Valerian and Porcian laws

The Valerian and Porcian laws were

tribunes of the plebs. The Valerian law also made it legal to kill any citizen who was plotting to establish a tyranny. This clause was used several times, the most important of which was its usage by Julius Caesar's

assassins.

Valerian law

The first Valerian law was enacted by

Tarquin

kings.

Nonetheless, the Valerian law was not kept on the books throughout the five hundred years of the Roman republic. Indeed,

Valerius

family. Furthermore, Livy notes that, should a magistrate disregard the Valerian law, his only reproof was that his act be deemed unlawful and wicked. This implies that the Valerian law was not so very effective in defending the plebs.

Porcian laws

The Porcian Laws (

voluntary exile

. Cicero in the Republic (2.54) refers to three leges Porciae, but is not clear on their specific details.

Lex Porcia I (Lex de Porcia capita civium): perhaps proposed by the
Roman soldiers. Up to this time, it is probable that provincial authorities had unmitigated coercitio
.

Lex Porcia II (Lex de Porcia de tergo civium): perhaps proposed by M. Porcius Cato (Cato the Elder), consul in 195 BC and 184 BC, it extended the right to provocatio against flogging.
Lex Porcia III: perhaps proposed by M. Porcius Cato (Cato the Elder), or a L. Porcius Licinius, it provided for a very severe sanction (possibly death) against magistrates who refused to grant provocatio.

The Porcian Laws do not seem to have fully protected citizen soldiers from

principate

.

Other laws

Another law that was passed with the intention of protecting citizens from severe punishment at the hands of governors and magistrates, is the lex Julia de vi publica, passed around 50 BC. It was passed to define rape as forced sex against "boy, woman, or anyone" and the rapist was subject to execution. Men who had been raped were exempt from the loss of legal or social standing suffered by those who submitted their bodies to use for the pleasure of others; a male prostitute or entertainer was infamis and excluded from the legal protections extended to citizens in good standing. As a matter of law, a

legally a person. The slave's owner, however, could prosecute the rapist for property damage.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Yet this law, for all practical purposes, is only a restatement of the right of appeal present in the Valerian and Porcian laws.

Violation

This sanctity of a citizen's person was highly esteemed by the Romans, and so any violation of the Valerian and Porcian laws was deemed to be almost a

Verres indicates the high pitch to which this feeling was carried. Verres, who as the governor of Sicily (73 - 70 BC) had a number of Roman citizens cruelly killed, was eventually tried before the senators in Rome, on charges of extortion

(Cic. Ver. 5.161-2).

Notes

^ Lentz 1993, p. 120.
ISBN 978-0-19-926108-6
.

^ Digest 48.6.3.4 and 48.6.5.2.

^ Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 562–563. See also Digest 48.5.35 [34] on legal definitions of rape that included boys.

^ Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 558–561.

ISBN 978-0300093025
– via Google Books.

References

Lentz, John C. (1993). Luke's portrait of Paul. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-43316-9
.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valerian_and_Porcian_laws&oldid=1204991899"

[FOOTNOTELentz1993[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidN4TDF3Yh4fcCpgPA120_120]-1] Lentz 1993, p. 120.

[2] ISBN 978-0-19-926108-6
.

[3] Digest 48.6.3.4 and 48.6.5.2.

[4] Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 562–563. See also Digest 48.5.35 [34] on legal definitions of rape that included boys.

[5] Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 558–561.

[Bisexuality_in_the_Ancient_World_By_Eva_Cantarella-6] ISBN 978-0300093025
– via Google Books.

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]