother Gaius
Gaius, sometimes spelled Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen).
People
* Gaius (biblical figure) (1st century AD)
*Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist
* Gaius Acilius
* Gaius Antonius
* Gaius Antonius Hybrida
* Gaius Asinius Gal ...
in 122 BC, and the epigraphically attested of 111 BC. The
law of 111 BC, among other things, buttressed recognition of the lands distributed in the prior law of 133. Other include a series of three laws vaguely described by Appian, the
laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...
of
Saturninus in 103 and 100 BC, the
laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...
of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
in 59 BC, and a law of Mark Antony in 44 BC.
See also
*
Compascuus
*
Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I.
Roman law also den ...
*
List of Roman laws
This is a partial list of Roman laws. A Roman law () is usually named for the sponsoring legislator and designated by the adjectival form of his ''gens'' name ('' nomen gentilicum''), in the feminine form because the noun ''lex'' (plural ''leges'' ...
References
Bibliography
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Roman law
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