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The legal attempts to curb funeral lavishness and extravagance come into two groups: the first includes the provisions of the Law of the XII Tables, the second the lex Cornelia sumptuaria (81 BC), and the leges Iuliae sumptuariae (46 BC, 18 AD) (Rotondi, Sauerwein). In this presentation, the focus is drawn to the provisions in the XII tables. In ancient law, funeral sumptuousness was mainly regulated by the Law of the XII Tables. Prior to the early Republic, some restrictive measures appeared in the so-called leges regiae. Spectacular, artistically designed, and expensive funeral ceremonies and processions were not far from the Roman thought. As a result, the provisions on Table X restricting these lavish ceremonies could be considered as direct precursors of leges sumptuariae (Sauerwein) since the immoderate spending constituted a substantial and profound social problem, even though this excess was available only to the upper class. The casuistic and detailed rules of the XII Tables suggest that the extravagance of funerals and burials could not be categorically severed from the worship of the gods. Therefore these rules are directly related to religio. The sources include Cicero's texts in De legibus, Polybios' detailed account of Roman funeral rites, and Pliny the Elder's reports on funeral customs. These texts show that many rituals were associated with worshipping the gods and sacrificial rites. This circumstance underpins the religious origin and character of these rules. At this point, however, interesting questions arise from this observation. Why is the ius sepulcrorum linked with religio? Did the proper worship of the gods serve as a sufficient justification for more intensive obedience? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lex Laetoria was a Roman Act from about the turn of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, granting additional protection to adults under the age of 25. Amongst its primary sources the Tabula Heracleensis, a.k.a. lex lulia municipalis (cf. FIRA I, 112), an excerpt from the Theodosian Code (C. Th. 8, 12, 2), and four papyri (BGUII378, BGUII 611, P. Oxy. X 1274 and P. Oxy. XVII2111) bear greater importance. These papyri are resourceful in the debate about the actual name of the Act (lex Laetoria versus lex Plaetoria). From a legal point of view, BGU II378 and P. Oxy. X 1274 contain a petition and a contract or agreement, respectively, where the reference to lex Laetoria is part of a legal argumentation. Besides the actual case, these papyri are significant because they give a presentation of the quotidian social and economic life and practice of the Roman world in Egypt around the 2nd century AD. By examining and analysing the cases described in these papyri, we get a closer view to the everyday reality of Roman law. The characters involved in the cases bear Roman names, the cases take place in Hellenised Egypt, the correspondence is in Greek, yet Roman law measures are used to settle the disputes. We sense multiculturalism in these documents, without the awkward feeling of being unfamiliar to Roman Egyptian culture. This paper aims to catch a glimpse of Roman law in action by multicultural approach, and to provide an example of how Rome had managed to handle herself as an Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SC Claudianum decreed that any free woman, Roman or Latin, pursue relationship with the slave of another, and she fails to abandon the relationship after the denouncement of the slave's master, will become the slave of the master denouncing her deed. In this paper we are aiming to discover the actual content of this decree of the Senate, as well as trying to determine whether the goal of the decree was to defend or even promote social morals, or to defend sexual morality, or even to give protection to certain interests and authorities of the parties involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]