Peregrinus (right)

The peregrinus (lat. "The stranger", noun of the adverb per-egre, per "beyond ... beyond", egre from the old locative agri , from ager "field", thus: "beyond the field", ie in a foreign country; Plural peregrini ) is a Roman legal term and in this legal sense means the non-citizen, the free person who did not have Roman citizenship and was therefore not a Roman citizen. The peregrinus was until the 2nd century BC. Chr. Defenseless and without rights, unless he obtained a hospitium privatum (private hospitality) under the protection of the Iuppiter hospitalis (Jupiter as protector of hospitality) or an applicatio ad patronum (connection to a patron , whereby he became his client ) , or his home state concluded a mutual treaty with Rome on this. After the Social War , the civil rights spread to the whole of Italy, so that from 88 v. Chr. Peregrinus referred to the member of an extra-Italian people belonging to the Roman sphere of influence, who had no citizenship.

The ius gentium (alien law) regulates the relationship between the peregrini and the Romans. A peregrinus was able to obtain the connubium (marriage law), the commercium (commercial law) and the mancipatio ( sales law) in Rome . The recuperators (substitute judges) were responsible for the peregrini in disputes and lawsuits and from the 2nd century BC onwards. The praetor peregrinus (stranger praetor ).

literature

• Max Kaser : Roman private law . 2 volumes. Beck, Munich 1955–1959.