The Ancient Library
 

Scanned text contains errors.

On this page: Rei Uxoriae – Remuria

936 REPETUNDAE.

scale-beam is sometimes called /cavd’v instead of

[JUGUM.] [J. Y.J

REI UXORIAE or DOTIS ACTIO. [Dos.] RELA’TIO. [senatus.] RELEGA’TIO. [exsilium. p. 515, b.] REMANCIPA’TIO. [emancipate.] REMULCUM (pvjjiovK€LV ras i/aus), a rope for towing a ship, and likewise a tow-barge (" Re-mulcum, funis, quo deligata navis magna trahitur vice remi," Isid. Grig. xix. 4. § 8 ; Remulco est, quum scaphae remis navis magna trahitur," Festus, s.v. ; comp. Caes. B.C. ii. 23, iii. 40 ; Hirt. B. Alex. 11 ; Liv. xxv. 30, xxxii, 16 ; Polvb. i. 27, 28, iii. 46).

REMURIA. [lemcjria.] REMUS. [navis, pp. 787, b., 788, a.] REPA’GULA. [jancja, p. 626, b.] REPETUNDAE, or PECUNIAE REPE­TUNDAE. Repetundae Pecuniae in its widest sense was the term used to designate such sums of money as the Socii of the Roman State or indivi­duals claimed to recover from Magistratus, Judices, or Publici Curatores, which they had improperly taken or received in the Provinciae, or in the Urbs Roma, either in the discharge of their Jurisdictio, or in their capacity of Judices, or in respect of any other public function. Sometimes the word Repe­tundae was used to express the illegal act for which compensation was sought, as in the phrase " llepe-tnndarum insimulari, damnari ;" and Pecuniae meant not only money, but anything that had value. The expression which the Greek writers sometimes use for Repetundae is 8//o? 5oJ/>a>z>. (Plut. Sulla^ 5.)

It is stated by Livy (xlii. 1) that before the year •B. c. 173, no complaints were made by the Socii of being put to any cost or charge by the Roman magis­tratus. When complaints of exactions were made, an inquiry was instituted into this offence extra or-dinem ex Senatusconsulto as appears from the case of P. Furius Philus and M. Matienus, who were accused of this offence by the Hispani. (Liv. xliii. 2.) The first Lex on the subject was the Calpur-nia, which was proposed and carried by the Tri-bumis Plebis, L. Calptirnius Piso (b. c. 149), who also distinguished himself as an historical writer. By this Lex a Praetor was appointed for trying-persons charged with this crime. (Cic. de Ojf. ii. 21, Brut. 27.) This Lex only applied to Pro­vincial Magistratus, because in the year b. c. 141 according to Cicero (de Fin. ii. 3 6) the like offence in a Magistratus Urbanus was the subject of a Quaestio extra ordinem. It seems that the penal­ties of the Lex Calpurnia wer.i merely pecuniary, and at least did not comprise exsilimn, for L. Cor­nelius Lentulus who was Censor B. c. 147, had been convicted on a charge of Repetundae in the previous year. The pecuniary penalty was ascer­tained by the litis aestimatio, or taking an account of all the sums of money which the convicted party had illegally received.

Various leges de repetimdis were passed after the Lex Calpurnia, and the penalties were con­tinually made heavier,: The Lex Junia was passed probably about B. c. 126 on the proposal of M. Ju-nius Pennus, Tribunus Plebis. It is probable that this was the Lex under which C. Cato, Proconsul of Macedonia, was living in exile at Tarraco (Cic. pro Balbo, 11 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 8) ; for at least exsi-lium was not a penalty imposed by the Calpurnia Lex, but was added by some later Lex. This

PvEPETUNDAE.

Lex Junia and the Lex Calpurnia are mentioned in the Lex Servilia.

The Lex Servilia Glaucia was proposed and car­ried by C. Servilius Glaucia Praetor b. c. 100. This Lex applied to any magistratus who had im­properly taken or received money from any private person ; but a magistratus could not be accused during the term of office. The Lex enacted that the Praetor Peregrinus should annually appoint 450 judices for the trial of this offence : the Judices were not’ to be senators. The penalties of the Lex were pecuniary and exsilimn ; the law allowed a comperendinatio. (Cic. in Verr. i. 9.) Before the Lex Servilia, the pecuniary penalty was simple restitution of what had been wrongfully taken ; this Lex seems to have raised the penalty to double the amount of what had been wrongfully taken ‘; and subsequently it was made quadruple. Exsi-lium was only the punishment in case a man did not abide his trial, but withdrew from Rome. (Savigny, Von dem Schutz der Mind.,Zeitsclmft, x.) Under this Lex were tried M’ Aquillius, P. Ruti-lius, M. Scaurus, and Q. Metellus Numidicus. The Lex gave the Civitas to any person on whose com­plaint a person was convicted of Repetundae. (Cic. pro Balbo, 23, 24.)

Th.3 Lex Acilia, which seems to be of uncertain date (probably b. c. 101), was proposed and carried by M’ Acilius Glabrio, a Tribunus Plebis, which enacted that there should be neither ampliatio nor comperendinatio. It is conjectured that this is the Lex Caecilia mentioned by Valerius Maximus (vi. 9, 10), in which passage if the conjecture is correct, we should read Acilia for Caecilia. (Cic. in Ven Act. i. 17, in Verr. i. 9.) It has sometimes been doubted whether the Acilia or Servilia was first enacted, but it appears that the Acilia took away the comperendinatio which the Servilia allowed.

The Lex Cornelia was passed in the dictatorship of Sulla b. c. 81, and continued in force to the time of C. Julius Caesar. It extended the penalties of Repetundae to other illegal acts committed in the provinces, and to judices who received bribes, to those to whose hands the money came, and to those who did not give into the Aerarium their Procon­sular accounts (proconsulares rationes). The Praetor who presided over this quaestio chose the judges by lot from the Senators, whence it appears that the Servilia Lex was repealed by this Lex, at least so far as related to the constitution of the court. This Lex also allowed ampliatio and comperendi­natio. The penalties were pecuniary (litis aesti­matio) and the aquae et ignis interdictio. Under this Lex were tried L. Dolabella, Cn. Piso, C, Verres, C. Macer, M. Fonteius, and L. Flaccus, the two last of whom were defended by Cicero. In the Verrine Orations Cicero complains of the com­perendinatio or double hearing of the cause, which the Lex Cornelia allowed, and refers to the practice under the Lex Acilia, according to which the case for the prosecution, the defence, and the evidence were only heard once, and so the matter was de­cided. (In Verr. i. 9.)

The last Lex de Repetundis was the Lex Julia passed in the first consulship of C. Julius Caesar b. c. 59. (Cic. in Vat. 12.) This Lex consisted of numerous heads (capita) which have been col­lected by Sigonius. (Cic. ad Fain. viii. 8.) This Lex repealed the penalty of exsilimn, but in ad­dition to the litis aestimatio, it enacted that per­sons convicted under this Lex should lose their

Pages
About | Preface | Contents | Index

vii

viii

ix
page #  
Search this site
Google


ancientlibrary.com
WWW