Leges Regiae: Pro Et Contra
Leges regiae: pro et contra by Zika BUJUKLIC´ (Beograd) 1. Fontes. Roman tradition relates the origin of the law to the reign of the first seven kings: thus Romulus, allegedly, had established the first political institutions with his legislature (senate, magistratures, army, college of augurs) and had organized the relations inside the Roman family, Numa had laid the foundations of the religious order, Tullus Hostilius followed by Ancus Marcius had regulated the customs relating to the declaration and leading of the war, Tarquinius Priscus had reorganized the senate, Servius Tullius had carried out the judiciary reforms and had established a new form for organizing the citizens according to army principles, while the last king Tarquinius Superbus was credited with the claim of being a tyrant, not respecting former laws and even ordering their removal from the Forum as well as the destruction of some (1). However, according to the tradition, 1) BRUNS, Fontes iuris Romani7, Tubingae, 1909, 1-15; RICCOBONO, Fontes iuris romani anteiustiniani2, I, Florentiae, 1941, 1-14; WENGER, Die Quellen des römischen Rechts, Wien 1953, 353-357; JOHNSON, Ancient Roman Statutes, Austin, 1961, 3-5; GIRARD-SENN, Les lois des Romains, Textes de droit romain7, II, Napoli, 1977, 7-22. The testimonies about leges regiae are left to us by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Livy, Tacitus, Pomponius, Plutarch, Pliny the Elder, Marcellus, Gellius, Festus, Cicero, and others. It is important that iurisprudentes, with the exception of Marcelllus (D. 2,8,2), never quote the contents of the “kings’ laws”. Neither Gaius mentions them in his manual, though his discourse frequently goes back to the very beginnings of Roman legal history.
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