Lex Papia Poppaea
Encyclopedia
The Lex Papia Poppaea was a Roman law introduced in AD 9 to encourage and strengthen marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

. It included provisions against adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...

 and celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...

 and complemented and supplemented Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

' Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus of 18 BC
18 BC
Year 18 BC was either a common year starting on Friday, Saturday or Sunday or a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...

 and the Lex Iulia de Adulteriis Coercendis of 17 BC
17 BC
Year 17 BCE was either a common year starting on Sunday or Monday or a leap year starting on Saturday, Sunday or Monday of the Julian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...

. The lex
Lex
-Written law :* Legislation* Statute* Statutory law* Act of Parliament* Act of Congress-Fictional characters:*Lex Luthor, a fictional supervillain in DC Comics*Lex in the TV series The Tribe .* Lex in game Fire Emblem...

 was introduced by the suffect consuls
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...

 of that year, M. Papius Mutilus and Q. Poppaeus Secundus, although they themselves were unmarried.

History

Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...

 mentions several leges Iuliae (Julian Laws) pertaining to morals and marriage, and the Lex Papia Poppaea as a separate later law, refining the Julian Laws (Annals
Annals (Tacitus)
The Annals by Tacitus is a history of the reigns of the four Roman Emperors succeeding Caesar Augustus. The surviving parts of the Annals extensively cover most of the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. The title Annals was probably not given by Tacitus, but derives from the fact that he treated this...

, 3.25)

Some writers conclude from the passage in Suetonius
Lives of the Twelve Caesars
De vita Caesarum commonly known as The Twelve Caesars, is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus.The work, written in AD 121 during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, was the most popular work of Suetonius,...

 (Suet. Aug. 14) that the Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus of 18/17 BC was rejected, and add that it was not enacted until AD 4
4
Year 4 was a common year starting on Wednesday or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar and a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...

. In the year AD 9
9
Year 9 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Camerinus...

, and in the consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

ship of M. Papius Mutilus and Q. Poppaeus Secundus (consules suffecti), another law was passed as a kind of amendment and supplement to the former law, and hence arose the title of Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea by which these two laws are often quoted. It has been inferred from the two laws being separately cited that they were not made into one.

The 6th century Digest
Pandects
The Digest, also known as the Pandects , is a name given to a compendium or digest of Roman law compiled by order of the emperor Justinian I in the 6th century .The Digest was one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I...

only mentions the Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus (Dig. 38 tit.11; Dig. 23 tit.2).

Various titles are used according as reference is made to the various provisions; sometimes the reference is to the Lex Julia, sometimes Papia Poppaea, sometimes Lex Julia et Papia, sometimes Lex de Maritandis Ordinibus, from the chapter which treated of the marriages of the senators
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 (Gaius
Gaius (jurist)
Gaius was a celebrated Roman jurist. Scholars know very little of his personal life. It is impossible to discover even his full name, Gaius or Caius being merely his personal name...

, i.178; Ulp.
Ulpian
Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus , anglicized as Ulpian, was a Roman jurist of Tyrian ancestry.-Biography:The exact time and place of his birth are unknown, but the period of his literary activity was between AD 211 and 222...

 Frag. xi.20; Lex Marita, Hor. Carm. Sec.), sometimes Lex Caducaria, Decimaria, etc. from the various chapters (Ulp. Frag. xxviii tit.7; Dion Cass
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a Roman consul and a noted historian writing in Greek...

. liv.16, lvi.1, &c.; Tacit.
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...

 Ann. iii.25). (see References)

There were many commentaries on these laws or on this law by the Roman jurists, of which considerable fragments are preserved in the Digest: Gaius wrote 15 books, Ulpian 20, and Paulus
Paulus Castrensis
Paulus Castrensis was an Italian jurist of the 14th century. He studied under Baldus de Ubaldis at Perugia, and was a fellow-pupil with Cardinal de Zabarella. He was admitted to the degree of doctor of civil law in the University of Avignon, but it is uncertain when he first undertook the duties of...

 10 books at least on this law. The law contained at least 35 chapters (Dig. 22 tit.2 s19); but it is impossible to say to which of the two laws included under the general title of Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea, the several provisions as now known to us, belong. Attempts have been made both by J. Gothofredus and Heineccius
Johann Gottlieb Heineccius
Johann Gottlieb Heineccius was a German jurist from Eisenberg, Thuringia.He studied theology at Leipzig, and law at Halle; and at the latter university he was appointed in 1713 professor of philosophy, and in 1718 professor of jurisprudence...

 to restore the law, on the assumption that its provisions are reducible to the two general heads of a Lex Maritalis and Lex Caducaria.

Suitability of the Match

The provisions of these laws forbade the marriage of a senator or a senator's children with a libertina
Freedman
A freedman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves became freedmen either by manumission or emancipation ....

(an emancipated slave
Freedman
A freedman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves became freedmen either by manumission or emancipation ....

), with a woman whose father or mother had followed an ars ludicra (a dancer, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...

, or other entertainer), with a prostitute, and also the marriage of a libertinus with a senator's daughter. If an hereditas
Hereditas
Hereditas is a scientific journal concerning genetics. It has been published since 1920 by Mendelska sällskapet i Lund ....

or a legatum
Legatum
LEGATUM is a privately owned, international investment organisation, headquartered in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates. Legatum's mission is to find ways to generate and allocate the capital and ideas that help people live more prosperous lives....

(inheritance) was left to a person on condition of not marrying, or on conditions which in effect prevented marriage, the conditions were illegal, and the gift was unconditional. The condition, however, might be not to marry a certain specified person or certain specified persons; or it might be, to marry a particular person; but then the person must be such a one as would be a suitable match, otherwise the condition would be in effect a condition not to marry, and therefore void (Dig.35 tit.1 s63).

Promotion of Marriage

In order to promote marriage, various penalties were imposed on those who lived in a state of celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...

 after a certain age. Caelibes
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...

could not take an hereditas
Hereditas
Hereditas is a scientific journal concerning genetics. It has been published since 1920 by Mendelska sällskapet i Lund ....

or a legacy (legatum
Legatum
LEGATUM is a privately owned, international investment organisation, headquartered in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates. Legatum's mission is to find ways to generate and allocate the capital and ideas that help people live more prosperous lives....

); but if a person was caelebs at the time of the testator's death, and was not otherwise disqualified (jure civili), he might take the hereditas or legatum, if he obeyed the law within one hundred days, that is, if he married within that time (Ulp. Frag. xvii.1).

If he did not comply with the law, the gift became caducum (subject to escheat
Escheat
Escheat is a common law doctrine which transfers the property of a person who dies without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in limbo without recognised ownership...

). The Lex Julia allowed widows a term of one year (vacatio) from the death of a husband, and divorced women a term (vacatio) of six months from the time of the divorce, within which periods they were not subject to the penalties of the lex: the Lex Papia extended these periods respectively to two years, and a year and six months (Ulp. Frag. xiv).

A man, when he attained the age of sixty, and a woman, when she attained the age of fifty, were not included within certain penalties of the law (Ulp. Frag. xvi); but if they had not obeyed the law before attaining those respective ages, they were perpetually bound by its penalties by a Senatus-consultum Pernicianum. A Senatus-consultum Claudianum so far modified the strictness of the new rule as to give a man who married above sixty the same advantage that he would have had if had married under sixty, provided he married a woman who was under fifty; the ground of which rule was the legal notion that a woman under fifty was still capable of having children (Ulpian, Frag. xvi; Sueton. Claud. 23). If the woman was above fifty and the man under sixty, this was called Impar Matrimonium, and by a Senatus-consultum Calvitianum it was entirely without effect as to releasing from incapacity to take legata and dotes
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

. On the death of the woman, therefore, the dos became caduca.

By the Lex Papia Poppaea a candidate who had several children was preferred to one who had fewer (Tacit. Ann. xv.19; Plin.
Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo , better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him...

 Ep. vii.16). Freedmen who had a certain number of children were freed operarum obligatione (Dig. 38 tit.1 De Operis Libertorum); and libertae, who had four children, were released from the tutela of their patrons (Ulp. Frag. tit.29). Those who had three children living at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, four in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and five in the provinces, were excused from the office of tutor or curator (Inst. 1 25; Dig.27 1). After the passing of this law, it became usual for the senate, and afterwards the emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 (princeps) to give occasionally, as a privilege, the same advantage that the law secured to those who had children. This was called the Jus Liberorum. Pliny says (Ep. ii.13) that he had lately obtained from the emperor, for a friend of his, the Jus Trium Liberorum (see also Ep. x.95, 96; and Dion Cass. lv.2, and the note of Reimarus
Hermann Samuel Reimarus
Hermann Samuel Reimarus , was a German philosopher and writer of the Enlightenment who is remembered for his Deism, the doctrine that human reason can arrive at a knowledge of God and ethics from a study of nature and our own internal reality, thus eliminating the need for religions based on...

). This privilege is mentioned in some inscriptions, on which the abbreviation I. L. H. (jus liberorum habens) sometimes occurs, which is equivalent to jura parentis habere. The emperor M. Antoninus
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...

 provided that children should be registered by name within thirty days after their birth with the Praefectus Aerarii Saturni (Capitol. M. Ant. c9; compare Satire IX of Juvenal, line 84).

The law also imposed penalties on orbi, that is, married persons who had no children (qui liberos non habent, Gaius, ii.111) from the age of twenty-five to sixty in a man, and from the age to twenty to fifty in a woman. By the Lex Papia, orbi could only take one half of an hereditas or legatum which was left to them (Gaius, ii.286). It seems that an attempt had been made to evade this part of the law by adoptions, which a Senatus-consultum Neronianum declared to be ineffectual for the purpose of relieving a person from the penalties of the law (Tacit. Ann. xv.19).

As a general rule a husband and wife could only leave to one another a tenth part of their property; but there were exceptions in respect of children either born of the marriage or by another marriage of one of the parties, which allowed of the free disposal of a larger part. This privilege might also be acquired by obtaining the Jus Liberorum (Ulp. Frag. tit.xv, xvi).

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