The ''lex Caecilia Didia'' was a law put into effect by the

consuls A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos and

Titus Didius Titus Didius (also spelled Deidius in ancient times) was a politician and general of the Roman Republic. In 98 BC he became the first member of his family to be consul. He is credited with the restoration of the Villa Publica,Makin, Ena. "The T ...

in the year 98 BC. This law had two provisions. The first was a minimum period between proposing a

Roman law Roman law is the 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 Just ...

and voting on it, and the second was a ban of miscellaneous provisions in a single Roman law. This law was reinforced by the '' lex Junia Licinia'' in 62 BC, an umbrella law introduced by Lucius Licinius Murena and Decimus Junius Silanus.

Provisions

The

Bobbio Scholiast The Bobbio Scholiast (commonly abbreviated ''schol. Bob.'') was an anonymous scholiast working in the 7th century at the monastery of Bobbio and known for his annotations of texts from classical antiquity. He is a unique source for some information ...

describes the first provision: "The Caecilian and Didian law decreed that the period of ''trinundium'' be observed for promulgating laws." The ''lex Caecilia Didia'', then, determined how much time had to be allowed between the publication of a law and its vote in the

assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

.Berger, Adolf. ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''. ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'' Vol II, No. 43, 1953. pp. 548, 546. The period of time designated by ''trinundium'' has been taken to mean either three Roman eight-day weeks (that is, 24 days) or ''tertiae nundinae'', on the third market-day (17 days). The second provision of the ''lex Caecilia Didia'' forbade ''leges saturae'', "stuffed" laws, which were

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by l ...

s dealing with heterogeneous subject matters. This meant that in a single Roman

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

, there could not be a collection of unrelated measures — what might in modern terms be called omnibus bills.

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

gave an interpretation of the law in his ''Oratio de domo sua'' ("Speech concerning His House") after his return from exile: "What other force, what other meaning, I should like to know, has the Caecilian and Didian law, except this; that the people are not to be forced in consequence of many different things being joined in one complicated bill." It did not take long for the ''lex Caecilia Didia'' to be put into action. Most significantly, in 91 BC the consul Lucius Marcius Philippus, in his capacity as an

augur An augur was a priest and official in the ancient Rome, classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the List of Roman deities, gods by studying the flight of birds. Determinations were ba ...

, managed to have the laws of the tribune Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger abrogated on the grounds that they contravened the second provision of the ''lex Caecilia Didia''. This act is often seen as a major contributory factor in the outbreak of the

Social War (91–88 BC) Social War may refer to: * Social War (357–355 BC), or the War of the Allies, fought between the Second Athenian Empire and the allies of Chios, Rhodes, and Cos as well as Byzantium * Social War (220–217 BC), fought among the southern Greek sta ...

Political background

The ''lex Caecilia Didia'' was a direct response to the events of 100 BC and an attempt to reduce hasty legislation passed in the ''

comitia The legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people (and thus the assemblies) who had the final say regarding the election ...

''. In that year, Gaius Marius gained his sixth term as consul. Under Marius, the popularist tribune

Saturninus Saturninus may refer to: * Lucius Appuleius Saturninus (died 100 BC), tribune, legislator * Gaius Sentius Saturninus, consul 19 BC, military officer, governor * Marcus Aponius Saturninus (1st century AD), governor of Moesia, and partisan of first ...

and the

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

Glaucia In Greek mythology, Glaucia ( Ancient Greek: Γλαυκία) was a daughter of the Trojan river god Scamander. Mythology When Heracles went to war against Troy, Deimachus, a Boeotian, one of the companions of Heracles, fell in love with Glaucia. ...

proposed and passed liberal land laws assigning land in the

province of Africa Africa Proconsularis was a Roman province on the northern African coast that was established in 146 BC following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, ...

to Marius’s veterans. However, the radical nature of these bills and the forcible methods Saturninus and Glaucia used in ensuring their passage alienated a large part of the Roman people and eventually even Marius. As a result Saturninus’s laws were repealed, and the ''lex Caecilia Didia'' was introduced. The goal was to curb the passage of radical bills, with the assumption that the period of ''trinundium'' would give the citizens time to understand the proposed law or to be persuaded to vote against it.Abbot, Frank Frost. ''A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions''. Boston: Ginn, 1901. pp. 100.

Provisions

Political background

Bibliography

See also