The Dating of the lex Aquilia
The Dating of the lex Aquilia
This chapter examines the dating of the lex Aquilia. It discusses basic data on the lex Aquilia; the first chapter of the lex; the third chapter of the lex; and economic and political explanations of the enactment of the lex. It argues that given the rarity of Republican legislation dealing with private law there must have been a strong reason for the enactment of the lex Aquilia, and the upheaval associated with the Secession might provide this. For the first time, the plebeians had the political power to impose their will on the whole populace by way of legislation. If there was a perception that the fixed penalties were too high, so that the person who had suffered the loss was in fact being made richer as a result of it, then it would be perfectly understandable that the plebeians would have chosen to remedy this. The lex Aquilia can genuinely be seen as a poor man's statute.
Keywords: Roman law, lex Aquilia, private law, dating, plebeians
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
