Publilian Laws refers to a set of laws meant to increase the amount of political power the

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of ...

class held in the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

. The laws are named for

Volero Publilius Volero Publilius was tribune of the plebs in Rome in 472 and 471 BC. During his time as tribune, he secured the passage of two important laws increasing the independence of his office.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 29, 30. Background The tribunes of th ...

and

Quintus Publilius Philo Quintus Publilius Philo was a Roman politician who lived during the 4th century BC. His birth date is not provided by extant sources, however, a reasonable estimate is about 365 BC, since he first became consul in 339 BC at a time when consuls co ...

, the two tribunes responsible for the law's passing.

Lex Publilia (471 BC)

The ''

lex Publilia Lex or LEX may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lex'', a daily featured column in the ''Financial Times'' Games * Lex, the mascot of the word-forming puzzle video game ''Bookworm'' * Lex, the protagonist of the word-forming puzzle video ga ...

'' introduced by 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 ...

Volero Publilius and passed in 471 BC, gave the power to elect tribunes to the

Tribal Assembly The Tribal Assembly (''comitia populi tributa'') was an assembly consisting of all Roman citizens convened by tribes (''tribus''). In the Roman Republic, citizens did not elect legislative representatives. Instead, they voted themselves on legisl ...

rather than the

Centuriate Assembly The Centuriate Assembly (Latin: ''comitia centuriata'') of the Roman Republic was one of the three voting assemblies in the Roman constitution. It was named the Centuriate Assembly as it originally divided Roman citizens into groups of one hundred ...

. This law gave plebeians the right to initiate laws. Publilius also saw that the Tribal Assembly should be organized by district, with each district casting a single vote decided by the majority within that district. The four Servian districts were limited to the city (''tribus urbanae''), and the land conquered after the Servian period was divided into sixteen districts (''tribus rusticae''). A twenty-first district, called Crustuminian was created in the place that the Plebeians organized themselves in order to have an uneven number of districts and avoid ties.

Lex Publilia (339 BC)

Consul Quintus Publilius Philo is credited with passing three more laws to the benefit on plebeian people in 339 BC, which are as follows: # A law stating that one censor ''must'' be a plebeian. # A law limiting the role of the ''

comitia curiata The Curiate Assembly (''comitia curiata'') was the principal assembly that evolved in shape and form over the course of the Roman Kingdom until the Comitia Centuriata organized by Servius Tullius. During these first decades, the people of Rome w ...

'' to the ratification of proposals to be submitted to the ''

comitia centuriata The Centuriate Assembly (Latin: ''comitia centuriata'') of the Roman Republic was one of the three voting assemblies in the Roman constitution. It was named the Centuriate Assembly as it originally divided Roman citizens into groups of one hundred ...

''. # A law binding all the people of Rome to decisions made by the plebeian assembly. Although there is little to no dispute that Quintus Publilius Philo is responsible for the first two of these laws, the third appears to be a duplicate of a later measure passed in 287–286 BC by Q. Hortensius, and considered by some to possibly be fictitious.

References

{{Reflist Roman Republic Roman law

Lex Publilia (471 BC)

Lex Publilia (339 BC)

See also

References