Law of majestas
Encyclopedia
The Law of Majestas, or lex maiestas, refers to any one of several ancient Roman laws (leges maiestatis) throughout the republican and Imperial periods dealing with crimes against the Roman people, state, or Emperor.
In Roman law
the offences originally falling under the head of treason
were almost exclusively those committed in military service. The very name perduellio, the name of the crime in the older Roman law, is a proof of this. Perduelles were, strictly, public enemies who bore arms against the state; and traitors were regarded as having no more rights than public enemies. The Twelve Tables
made it punishable with death to communicate with the enemy or to betray a citizen to the enemy. Other kinds of perduellio were punished by "interdiction of fire and water" (aquae et ignis interdictio), in other words, banishment. The crime was tried before a special tribunal (quaestio) by two officials (duumviri perduellionis), which was perhaps the earliest permanent criminal court existing at Rome.
At a later period the name of perduellio gave place to that of laesa majestas, deminuta or minuta majestas, or simply majestas. The lex Julia majestatis, to which the date of 48 B.C. has been conjecturally assigned, continued to be the basis of the Roman law of treason until the latest period of the empire. The original text of the law appears to have still dealt with what were chiefly military offences, such as sending letters or messages to the enemy, giving up a standard or fortress, and desertion.
With the empire
the law of majestas received an enormous development, mainly in the reign of Tiberius
, and led to the rise of a class of professional informers, called delator
es. The conception of the emperor as divine had much to do with this. It became a maxim that treason was next to sacrilege
in gravity.
The law as it existed in the time of Justinian is contained chiefly in the titles of the Digest and Codex Ad legem Juliam majestatis. The definition given in the Digest (taken from Ulpian
) is this: 'majestatis crimes illud est quod adversus populum Romanum vel adversus securitatem ejus committitur." ("The crime of majestas is committed by whoever is an enemy to the Roman people or their safety.") Of treasons other than military offences, some of the more noticeable were the raising of an army or levying war without the command of the emperor, the questioning of the emperor's choice of a successor, the murder of (or conspiracy to murder) hostages or certain magistrates of high rank, the occupation of public places, the meeting within the city of persons hostile to the state with weapons or stones, incitement to sedition or administration of unlawful oaths, release of prisoners justly confined, falsification of public documents, and failure of a provincial governor to quit his province at the expiration of his office or to deliver his army to his successor.
The intention (voluntas) was punishable as much as an overt act (effectus). "Principes instar deorum esse" ("Emperors are as gods") are the words of Tacitus
. This crime was called laesa majestas divina in later law. It was not treason to repair a statue of the emperor which had decayed from age, to hit such a statue with a stone thrown by chance, to melt down such a statue if unconsecrated, to use mere verbal insults against the emperor, to fail in keeping an oath sworn by the emperor or to decide a case contrary to an imperial constitution.
Treason was one of the publica judicia, i.e. one of those crimes in which any citizen was entitled to prosecute. The law deprived the accused in a charge of treason of his ordinary remedy for malicious prosecution, and also took from him the privilege (which those accused of other crimes generally possessed) of immunity from accusation by women or infamous persons, from liability to be put to the torture, and from having his slaves torture
d to make them testify against him.
The punishment from the time of Tiberius was death (usually by beheading) and confiscation
of property, coupled with complete civil disability. A traitor could not make a will or a gift or emancipate a slave. Even the death of the accused, if guilty of treason of the gravest kind, such as levying war against the state, did not extinguish the charge, but the memory of the deceased became infamous, and his property was forfeited as though he had been convicted in his lifetime.
In Roman law
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
the offences originally falling under the head of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
were almost exclusively those committed in military service. The very name perduellio, the name of the crime in the older Roman law, is a proof of this. Perduelles were, strictly, public enemies who bore arms against the state; and traitors were regarded as having no more rights than public enemies. The Twelve Tables
Twelve Tables
The Law of the Twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centrepiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mos maiorum...
made it punishable with death to communicate with the enemy or to betray a citizen to the enemy. Other kinds of perduellio were punished by "interdiction of fire and water" (aquae et ignis interdictio), in other words, banishment. The crime was tried before a special tribunal (quaestio) by two officials (duumviri perduellionis), which was perhaps the earliest permanent criminal court existing at Rome.
At a later period the name of perduellio gave place to that of laesa majestas, deminuta or minuta majestas, or simply majestas. The lex Julia majestatis, to which the date of 48 B.C. has been conjecturally assigned, continued to be the basis of the Roman law of treason until the latest period of the empire. The original text of the law appears to have still dealt with what were chiefly military offences, such as sending letters or messages to the enemy, giving up a standard or fortress, and desertion.
With the empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
the law of majestas received an enormous development, mainly in the reign of Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, and led to the rise of a class of professional informers, called delator
Delator
Delator is Latin for a denouncer, i.e. who indicates to a court another as having committed a punishable deed.-Secular Roman law:...
es. The conception of the emperor as divine had much to do with this. It became a maxim that treason was next to sacrilege
Sacrilege
Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. In a less proper sense, any transgression against the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things...
in gravity.
The law as it existed in the time of Justinian is contained chiefly in the titles of the Digest and Codex Ad legem Juliam majestatis. The definition given in the Digest (taken from Ulpian
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...
) is this: 'majestatis crimes illud est quod adversus populum Romanum vel adversus securitatem ejus committitur." ("The crime of majestas is committed by whoever is an enemy to the Roman people or their safety.") Of treasons other than military offences, some of the more noticeable were the raising of an army or levying war without the command of the emperor, the questioning of the emperor's choice of a successor, the murder of (or conspiracy to murder) hostages or certain magistrates of high rank, the occupation of public places, the meeting within the city of persons hostile to the state with weapons or stones, incitement to sedition or administration of unlawful oaths, release of prisoners justly confined, falsification of public documents, and failure of a provincial governor to quit his province at the expiration of his office or to deliver his army to his successor.
The intention (voluntas) was punishable as much as an overt act (effectus). "Principes instar deorum esse" ("Emperors are as gods") are the words of 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...
. This crime was called laesa majestas divina in later law. It was not treason to repair a statue of the emperor which had decayed from age, to hit such a statue with a stone thrown by chance, to melt down such a statue if unconsecrated, to use mere verbal insults against the emperor, to fail in keeping an oath sworn by the emperor or to decide a case contrary to an imperial constitution.
Treason was one of the publica judicia, i.e. one of those crimes in which any citizen was entitled to prosecute. The law deprived the accused in a charge of treason of his ordinary remedy for malicious prosecution, and also took from him the privilege (which those accused of other crimes generally possessed) of immunity from accusation by women or infamous persons, from liability to be put to the torture, and from having his slaves torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d to make them testify against him.
The punishment from the time of Tiberius was death (usually by beheading) and confiscation
Confiscation
Confiscation, from the Latin confiscatio 'joining to the fiscus, i.e. transfer to the treasury' is a legal seizure without compensation by a government or other public authority...
of property, coupled with complete civil disability. A traitor could not make a will or a gift or emancipate a slave. Even the death of the accused, if guilty of treason of the gravest kind, such as levying war against the state, did not extinguish the charge, but the memory of the deceased became infamous, and his property was forfeited as though he had been convicted in his lifetime.