The Laws of the Roman People: Public Law in the Expansion and Decline of the Roman Republic / Edition 1

by Caroline Williamson

Overview

For hundreds of years, the Roman people produced laws in popular assemblies attended by tens of thousands of voters to publicly forge resolutions to issues that might otherwise have been unmanageable. Callie Williamson's book,The Law of the Roman People, finds that the key to Rome's survival and growth during the most formative period of empire, roughly 350 to 44 B.C.E., lies in its hitherto enigmatic public lawmaking assemblies which helped extend Roman influence and control. Williamson bases her rigorous and innovative work on the entire body of surviving laws preserved in ancient reports of proposed and enacted legislation from these public assemblies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780472110537
Publisher:	University of Michigan Press
Publication date:	04/13/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	534
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Callie Williamson holds a Ph.D. in Roman history from the University of London and is practicing law in North Carolina.

Table of Contents

List of Tables xxiii

List of Maps xxv

Abbreviations xxvii

Part 1 Patterns and Process 1

Chapter 1 Public Law in Rome 3

Chapter 2 Presentation: Oratory and Law Drafts 62

Chapter 3 Legitimization: Participants and Procedures 100

Part 2 The Expansion of Rome 120

Chapter 4 The Conquest of Italy 131

Chapter 5 Incorporation: Citizenship and Military Service 191

Chapter 6 Convergence: The City of Rome 239

Part 3 The Decline of the Republic 283

Chapter 7 A Roman Balance 285

Chapter 8 Crisis and Restoration, 91-70 324

Chapter 9 The Demise of Public Law, 69-44 367

Epilogue 415

Appendix A Assembling and Processing Evidence 437

Appendix B Representativeness of Compilation 445

Appendix C List of Reliable Laws and Proposals by Year, Latin Name, and Subject, 350-25 BCE 451

Cited Works and Select Bibliography 475

Index 495

Editorial Reviews

". . . important and learned . . .well-argued and provocative . . ."
—Choice

Choice - K. W. Harl

Winner: American Historical Association (AHA) 2007 James Henry Breasted Prize for the best book in English on any period before 1000 A.D.

AHA James Henry Breasted Prize - AHA

"Anyone with an interest in ancient Rome, regardless of their level of interest in law and government, will find Williamson's work relevant and thorough."
—CJ-Online
 

CJ-Online - MOlly Jones-Lewis

"In this extraordinary book, Williamson takes on a daunting and demanding subject—the character and consequences of Roman expansion in Italy over a period of 300 years, the incorporation of Italic peoples into the Roman system, and the resultant tensions and pressures that culminated in the fall of the Republic. No brief review can begin to do justice to the richness and complexity of this work."
—Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Journal of Interdisciplinary History - Erich Gruen

"This intellectually powerful and highly original book examines Roman expansion through the lens of public lawmaking, the process of negotiation and debate by which citizen assemblies resolved conflict and expressed consensus. Williamson incisively examines how problems of expansion were managed, and boldly argues that in the end it was expansion itself—both of the electorate and its leadership—that overwhelmed the problem-solving capacities of public lawmaking and led to the breakdown of the Republic."
—American Historical Association

American Historical Association

"[The Laws of the Roman People] is stimulating and significant. It is tackling hugely important and difficult questions."
—Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review - Elizabeth A. Meyer

"This intellectually powerful and highly original book examines Roman expansion through the lens of public lawmaking, the process of negotiation and debate by which citizen assemblies resolved conflict and expressed consensus. Williamson incisively examines how problems of expansion were managed, and boldly argues that in the end it was expansion itself—both of the electorate and its leadership—that overwhelmed the problem-solving capacities of public lawmaking and led to the breakdown of the Republic."
—American Historical Association

American Historical Association