Legislator
In ancient Roman law , Roman citizens enjoyed " civil rights " , more of the protection of rights in private law , such as the right to intermarriage, the right to trade, and the right to make a will , The right to accept bequests, etc.
In essence, " citizens " is a religious concept in ancient society, in Greek it should be " joint sacrifice " or "z sharing sacred and secular things 2z2" meaning.
Those who enjoy this right can participate in the city’s sacrificial activities, offer sacrifices and pray to the gods in the city, and thus obtain the protection of the gods.
Later, the ritual rules of the sacred sacrificial ceremony of gradually evolved into the law , and "citizenship" became a kind of access qualification that can obtain the legal protection of city-state .
The original city-states are very stingy in sharing their civil rights with others.
In their view, people outside the boundaries of the city wall are enemies.
only , the ancient Romans , when it comes to issues of international relations, such as a clear stream of in history, they are extremely tolerant.
This may be related to their simple citizenship. Because, in their view, the country is just an alliance of clans.
or because of the peasant and soldier feelings in the bones of the Romans, hospitality is their nature.
in the 5th century BC "Twelve Tables Act" stipulated that " guarantee for the pursuit of Gentiles is permanent " .
In other words, although the Gentiles were not protected by the Roman Civil Law, they were not enemies of Rome, and trade relations between Gentiles and Roman citizens were allowed.
during the Republic period, , produced the " law of all citizens " , which is opposite to the civil law , which is the law applicable to Romans and Gentiles or Gentiles, and recognized that they have a limited The power of (such as trading rights ), even set up special external judges for them to try "foreign-related" disputes.
After the Punic War , the situation that Gentiles were not protected by law began to change, and the Romans began to grant citizenship to the Gauls of the Po Plain.
Citizens of the Latin Confederacy began to acquire Roman citizenship.
arrived in the empire era that dominated the Mediterranean. In the face of the provinces and colonies that have sprung up after a rain, the Romans showed the demeanor and mind of a citizen of a big country.
As long as you are willing and able to pay taxes on time and perform military service , you are welcome to become a member of Rome, and I am willing to share with you all the rights of that I have (the right to vote and the right to be elected, the right to intermarriage, Wait), and I will worship your god in my temple just like you.
Z1z, the civil rights of the Roman Empire, , in its heyday, is not only an identification of identity for all foreigners in the colonies, but also a guarantee of a prosperous and stable life.
And this dual social identity structure of citizens and Gentiles was completely ended in 212 AD according to a decree issued by the emperor of Caracalla .
Urbian wrote in its "On the Notice" Chapter 22: "According to the decree of Emperor Anthony, everyone who lives in Rome becomes a Roman citizen ."
makes people feel strange: why is such an important decree in the writing of Roman jurists, usually in a simple sentence-as the end of the identity system in ancient Roman law -? Z3z
lacks due respect and attention even to this law itself?
It is necessary for us to get to know the Caracalla emperor first.
Caracalla emperor was originally named Luki U Septimius Basiyaus .
was renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by his father Severus when he was 7 years old. After
Severus came to power, he immediately asked the Senate to recognize Caracalla as an "Imperator Disignatus" (Imperator Disignatus), which enabled him, who was only 8 years old at the time, to speak at the Senate meeting. Power.
Caracalla When he was 14 years old, he married the daughter of the officer of the Guards Corps. At this time, he was already full of strength, hoping to become emperor as soon as possible and realize his political ambitions.
However, Severus deliberately arranged for Cara Cara and his brother Getta to conduct co-governance. The idea of
broke the illusion of Caracalla's monopoly, so Caracalla tried to usurp the throne without waiting for his father's death.
In 210 AD, once Severus took Caracalla and his elite army on horseback to meet with the army of Caledonia and to discuss a truce.
At that time, Severu was still at the forefront of the queue despite a leg injury, followed by Caracalla and other army entourages.
When the queue was moving forward, Caracalla suddenly pulled the reins and pulled out the sword, preparing to stab his father. The people on the side of
screamed at this scene. Severus turned and saw the sword in Caracalla's hand, and Caracalla had to give up the action.
However, Severu didn't say a word at the time, and only after the meeting with the other party was over, did he call Papignan , Caracalla and the military guards to his dorm.
He pointed to the sword on the table and said to Caracalla in front of his confidant Pabinian: "Since you have the courage to try to assassinate me in front of the enemy, then take this sword and end my life now. !"
Severus at this time behaved more like a father than a monarch, because he knew that killing his son would make this empire fall into the hands of others, and his decades of hard work would be wasted.
However, , Caracalla, and did not constrain because of his father's reprimand.
After he ascended to the throne, he exiled his wife and brother-in-law, and even killed his younger brother Getta , who became the "Co-Emperor" with him.
Getta has a very different personality from his elder brother. He is gentle and humble, so he feels incapable. Caracalla often laughs at his brother’s weakness.
After returning to Rome from Gaul, the two succeeded to the throne. At Caracalla’s proposal, the two divided the huge palace into two, preventing communication between the two areas and taking military precautions.
Moreover, Caracalla even proposed to divide the empire into two by taking the Bosphorus and the Libyan desert as the boundary.
Caracalla controls the European part of Rome and Carthage, and Geta dominates Alexandria and Antioch.
Their mother had just lost her husband. Naturally, she did not want to see the country fall into a state of division immediately. She strongly opposed and asked the two brothers to meet with her palace officer.
According to the records in (Historia Augusta) in "The Biography of the Lord of Augusta" , the two brothers came to their mother’s bedroom one after another, but Caracalla killed his brother Getta in front of his mother and killed him. He immediately cremated his body.
then declared to the people in the palace that Getta tried to poison him and showed extreme disrespect to his mother, so he declared him a public enemy of the whole people and imposed " record wiping " (damnatio memoriae), Order the destruction of all the image of Geeta in the family portrait.
According to the records of Machiavelli , the tyranny of Caracalla is shocking.
He actually executed a large number of Roman residents, and massacred all the residents of Alexandria, and was hated by the whole world, so that he was finally killed by a centurion who had murderous brothers .
However, how can such a selfish and brutal monarch of grant citizenship to the Gentile , showing the tolerance that should not appear to him??
Let’s go back and read his decree: “God is in charge of the laws of the movement of all things in the world. As the emperor of Rome, I have been blessed by God and escaped the catastrophe. I will lead the Roman subjects, Leading Rome towards prosperity, in order to be grateful for the greatness of the immortal gods.
Therefore, I grant all free people in Rome the right of Roman citizenship to demonstrate the greatness of Roman citizens, but those despicable people do not deserve this right.
My subjects should share the blessings and the difficulties. Since then, everyone on the land of Rome has enjoyed the right of Roman citizenship. In ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, only Rome has the advantage."
Dionysius in "Ancient History of Rome" It is pointed out in that this policy of Caracalla is mainly to promote the increase of taxation .
He promulgated the new tax law, replacing the original one-twentieth tax levied on the release of slaves, gifting property and inheriting inheritance with one-tenth tax , and abolished the tax exemption rights for relatives inherited property.
This is why he granted Roman citizenship to everyone in the empire. On the surface,
awarded them honors, but in fact it was to increase his income, because Gentiles did not have to pay most of the above-mentioned taxes.
Before the implementation of citizenship across the territory, citizens and non-citizens were essentially different only in taxation and military service. The rights of trade and transactions have long been widespread.
Caracalla promotes citizenship at this time, in fact, the goal is very clear: enjoy the triumphant triumph, and pay taxes to the people of the Empire .
In other words, instead of saying that Caracalla wants the residents of the province to obtain the coveted "citizen" status, it is better to say that he is " selling dog meat " . The actual purpose is to expand his military power and Increase the fiscal revenue of the treasury to realize his ambition to become a great man like Alexander the Great.
In fact, the number of Legionnaires during Caracalla’s reign has increased compared with his father’s reign, and he led troops to attack the Germanic in 213. And what supports his huge military expenditure is his subsequent expansion of citizen taxation .
Dr. Huang Meiling said that this imperial order did not actually make Caracalla politically acclaimed, but instead shot himself in the foot. Together with his unfavorable economic policies, Rome fell into a severe economic crisis in the 3rd century. This may be the real reason why the decree was repealed less than two years after his death, and historians were unwilling to spend money on it.
In the world of law, "The Order of Caracalla" has become common sense, and it is just an unexpected surprise by accidentally cutting the willow. Z2z
Dr. Huang Meiling also believes that, in any case, from the perspective of legal system development history , this decree of Caracalla is full of the wisdom of Roman rulers . This kind of wisdom
appeared in Rome’s city builder Romulus .
Because he took a group of homeless people from all directions to establish the city of Rome, and then subdued the Sabines by voting for citizenship, turning so many people who hated him into Roman citizens in one day. The wisdom of
was mentioned by the consul Claudius . He believed that although Z1z Spartans and Athenians possessed a strong military power, they were still headed for destruction because they treated the conquered as outsiders. . The wisdom of
was applied to the extreme here in Caracalla. He turned all people in the Roman Empire into Romans. The wisdom of
is the inclusive wisdom of the Romans , and the universal wisdom of the Romans .
(Legislation Network New Media Center/Editor)
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