The Plebiscitum Ovinium (often called the ''Lex Ovinia'') was an initiative by the
Plebeian Council that transferred the power to revise the list of members of the
Roman Senate
The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Sena ...
(the ''lectio senatus'') from
consuls
A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
A consu ...
to
censors.
Date
Since
Appius Claudius Caecus is said to have changed the membership of the senate during his censorship in 312 BCE, the law must have been passed by then, but not much earlier because the censors of 319 removed a man from his tribe, but not from the Senate.
Reaction
The
patricians did not recognize the validity of the ''Plebiscitum Ovinium'', but nevertheless did not attempt to prevent the ''lectio senatus'' being carried out by the censors rather than the consuls.
See also
*
Conflict of the Orders
The Conflict of the Orders or the Struggle of the Orders was a political struggle between the plebeians (commoners) and patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic lasting from 500 BC to 287 BC in which the plebeians sought political ...
*
Ovinia gens
References
Roman law
Initiatives
{{AncientRome-law-stub