Rogatio
The Latin word rogatio (from the verb rogare , “to question”) denotes any proposal to the legislature, so it can be applied equally to laws ( Lex ) and referendums ( plebiscites ). Accordingly, there are the terms populum rogare for a proposal to the people, and legem rogare for a legislative proposal ( Sextus Pompeius Festus , sv Rogatio ). A rogatio is thus a proposed law or a proposed plebiscite.
The terms rogare, rogatio also refer to a person proposed to the comitia for public office. The form of the rogatio is preserved in the case of the adrogatio (see adoption in the Roman Empire ), which was made in the comitia curiata ( per populi rogationem ), in Aulus Gellius (v. 19): it begins with the words " velitis, jubeatis " and ends with “ ita vos Quirites rogo ”. The corresponding expression of the approval of the rogatio on the part of the sovereign assembly was uti rogas , the rejection of antiquare rogationem . The term rogatio thus includes every proposed lex , every plebiscite and privilege , without rogatio there was no command ( iussum ) of the populus or the plebs . On the other hand, the terms lex , plebis scitum and privilegium were often inappropriately used to denote laws, and even rogationes , after they had become law, continued to be referred to as rogationes . The term rogationes is often used for the actions of the tribunes that led to plebiscites, so that some authors (improperly) see the rogatio as the simple equivalent of the plebiscite. In addition to the phrase rogare legem, there is the phrase legem ferre to suggest a lex and rogationem promulgare to publish the contents of the proposed lex ; the phrase rogationem accipere is used to refer to the ruling body. Lex rogata is equivalent to Lex lata . Legem perferre and lex perlata are applied to a rogatio when it has become a lex . The terms related to legislation are explained in Ulpian (tit. 1 s3) as follows: “A lex is called either rogari or ferri ; it is called abrogari when it has been canceled, derogari when it has been partially canceled, subrogari when it has been supplemented, and obrogari when parts have been changed. ”A subsequent lex changed or canceled an earlier lex if the two were inconsistent were. It also seems to have been a principle that a lex would become ineffective if it was out of use for a long time (cf. Livius xxi, 63 and Cicero in Verrem, 18).
What remains is a delimitation of the words Rogatio and Privilegium .
In Festus, rogatio isdefinedas a command of the populus , which refers to one or more persons (or things), but not to all. That which the populus orders ( scivit )in relation to all persons or thingsis a lex ; Aelius Gallus says that rogatio is a genus legis , which means that lex is not always rogatio , but rogatio has to be lex if it has beenproposed ( rogata )to a legislative comitia ( justis comitiis ). According to this definition, a resolved rogatio is a lex ; there is also a lex that is not a rogatio : for this we have toadopta general name lex that includes the real lex and the rogatio . The passage in Aelius Gallus is corrected by Göttling, but the correction is based on a misunderstanding, it turns the clear meaning in Gallus into nonsense.
According to Gallus' definition, rogatio was equivalent to privilegium , a term that appears on the Twelve Tables ; and it denotes, according to Gallus (Festus, sv Rogatio ) a regulation that affects a single person, which is indicated by the form of the word (privi-legium, " privae res " is synonymous with " singulae res "). The word privilegium, according to Gallus ' explanation , does not convey any concept of the character of the legal measure: it might or might not favor a party. It is generally used by Cicero in the derogatory sense ( pro Domo , 17; pro Sestio , 30; rogationem privilegii similem , Brutus 23). Accordingly, privilegia in the republic were not general laws or parts of them: they have the character of an exception to the general rule. In the corpus iuris civilis , privilegium is the general name for a ius singulare .
literature
- Wilhelm Liebenam : Rogatio . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IA, 1, Stuttgart 1914, column 999 f.
Remarks
- ^ Sallust , de bello Iugurthino 29
- ↑ Livy xxxi.6
- ↑ Gellius x 20
- ↑ Digest 35 tit.2 s1 Ad legem Falcidiam
- ↑ Göttling, KW : History of the Roman state constitution from the construction of the city to C. Caesar's death. Halle (orphanage) 1840, p. 310
- ↑ Cicero, de Legibus III.19
- ↑ Savigny : System of today's Roman law Berlin, 1840, Vol. I , p. 61