Lex Claudia de nave senatorum

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The lex Claudia de nave senatorum was a controversial law of the Roman Republic and can be seen as the forerunner of the repetition legislation . It was born in 218 BC. Issued as a plebiscite by the tribune Quintus Claudius against the resistance of the Senate .

It stipulated that no senator or son of a senator may own a ship with a capacity of more than 300 amphorae . This size was thought to be enough to transport fruit from the estates. Any kind of profit-making was considered improper among senators.

The aim and scope of the lex Claudia are now controversial in research. The law, which can only be found in the records of Livy , forbade senators to trade unless it was related to their own agriculture. Political considerations were at the center of the law, namely to tie nobility to traditional, agrarian values ​​through economic conformity and thus to shield them from the changes that emerged at the end of the third century through Rome's foreign policy successes. The law required that mos maiorum be adhered to . This term, which is only inadequately translated as “custom of the ancestors”, has been used more and more since the 2nd century to describe an almost unattainable ideal and as a political battle term. The practical effect of the law, however, seems to have been limited. Apparently, many senators - including Cato the Elder , who was considered the epitome of an advocate of traditional values ​​- evaded the rules of the lex Claudia early on by having their business dealt with by straw men.

According to Livius, Quintus Claudius was only supported by a single, albeit very powerful, senator, namely Gaius Flaminius , who apparently opposed his peers and relied on his popularity with the people. The support of the law helped him because of its popularity in 217 BC. To the second consulate . If the portrayal of Livy is correct, then Flaminius can be regarded as a forerunner of the popular politicians of the late republic because of this behavior .

source

Livy : ab urbe condita , book 21, 63

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Livy 21, 63, 3-4.
  2. ^ Max Kaser : Roman legal history . 2nd revised edition. Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1976, ISBN 3-525-18102-7 , § 11 The Senate, p. 53.
  3. ↑ a b Michael Crawford : The Roman Republic . dtv, Munich 1983 (dtv-Geschichte der Antike), ISBN 3-423-04403-9 , Die Opposition, pp. 65–66; engl. Original edition: Michael Crawford: The Roman Republic . Collins & Sons, 1976 (Fontana History Of The Ancient World).

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