Civitas
?p291?
The Roman section only (pp291?293) of an article on pp288?293 of
CI′VITAS,
(
πολιτε?α
),
citizen
ship.
[.?.?.]
2.
Roman
.
Civitas
means the whole body of
cives
, or members, of any given state.
Civitates
are defined by Cicero (
Somn. Scip.
c3) to be "
concilium coetusque hominum
jure
sociati
." A?
civitas
is, therefore, properly a political community, sovereign and independent. The word
civitas
is frequently used by the Roman writers to express the condition of a Roman citizen, as distinguished from that of other persons not Roman citizens, as in the phrases
dare civitatem
,
donare civitate
,
usurpare civitatem
.
If we attempt to distinguish the members of any given
civitas
from all other people in the world, we can only do it by enumerating all the rights and duties of a member of this
civitas
, which are not rights and duties of a person who is not a member of this
civitas
. If any rights and duties which belong to a member of this
civitas
, and do not belong to any person not a member of this
civitas
, are omitted in the enumeration, it is an incomplete enumeration; for the rights and duties not expressly included must be assumed as common to the members of this
civitas
and to all the world, or, to use a Roman expression, they exist
jure gentium
. Having enumerated all the characteristics of the members of any given
civitas
, we have then to show how a man acquires them, and how he loses them, and the notion of a member of such
civitas
is then complete.
Some members of a political community (
cives
) may have more political rights than others; a?principle by the aid of which Savigny (
Geschichte des Rom. Rechts im Mittelalter
, c.?ii p22) has expressed briefly and clearly the distinction between the two great classes of Roman citizens under the republic:? "In the free republic there were two classes of Roman citizens, one that had, and another that had not, a share in the sovereign power (
optimo jure
,
non optimo jure cives
). That which particularly distinguished the higher class was the right to vote in a tribe, and the capacity for enjoying magistracies (
suffragium
et
honores
)." According to this view, the
jus civitatis
comprehended part of that which the Romans called
jus publicum
, and also, and most particularly, that which they called
jus privatum
. The
jus privatum
comprehended the
jus connubii
and
jus commercii
, and those who had not these had no
citizen
ship. Those who had the
jus suffragiorum
and
jus honorum
had the complete
citizen
ship, or, in other words, they were
optimo jure cives
. Those who had the
privatum
, but the
publicum jus
, were citizens, though citizens of an inferior class. The
jus privatum
seems to be equivalent to the
jus Quiritium
, and the
civitas Romana
to the
jus publicum
. Accordingly, we sometimes find the
jus Quiritium
contrasted with the
Romana civitas
(
Plin.?
Ep.
X
.4.22
;
Ulp.
Frag.
tit.?3?§2
). Livy
(
XXXVIII
.36)
says that until?
B.C.
?188, the Formiani, Fundani, and Arpinates, had the
civitas
without the
suffragium
; and, at an earlier time, the people of Anagnia received the "
Civitas sine suffragii latione
"
(Liv.?
IX
.43)
.
Ulpian (
Frag.
tit.?5?§4; 19?§4; 20?§8; 11?§6) has
stated
a distinction, as existing in his time among the free persons who were within the political limits of the Roman state, which it is of great importance to apprehend clearly. There were three classes of free persons,
Cives
,
Latini
, and
Peregrini
. Gaius
(
I
.12)
points to the same division, where he says that a slave, when made free, might become a
Civis Romanus
, or a
Latinus
, or might be in the number of the
peregrini dediticii
, according to circumstances.
Civis
, according to Ulpian, is he who possesses the complete rights of a Roman citizen. The
Peregrinus
had not
commercium
and
connubium
, which were the characteristic rights of a Roman citizen, not viewed in his political capacity; but the
Peregrinus
had a capacity for making all kinds of contracts which were allowable by the
jus gentium
. The
Latinus
was an intermediate state; he had not the
connubium
, and consequently he had not the
patria potestas
nor rights of
agnatio
;
but he had the
commercium
or the right of acquiring
quiritarian
owner
ship
, as
vindicatio
,
in?jure cessio
,
mancipatio
, and
testamenti factio
, which last comprises the power of making a will in Roman
?p292?
form, of becoming
heres
or legatee under a will, and of being a witness to a will; also he could contract many
obligationes
which a
Peregrinus
could not. These were the general capacities of a
Latinus
and
peregrinus
; but a
Latinus
or a
peregrinus
might obtain by special favour certain rights which he had not by virtue of his condition only. The
legitima hereditas
was not included in the
testamenti factio
; for the
legitima hereditas
presupposed
agnatio
, and
agnatio
presupposed
connubium
, or the capacity to contract a Roman marriage.
According to Savigny, the notion of
civis
and
civitas
had its origin in the union of the
patricii
and the
plebes
as one estate. The
peregrinitas
, in the sense above
stated
, originated in the conquest of a state by the Romans, when the conquered state did not obtain the
civitas
; and he conjectures that the notion of
peregrinitas
was applied originally to all citizens of foreign states who had a
foedus
with Rome.
The
civitas
then, historically viewed, was in brief as follows:? Originally, the Romans divided all persons into
Cives
and
Peregrini
: the
cives
, considered as non-political persons and simply as individuals, had
connubium
and
commercium
; the
peregrini
had neither. But this merely negative description of a
peregrinus
would apply also to slaves, and to the members of states with which Rome never had any connection, and consequently it is requisite to give to the notion of
peregrinus
something of a positive character in order to determine what it is. A?
peregrinus
then was one who had no legal capacity according to the
jus Romanorum
, but had a capacity of acquiring rights according to the
jus gentium
, which rights the Roman courts of justice acknowledged. The following persons then would be included under
Peregrini
:
Before the time of Antoninus Caracalla, the inhabitants of almost all the Roman provinces.
The citizens of foreign states which were in friendly relation with Rome.
Romans who had lost the
civitas
in consequence of some legal penalty, as
deportatio
(
Dig.48?tit.?19?s17 §?1
).
Libertini
, who were
dediticiorum numero
(Ulpian,
Frag.
tit.?20?§14).
The later division of persons was this ?
Cives
,
Latini
, and
Peregrini
. The condition of
cives
and
peregrini
was unchanged; but a?third class, that of
Latini
, was formed, who had a limited
civitas
, which consisted in having
commercium
without
connubium
. By possessing
commercium
they approached to the class of
cives
; by not having
connubium
they approached the class of
peregrini
. Yet persons who belonged to the class of
Latini
or
Peregrini
might, by grant, receive a higher legal capacity than that which belonged to persons of this class (Ulpian,
Frag.
tit.?5?§4, 19?§4).
Thus then there were at one time in the Roman state only two classes of persons with different legal capacities ?
Cives
and
Peregrini
. At another and a later time there were three classes ?
Cives
,
Latini
, and
Peregrini
. It remains to explain when the third class,
Latini
, was established, and what persons were included in the term
Peregrini
at the two several times.
Before the Social war?
B.C.
?90, the Romans had acquired the dominion of all Italy, and the state then comprehended the following persons:?
Cives Romani
, that is, the inhabitants of Rome, the citizens of the
coloniae civium
, and the citizens of the
municipia
without respect to their origin.
Latini
, that is, the citizens of the old Latin towns, except those which were raised to the rank of
municipia
; the term
Latini
also included the numerous
Coloniae Latinae
.
Socii
, that is, the free inhabitants of Italy, who were not included in?1?or?2.
Provinciales
, or the free subjects of Rome beyond the limits of Italy. But these four descriptions of persons were all comprehended under
Cives
and
Peregrini
; for the term
peregrini
comprehended numbers 2, 3, and 4.
After the Social war, and in?
B.C.
?90, by a
lex Julia
the Roman
citizen
ship was extended to all Italy, properly so called, and even to Gallia Cispadana. The consequence of this change was that the
Socii
and
Latini
were merged in the class of
cives Romani
, and there remained only
cives
and
provinciales
, but the
provinciales
were still
peregrini
. It was at this time apparently that the class of
Latini
was established, which did not, as formerly, denote a people, but an artificial class of persons with a particular legal capacity. This legal capacity or half
citizen
ship, as already explained, consisted in the possession of the
Commercium
without the
Connubium
. One object of forming this new class was apparently to prepare a gradual transition to the full
civitas
for such
peregrini
as the state might wish to favour. The condition of the class of
Latini
was expressed by the term
Latinitas
or
Jus Latii
. [
Latinitas
.]
From this time there existed the three classes, described by Gaius and Ulpian ?
Cives
,
Latini
, and
Peregrini
:
cives
with
commercium
and
connubium
,
Latini
with
commercium
only, and
peregrini
without either. Only the
cives
had the political rights, the
suffragium
and
honores
. The names of the three classes existed to the time of Justinian's legislation.
The rights of a Roman citizen were acquired in several ways, but most commonly by a person being born of parents who were Roman citizens. A?Roman
pater familias
,
filius familias
,
mater familias
and
filia familias
were all
cives
, though the first only was
sui juris
and the rest were not.
If a Roman citizen married a
Latina
or a
peregrina
, believing her to be a Roman citizen, and begot a child, this child was not in the power of his father, because he was not a Roman citizen, but the child was either a
Latinus
or a
peregrinus
according to the condition of his mother; and no child followed the condition of his father without there was
connubium
between his father and mother. By a
senatus-consultum
, the parents were allowed to prove their mistake (
causam erroris probare
); and, on this being done, both the mother and the child became Roman citizens, and, as a consequence, the son was in the power of the father (Gaius,?
I
.67). Other cases relating to the matter called
causae probatio
are
stated
by Gaius (
I
.29,?&c.;
I
.66,?&c.), from which it appears that the facilities for obtaining the Roman
civitas
were gradually extended (see also
Ulp.
Frag.
tit.?3,
De?Latinis.
).
A?slave might obtain the
civitas
by manumission (
vindicta
), by the
census
, and by a
testamentum
, if there was no legal impediment; but it depended on circumstances, as already
stated
, whether he became a
Civis Romanus
, a
Latinus
, or in the number of the
peregrini dediticii
. [
Manumissio
.]
Under the republic and before the Social war, the
civitas
could, of course, be conferred by a
lex
, and
?p293?
upon such terms as the
lex
declared (
Liv.?
VI
.4
; and in the case of Ferentinates,
Liv.?
XXXIV
.42
;
Cicero,
pro?Balbo
,?13
). The
Julia lex
,?
B.C.
?90, was a comprehensive measure. Cicero, however
(
pro?Balbo
,?c8)
, remarks that many of the people of Heracleia and Neapolis made some opposition to accepting the terms offered by the
lex
, and would have preferred their former relation to Rome as
civitates foederatae
(
foederis sui libertatem
) to the Roman
civitas
. The
lex
gave the Roman
civitas
not only to the natives of the Italian towns, but also to natives of towns out of Italy, who had become citizens of Italian towns before the
lex
was enacted. Thus L.?Manlius
(Cic.
ad?Fam.
XIII
.30)
, a native of Catina, in Sicily, obtained the Roman
civitas
by virtue of having been enrolled as a citizen of Neapolis (
erat enim in id municipium adscriptus
) by the passing of the
lex
.
The
lex Plautia Papiria
, which was proposed by the tribunes M.?Plautius Silvanus and C.?Papirius Carbo,?
B.C.
?89, contained a provision that persons, who had been enrolled as citizens of the
foederatae civitates
, and who had a domicile in Italy at the time when the law was passed, should have the Roman
civitas
, if they gave in their names to the praetor within sixty days (
apud praetorem essent professi
,
Cic.
pro?Archia
, c4
). Archias claimed the benefit of this
lex
as having been enrolled a citizen of Heraclea, and having in the other respects complied with the
lex
. The case of L.?Manlius appears to show that the
lex Julia
applied to persons not natives of an Italian town it they had become citizens of such town before the passing of the
lex
; and it is not clear what was the precise object of the
lex Plautia Papiria
, whether merely to explain or to limit the operation of the
Julia lex
. If the
Julia lex
merely declared that those who were
adscripti
in the Italian towns before the passing of the
lex
should acquire the Roman
civitas
, it would be necessary to provide some security against fraudulent registrations which might be made after the passing of the
lex
, and this would be effected by requiring
adscripti
to give in their names at Rome within the sixty days.
With the establishment of the imperial power, the political rights of Roman citizens became insignificant, and the
commercium
and the
connubium
were the only parts of the
civitas
that were valuable. The constitution of Antoninus Caracalla, which gave the
civitas
to all the Roman world, applied only to communities and not to individuals; its effect was to make all the cities in the empire
municipia
, and all
Latini
into
cives
. The distinction of
cives
and
Latini
, from this time forward, only applied to individuals, namely, to freedmen and their children. The
peregrinitas
in like manner ceased to be applicable to communities, and only existed in the
dediticii
as a class of individuals. The legislation of Justinian finally put an end to what remained of this ancient division into classes, and the only division of persons was into subjects of the Caesar and slaves.
The word
civitas
is often used by the Roman writers to express any political community, as
Civitas Antiochiensium
,?&c.
(Savigny,
Zeitschrift
,?&c. vol.?
V
,
Ueber die Entstehung
,?&c.,
der Latinitat;
vol.?
IX
,
Der Romische Volksschluss der Tafel von?Heraklea;
vol.?
XI
,
Nachtrage zu fruheren Arbeiten;
and Savigny,
System des heutigen Romischen Rechts
, vol.?
II
?p23,?&c.
[G.L.]