The politics of the lex Aquilia

Abstract

Summary Centuries of interpretation by sophisticated Roman jurists developed a comprehensive and nuanced law of damage to personal property, based on the republican lex Aquilia. This lex originated from a plebiscite and the plebeians must have pursued a comprehensible political purpose. That purpose is to be found in the ‘access to justice’ problem inherent in the legis actio per sacramentum procedure, which hindered cash-poor plebeians from engaging in adversarial trials. This grievance became pressing in the aftermath of the last secessio plebis (ca. 287 BCE) when vast amounts of property damage and destruction awaited judicial redress. For the most heinous deeds, the killing of slaves and cattle, a manus iniectio procedure was instituted that incentivised uncontested payment of reparations based on a confessio in iure. In the context of this reform, other elements of the lex Aquilia can be reconsidered, inter alia the reliance on a price from the preceding year and the mysterious Chapter II.