CICERO AND THE TRIAL OF VERRES
Abstract
Toe legal background The legal remedy for extortion by a provincial governor was first provided - in a non-ad hoc way- by the Lex Calpurnia de rebus repeturulis of 149 BC, which established a standing court (quaestio) of senators presided over by a praetor. The procedure prescribed by the Lex Calpurnia was legis actio sacramento,2 in which plaintiff and defendant (here treated as two claimants) made their separate claims on oath (sacramentum) before a praetor, and the two sworn statements were then referred to a iudex for a decision (Gaius Institutes 4.13-17). Since legis actiones were the privilege of citizens, non-citizens would have been debarred from presenting their case directly to the extortion court.
Published
2014-03-30
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