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The ''lex Titia'' was a Roman law passed on 27 November 43 BC that established the
Triumvirate A triumvirate ( la, triumvirātus) or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs ( la, triumviri). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are ...
of
Octavian Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
,
Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the au ...
and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus for five years until the end of 38 BC. The triumvirate established by the law was then renewed in 38 BC. Unlike the so-called
First Triumvirate The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance among three prominent politicians in the late Roman Republic: Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus. The constitution of the Roman republic had many ve ...
, which was a private arrangement among three men, the Second Triumvirate was a legal instrument which created a formal legal framework to empower the three triumvirs with practically absolute power.


Passage

It was named for Publius Titius, one of the
tribunes of the plebs Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power o ...
in that year, who introduced the law. It was passed before the '' comitia tributa''. This was somewhat irregular, as magistrates possessing consular and praetorian ''
imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and ''potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic ...
'' were normally elected and constituted from the senior popular body, the ''
comitia centuriata The Centuriate Assembly (Latin: ''comitia centuriata'') of the Roman Republic was one of the three voting assemblies in the Roman constitution. It was named the Centuriate Assembly as it originally divided Roman citizens into groups of one hundre ...
''.


Contents


Legal powers

The triumvirate which the ''lex Titia'' created was largely a "collegial iteration of Sulla's ictatorship and gave the triumvirs enormous legal powers that overrode those of all the other magistrates, both in Rome and the provinces. The commission, formally titled ''triumviri rei publicae constituendae'' ("three-man commission for restoring the constitution of the republic"), first vested the commissioners with consular ''imperium''. It also included a number of other special powers. Like the Decemvirate and the dictatorship of Sulla, the triumvirs had power to issue legally-binding edicts. They were also granted powers to change the rolls of the senate (''ius senatus legendi'') and establish new Roman colonies. These powers amounted "to the enhanced domestication of the owerstraditionally used for the foundation and settlement of colonies and colonists". The law also provided that the triumvirs would exercise their powers ''sine provacatione'' (ie without appeal to the people). This gave them power over the life and limb of all Roman citizens; they used this authority to engage in the largest
proscription Proscription ( la, proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (''Oxford English Dictionary'') and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated ...
s in Roman history where they killed large numbers of rich citizens and political opponents. With such powers, the triumvirs likely were given lictors holding axes in their ''fasces'' and were also authorised to retain armed bodyguards. Modelled on the '' lex Valeria'' which established Sulla's dictatorship, the law also gave the triumvirs the power to divide up provinces by agreement or sortition, appoint magistrates, and award honours. With the provincial authority, they also were given large predicate powers to make war and peace, recruit and deploy soldiers, along with broad financial powers over taxation. Their military authority also was placed beyond those of the ordinary provincial governors with the highest ''imperium'' and ''auspicium''. Even when the normal provincial proconsuls won triumphal victories, this overriding ''imperium'' and ''auspicium'' gave the triumvirs the legal right to reject triumphal honours for proconsuls or to take credit for those victories. This highest authority was reflected on the Capitoline Fasti, which note the triumvirs above the ordinary consuls. Such authority also gave them the right to sit between the consuls at meetings of the senate and to call the senate to meeting on their own authority. The three men did not alternate ''fasces'' – rotate through full authority with the other members taking veto powers – rather, given the Livian and Dionysian narratives on the Decemvirate, refrained from interference with each other. Doing so ''de facto'' suspended their mutual ''ius intercessionis''.


Term

There were two kinds of magistracies in the Roman republic: those with a fixed term and those created for certain ''causa'' which would elapse only with the abdication, death, or abrogation of the magistrate. While the law established the magistracy with a term of five years, attaching a ''causa'' meant a triumvir's powers ceased only with their voluntary abdication, death, or abrogation. For example, when Lepidus was removed from the triumvirate in 36 BC, this was formally done by abrogation of his office ratified by the senate and people. Octavian clung to the powers ratified in the ''lex Titia'' until his "pompous abdication on 13 January 27" BC.


Legacy

While the constitution of the Roman Republic was not dismantled by the ''lex Titia'', it never recovered its free character. It could be argued, however, that in Roman constitutional theory, the law's passage was simply an exercise of the sovereign people's legislative authority. Some scholars argue the creation of the triumvirate marks the end of the republic. Eventually, over the next two decades and the intervening civil wars, Octavian would emerge triumphant and create the
Principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...
.


See also

*
List of Roman laws This is a partial list of Roman laws. A Roman law ( Latin: ''lex'') 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'' ...
*
Enabling Act An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to ca ...


References

; Citations ; Sources * * *


External links


The Roman Law Library, incl. ''Leges''
{{Italic title Augustus Roman law 43 BC