Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

violence to drive away his uncooperative colleague. Eventually, Bibulus gave up trying to intervene directly in the legisla tive process and instead shut himself up in his house, issuing periodic written statements that he was “watching the skies.” This phrase meant that he was looking for omens and that (as everyone knew) he would “find” signs that disapproved of the assemblies. Caesar persisted anyway, and for years afterward the validity of the legislation passed during his term remained in some doubt. On the one hand, it could be argued that none of the assemblies in question had been properly authorized and so technically none of their laws were genuine. On the other hand, it might be argued that technically there had been no adverse omens, only a threat to look for them. The mat ter was never really resolved, largely for political reasons (no one wanted all of Caesar’s laws overturned), but also because of the lack of a central authority on religious law. The other example takes us back to the case of Cicero’s house mentioned earlier. When Cicero initially tried to recover his house, the Senate referred the matter to the most lawyerly priests, the pontiffs. On their recommendation, it was decided that there had been no proper dedication, and thus that Cicero would get his property back. But the following year some ambigu ous omens led to a widespread belief that the gods were dis pleased with some recent action. Cicero’s enemies suggested that they were displeased with the reoccupation of his land and were showing that the previous decision had been incor rect. The Senate referred the matter to a second set of religious experts, who produced a report nearly as ambiguous as the

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