Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Religious Law

important type is called sacer (I will use the Latin terms here, since English has no parallel way of talking about three dif ferent kinds of “sacred”ness). These are objects that have been dedicated to, and thus become the property of, specific heav enly divinities. They might include temples and the land on which they sat, statuary, or any items given as sacrifices. Such dedications were typically made by governmental action, or at the least had to be authorized in general terms by the state. A famous case from the late first century bc will illustrate the potential difficulties here. When Cicero was sent into exile in 58, his property was confiscated by the state (as was normal in cases of exile). His archenemy Clodius apparently foresaw that the exile would not be permanent, and so he seized control of Cicero’s house in downtown Rome and had a temple dedicated to the goddess Liberty on the site. When Cicero was restored in the following year, most of his property was also returned to him. Clodius, however, tried to block the return of the house on the grounds that it was no longer subject to human control, and so the authorities had no right to dispose of it. A series of hearings then took place over the next year before the Senate and involving at least two bodies of priests. Cicero argued that there were numerous technical flaws in the dedication, and that it was thus invalid. He never, however, disputed the premise. If the property was “really” dedicated to the goddess, then it was gone. The other major kind of sacred property is very differ ent. This (called religiosus ) was land used for human burial, and it became sacred by virtue of the burial itself, so long as

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