The ''Lex Cornelia de maiestate'' was a Roman law passed by
Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Sulla had ...
during his dictatorship from 81 to 80 BC using the
tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...
Cornelius.
The law, relating to the control of
governors
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...
and their forces in the
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
, stated among other things that a governor could not leave his province during his time in office, with or without his army.
The law was designed to prevent both corruption and rebellion of governors, but was thwarted just four years later in 77 BC during the revolt of
Lepidus, a rogue
proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...
who left his province of
Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul ( la, Gallia Cisalpina, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the part of Italy inhabited by Celts (Gauls) during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC.
After its conquest by the Roman Republic in the 200s BC it was con ...
with his army and marched towards
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
.
See also
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Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
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List of Roman laws
This is a partial list of Roman laws. A Roman law (Latin: ''lex'') is usually named for the sponsoring legislator and designated by the adjectival form of his ''gens'' name ('' nomen gentilicum''), in the feminine form because the noun ''lex'' (pl ...
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Constitutional Reforms of Lucius Cornelius Sulla
The constitutional reforms of Sulla were a series of laws enacted by the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla between 82 and 80 BC, reforming the Constitution of the Roman Republic in a revolutionary way.
In the decades before Sulla had beco ...
References
Roman law
{{AncientRome-law-stub