Publius Falcidius was an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

Tribune of the Plebs Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune () was the first office of the Roman Republic, Roman state that was open to the plebs, plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the pow ...

in 40 BCE, of the ''gens'' Falcidia. He was the author of the ''Lex Falcidia de Legatis'', a law on inheritance which remained in force in the sixth century CE, since it was incorporated by

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

in the ''

Institutes An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ...

''. Under this law, legacies (i.e. gifts to third parties) could not take up more than three-quarters of the total estate (i.e. the heirs had to receive at least a quarter). If the legacies were more than this amount, then they would be reduced in order to ensure that the heirs received a quarter of the total value of the estate. The Falcidius mentioned by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

in his speech for the '' Lex Manilia'' had the praenomen Caius. He had been Tribune of the Plebs and ''

legatus A legate (Latin: , ) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman army, equivalent to a high-ranking general officer of modern times. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer in comman ...

'', but in what year is unknown.

Notes

References

* * 1st-century BC Romans Tribunes of the plebs {{AncientRome-bio-stub