Decemviri stlitibus judicandis explained

The decemviri stlitibus judicandis was a civil court of ancient origin, traditionally attributed to Servius Tullius, which originally dealt with cases concerning whether an individual was free.^{[1] [2]}

History

Originally these decemvirs were a jury of ten men, serving under the presidency of a magistrate, but later this court became the magistratus minores, or lower judiciary of the Roman Republic, and was included among the vigintisexviri, or twenty-six magistrates elected by the comitia tributa. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Augustus assigned the presidency of the court of the centumviri to the decemviri stlitibus judicandis. In imperial times, the decemvirs also had jurisdiction in capital crimes.^{[3] [1]}

Bibliography

• Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars).
• Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History.
• Decemviri . 7 . Clay . Agnes Muriel . Agnes Muriel Clay. 912.
• Luigi Colognesi, Law and Power in the Making of the Roman Commonwealth, Cambridge University Press (2014).

Notes and References

1. Decemviri . 7 . Clay . Agnes Muriel . Agnes Muriel Clay. 912; see para 2 . II. The judicial board of decemvirs (stlitibus judicandis) formed a civil court of ancient origin concerned mainly with questions bearing on the status of individuals..
2. Colognesi, Law and Power in the Making of the Roman Commonwealth.
3. Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 36.