''Lex Caecilia De Censoria'' (The Law of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica on the Censors) was passed by Metellus Scipio,

Roman Consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

of 52 BC. It repealed a law passed by the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 th ...

Publius Clodius Pulcher Publius Clodius Pulcher (93–52 BC) was a populist Roman politician and street agitator during the time of the First Triumvirate. One of the most colourful personalities of his era, Clodius was descended from the aristocratic Claudia gens, one ...

in 58 BC, which had prescribed certain rules for the Censors in exercising their functions as inspectors of public morals (''mores''). It also required the concurrence of both Censors to inflict the ''nota censoria''. During the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

(conducted once every five years), the Censors could place a ''nota'' next to the name of a citizen, usually for offenses such as bankruptcy, cowardice, or having been a gladiator. If a citizen had a ''nota'' placed besides his name, he was subject to a range of penalties, including fines, exile, assignment to an inferior

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

for voting purposes, or even the loss of his citizenship. Thus, by requiring concurrence for the placement of a ''nota'', this law placed an additional check on the powers of the Censors. This was typically the only act that required the concurrence of both Censors. Also, when a senator had been already convicted before an ordinary court, this law permitted the Censors to remove him from the senate in a summary way.Cicero, ''pro Sestio'', 25; Dig. 50 tit. 16 s203 De Portorio

External links

The Roman Law Library, incl. ''Leges''Entry from Harry Thurston Peck, "Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities" (from the Perseus Project)

References

52 BC 1st century BC in law Roman law 1st century BC in the Roman Republic {{AncientRome-law-stub

See also

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References