ACILIAN LAW
    
ON THE RIGHT TO RECOVERY OF PROPERTY OFFICIALLY EXTORTED
   
( 123-122 BC )

 
 
( Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne, Ancient Roman Statutes, Austin, 1961, pp. 38-46, n. 45 ).
 
 
     During the second century B.C. the Roman search for wealth and power motivated a shameful exploitation of the provinces by the governors and their entourages. Supposedly governors ruled in accordance with a provincial charter and with the edict which they themselves had promulgated upon taking office. Their power was so close to absolute, however, and their distance from any supervisory body so great, that governors felt entouraged to "milk" the hapless provincials in order to recompense themselves for their past services to the State and to provide security for their futures.
     Originally the provincials' only refuge was the patrons whom they had secured from the Roman governing class. Sometimes towns or whole provinces would name a single great figure their patron, usually the general who first subdued them. In Spain extortion and maladministration reached such heights that in 171 B.C. recuperators ( recuperatores ) were appointed at Rome to investigate such malfeasance and to recover damages for provincial plaintiffs. In 149 B.C. a standing court of recovery of property ( quaestio de pecuniis repetundis ), composed of members of the senatorial class, was established by a Calpurnian Law. This law, with subsequent minor adjustments by the junian Law ( ante 123 B.C. ), remained in force until the legislation of Gaius Gracchus ( 123-122 B.C. ).
     Carcopino identifies this document with the Servilian Law of 108 B.c. Although it does not agree in every detail with the description of Gracchan legislation in our literary sources, it, however, appears to be the Gracchan Law passed probably in 122 B.C. Historically, perhaps its most significant provision was the substitution of knights ( equites ) for senators on the juries. This was prompted by cases where senatorial juries had refused to convict notoriously guilty governors who were their colleagues and also by Gracchus' policy of establishing the knights as strong political rivals of the senators.
     The text is reconstructed from an inscription on eleven fragments of a large bronze tablet found prior to 1521, when they were reported in Rome, Italy. On the other side was inscribed the Agrarian Law of 111 B.C.  The text here translated is, with minor exceptions, that printed in FIRA.
 
 
ENGLISH TRANSLATION.
 
 
1) MANIUS ACILIUS . . . plebeian tribunes duly proposed to the plebs, and the plebs duly resolved on the day before . . . tribe . . . was the first to vote, and . . . cast the first vote for the tribe . . .
 
2) IF FROM ANYONE of the allies either of the Latin name or of foreign nations, or from anyone of those dependent on the discretion, dictation, power, or friendship of the Roman people . . . in any single year property amounting to more than . . . sesterces in value has been taken, seized, exacted, procured, or appropriated from such person himself or his king or his people or his father, or from anyone who is or has been in his or his father's family or in bondage to them, or of whom he or his father or his son is heir, by a person in the exercise of his command or power who was dictator, consul, praetor, master of the horse, censor, aedile, plebeian tribune, quaestor, triumvir capitalis, triumvir for granting and assigning lands, military tribune in any of the first four legions, or who is the son of one of these, or who is himself a senator or whose father is one: with regard to this matter the wronged person shall have the right to bring suit and to report the name of the offender. The praetor shall have jurisdiction over the proceedings, and the trial, judgment, and assessment of damages shall be by the terms of this law in the competence of those persons who constitute the trial court according to this law . . . If anyone asserts that the praetor has not accepted the name of a defendant so reported in accordance with this law, and that a trial has not been granted in accordance with this law so that he might sue: with regard to this matter the plaintiff shall have the right to bring suit and to report the name of the offender and the praetor shall have jurisdiction over the proceedings. The trial, judgment, and assessment of damages shall be by the terms of this law in the competence of those persons who constitute the trial court according to this law. In regard to a person who is judged in accordance with this law and is accused of having acted contrary to this law, after his case is adjudged, or who is accused collusively, or whose name is removed from the list of defendants in accordance with this law: if anyone reports his name before the praetor a second time, . . . the praetor shall have jurisdiction over the proceedings; and the trial, judgment, and assessment of damages shall be by the terms of this law in the competence of those persons who constitute a trial court according to this law. If anyone wishes to bring suit or to report an offender in another's name in accordance with this law, with regard to this matter he shall have the right to bring suit and to report the name of the offender; the praetor shall have jurisdiction over the proceedings; and the trial, judgment, and assessment of damages shall be by the terms of this law in the competence of those persons who constitute a trial court according to this law. The plaintiff shall summon the defendant to court before the praetor, who shall be in charge of such proceedings for that year, before September I in that year, and he shall report the name of the offender . . . and concerning that man . . . the case shall be conducted as is written below. If the name of any offender is reported after September I, if the plaintiff wishes, the praetor shall grant recuperators for this case. Whosoever is named an offender in accordance with this law after September I of that year, and is condemned by the said court, shall pay to the person who procured his condemnation whatever sum of money was assessed for the damages in that case . . . and the money shall become the property of the plaintiff. The praetor, who has jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law, shall provide that whatever thus . . . is adjudged shall be paid to the plaintiff as it would be paid in a private suit.
 
3) THOSE PERSONS WHO Are Not To Be Tried While They Hold a Magistracy or the Imperium. A dictator, consul, praetor, master of the horse, censor, aedile, plebeian tribune, quaestor, triumvir capitalis, triumvir for granting and assigning lands, or military tribune in any of the first four legions shall not be summoned to court as long as he holds a magistracy or the imperium . . . It is not the intent of this law that anyone of those who retires from such magistracy or command shall not be summoned to court.
 
4) THE GRANT OF PATRONS. Whoever seeks restitution in accordance with this law and reports the name of the offender and whose claim in accordance with this law is filed before September I, if he wishes patrons to be assigned to himself for this case, the praetor, in whose court he reports the name of the offender, shall grant to the said plaintiff . . . freeborn Roman citizens as patrons, provided that he grants with malice aforethought no person to whom the defendant . . . is son-in-law, father-in-law, stepfather or stepson, or is a cousin-german, or is closer to him than this kinship, or who is a member of the same club or guild, or who is a client of the defendant or whose ancestors were the clients of the ancestors of the defendant, or who is a patron of the defendant or whose ancestors were the patrons of the ancestors of the defendant . . . or who has been condemned by the judicial process and a public trial whereby he cannot be enrolled in the Senate . . . nor shall the praetor choose as patron a person who is a judex for the case in accordance with this law, nor anyone who has been granted as a patron in accordance with this law.
 
5) THE REJECTION OF PATRONS. If the person granted as patron in accordance with this law is suspect because of his character, the person to whom he is granted in accordance with this law shall reject him . . . Then the praetor who has jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law, shall grant to the plaintiff, who asks for one, another patron from the list of those persons eligible be patrons in accordance with this law . . . accordance with this law.
 
6) THE SELECTION of the 450 Men for This Year. The peregrine praetor within the next ten days after this law is passed by the people or plebs shall provide for the selection of 450 persons in this State who have or have had a knight's census . . . provided that he does not select a person who is or has been plebeian tribune, quaestor, triumvir capitalis, military tribune in any of the first four legions, or triumvir for granting and assigning lands, or who is or has been in the Senate, or who has fought or shall fight as a gladiator for hire . . . or who has been condemned by the judicial process and a public trial whereby he cannot be enrolled in the Senate, or who is less than thirty or more than sixty years of age, or who does not have his residence in the city of Rome or within one mile of it, or who is the father, brother, or son of any above-described magistrate, or who is the father, brother, or son of a person who is or has been a member of the Senate, or who is overseas.
 
7) THE NAME, FATHER, TRIBE, AND COGNOMEN of the Persons Selected To Be Indicated. The person who selects the 450 judices for this year in accordance with this law . . . on the . . . day after he has selected them shall attend to the registration, on a tablet of white with black letters, of the names of all those persons who have been selected members of the panel of 450 for this year, in accordance with this law, and the names of their fathers and of their tribes and their cognomens, and he shall have them arranged in a list according to tribes, and he shall keep these lists posted during his magistracy. If anyone wishes to copy these, the praetor shall give permission and shall afford to whoever wishes it the opportunity of so writing. The praetor, who selects them, shall provide that the names of the 450 persons selected in accordance with this law shall be read in a public meeting and shall take oath that he has selected men in accordance with this law who, after due consideration, . . . he believes will be the best and most capable judices; and the said praetor shall preserve in the public archives as a permanent record the names of all 450 persons whom he selects in accordance with this law.
 
8) THE ANNUAL SELECTION OF THE 450 MEN. The praetor, who after the passage of this law has jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law, . . . within the next ten days after entering upon this magistracy shall provide for the selection of the 450 persons as specified, persons who have or have had a knight's census in this state . . . provided that he selects no one who is or has been plebeian tribune, quaestor, triumvir capitalis, military tribune in any of the first four legions, or triumvir for granting and assigning lands, or who is or has been a member of the Senate, or who has fought or shall fight as a gladiator for hire or who has been condemned by the judicial process or by a public trial whereby he cannot be enrolled in the Senate, or who is less than thirty or more than sixty years of age, or who does not have his residence in the city of Rome or within one mile of it, or who is the father, brother, or son of a person who is or has been a member of the Senate, or who is overseas.
 
9) THE NAME, FATHER, TRIBE, AND COGNOMEN of the Persons Selected To Be Indicated. The person who has jurisdiction over proceedings for that year in accordance with this law on the . . . day after he has selected them shall attend to the registration, on a tablet of white with black letters, of the names of all those who have been selected as members of the panel of 450 for this year in accordance with this law and the names of their fathers and of their tribes and their cognomens, and he shall have them arranged in a list according to tribes, and he shall keep these lists posted during his magistracy . . . If anyone wishes to copy these, the praetor shall give permission and shall afford to whoever wishes it the opportunity of so writing. The praetor, who selects them, shall provide that the names of the 450 persons selected in accordance with this law shall be read in a public meeting and shall take oath that he has selected men in accordance with this law who, after due consideration, he believes will be the best and most capable judices; and the said praetor shall preserve in the public archives as a permanent record the names of all 450 persons whom he selects in accordance with this law.
 
10) THE DENUNCIATION OF THE NAME of the Defendant and the Selection of the Judices. Whoever in accordance ith this law claims money from his adversary . subsequent to the selection of a panel of 450 judices for said year in accordance with this law, shall summon the defendant to court before the praetor, who is created for said year in accordance with this law, and shall denounce him; and if he has taken solemn oath that he does not sue from malice, the said praetor shall accept the denunciation and shall provide that . . . within . . . days from that on which the denunciation is made, the defendant shall announce to his adversary the names of all the 450 judices who are selected in accordance with this law for the said year . to whom the defendant is related or who are related to the defendant as son-in-law, father-in-law, step-father, or stepson, or who is a cousin-german to him, or is closer to him than this kinship, or who is a member of the same club or guild; and the praetor shall provide that the person who makes such announcement shall swear in the presence of his adversary that he has not left with malice aforethought among the 450 judices seleded for the said year in accordance with this law any person except such as are not related to him by any of the forms of kinship stated above. Thus the defendant shall announce the names and shall take oath. When he thus announces the names, then the praetor, who has jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law, shall provide that the person who reports the name of any offender for judicial action in this manner, on the twentieth day from the day on he makes the summons, shall select and publish the names of 100 persons from those who are selected as the 450 judices for the said year in accordance with this law and who are still alive, provided that no one may be a judex to whom the plaintiff is related or who is related to the plaintiff as son-in-law, father-in-law, stepfather, or stepson, or who is a cousin-german to him, or who is closer to him thank this kinship, . . . or who is a member of the same guild or club, or who is or has been plebeian tribune, quaestor, triumvir capitalis, triumvir for granting and assigning lands, or military tribune in any of the first four legions, or who is or has been in the Senate, or who is or has been made by the Rubrian Law a triumvir for founding a colony . . . who shall be more than . . . miles from the city of Rome, or who shall be overseas; and he shall not select or publish more than one person from a family nor a person who has been or is condemned for accepting money, either because he has been sued in an action of solemn deposit under the Calpurnian or Junian Laws, or because he has been summoned in accordance with this law. In regard to the 100 persons whose names he publishes in accordance with this law, the praetor shall provide in like manner that the plaintiff take oath publicly, in his court, in the presence of his adversary, that he with malice aforethought has published the name of no person which it is unlawful to publish for the 100 judices for any of the reasons stated above . . . or who is related to him by any of the forms of kinship that have been stated above. The defendant, whereby the less . . . If the plaintiff publishes the names of the 100 judices in such manner and takes oath, then the praetor shall provide that the defendant, on the sixtieth day after his name is reported, shall publish the names of fifty judices whom he wishes from that 100 persons whose names the plaintiff publishes in accordance with this law . . . If the person reported as an offender in accordance with this law does not select and publish the names of fifty judices in accordance with this law, or if he does not publish in accordance with this law the names of those from the panel of 450, who are selected for the said year in accordance with this law, who are related to him by either the male or the female line or are in the same club or guild,and he is not hindered by that praetor or by his adversary from selecting and publishing the names of the fifty judices whom he wishes from the list of 100 which he publishes in accordance with this law . . . provided that he selects with malice aforethought no judex whom it is unlawful to select according to this law. The persons who are thus selected shall be the judices for this case and they shall make judgment of this case in accordance with this law and shall assess the damages.
 
11) THE NAMES OF THE JUDICES and the Patrons To Be Written and To Be Preserved in the Records. The praetor, who has jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law, shall provide that the names of the said fifty judices whom the plaintiff and the defendant select and publish in accordance with this law and the names of the said partrons who are granted to the plaintiff in accordance with this law. shall be entered in the public archives. The said praetor shall furnish an opportunity to the plaintiff and to the defendant, whichever of these wishes, to copy the said names from the public records. . .
 
12) THE SAME JUDICES To Serve Throughout a Single Case. Those who are chosen judices in accordance with this law shall be judices throughout for that case for which they are chosen as judices . . . that person who receives money in accordance with this law, because of the receipt of money in accordance with this law, the censor shall not . . . nor remove him from his tribe, nor strike him from the roll of knights, nor shall he suffer any loss for this reason.
13) . . . TO BE WRITTEN. The praetor who in accordance with this law . . .
14) THE TRIAL OF A PERSON WHO DIES or Goes into Exile. If a person who is named as an offender in accordance with this law dies or goes into exile before this case is judged, the praetor, in whose court he is named, nevertheless shall undertake judicial proceedings in the said case with the aid of those persons who shall constitute a court in accordance with this law, just as if the person who is summoned in accordance with this law were alive or in the State . . .
15) THE SEARCH FOR EVIDENCE. The praetor shall provide that the court shall be convened on the first possible day to try the defendant, who is summoned in accordance with this law, and he shall grant to the plaintiff to the best of his ability as many days as he deems necessary for conducting a search for evidence, provided that nothing is done contrary to this law; nor after the passing of this law and he shall order evidence to be sought in the land of Italy in towns, markets, and meeting places where magistrates are wont to preside in court, or outside Italy in towns, markets, and meeting places where magistrates are wont to preside in court. During those days on which the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law empowers the plaintiff to collect evidence . . .
16) NOTICE TO BE GIVEN TO WITNESSES. After the praetor and his court hear what they believe pertains to the investigation of the case and approve the case, the praetor shall order those persons summoned as witnesses by the plaintiff up to the number of forty-eight to give their testimony; and, when a specific matter is under consideration for which a specific witness is present, he shall provide that all witnesses concerned shall be present for the specific matter and shall deliver their testimony, provided that he orders no one to give testimony who . . . or who, or whose ancestors are or have been clients of the defendant or of his ancestors, or who, or whose ancestors are or have been patrons of the defendant or of his ancestors, or anyone who shall plead the case of the defendant, provided that he has but one such representative, or anyone who is a freedman or a freedwoman of the defendant or of his parent.
17) THE IMPOSITION OF FINES.
18) THE CUSTODY OF WITNESSES and of Records. If the plaintiff summons or brings with him witnesses up to the number of forty-eight to give evidence concerning those matters for which the court is convened . . . this, for which he thus gathers evidence, and if he wishes to produce or to bring forward any records, books or letters, public or private, . . . or he wishes concerning this matter before the praetor, the said praetor shall not hinder him whereby he shall not . . .
19) THE PRAETOR TO MAKE an Interrogation. The praetor who has jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law . . .
20) THE JUDICES TO TAKE OATH before the Court Convenes. Before the first pleading the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law shall provide that the judices for the said case . . . shall take oath before him. The judices for the said case all shall take oath on the front of the Rostra facing toward the Forum . . . and that he will conduct himself to the best of his ability so as to hear the words of the witnesses for the said case . . . and that he will do nothing whereby he shall not render his decision in the said case, unless there is some reason which in accordance with this law excuses him from rendering a decision in the said case. The said praetor shall provide that the names of those who take oath in this manner before him shall be read in a public meeting and he shall provide that they shall be published and posted publicly in the Forum . . . and he shall not permit anyone of the fifty judices chosen from the panel of 100 to take part in the said case, unless he has taken oath in this manner.
21) NO JUDEX TO ARGUE. . . . if . . . he pleads in his own behalf that there is a reason whereby he cannot be at the said trial, it shall be lawful . . . for the praetor who has jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law to make a decision concerning this matter.
22) POSTPONEMENTS OF THE TRIAL. In regard to what the praetor does in accordance with this law, if he postpones the said case, to whom . . . if he is able to postpone the day of the trial, he shall provide that the person whose name is mentioned as of importance in this matter . . . that he shall come into his court or shall be brought thither in the presence of that person who makes the claim . . . he wishes, whose name as an offender is reported in accordance with this law, he shall have the right to bring suit in this matter . . . and trial and assessment of damages in this matter shall be in accordance with this law, just as if of the . . . If the judex with jurisdidion over the proceedings in the said matter does not approve the excuse in accordance with this law . . . the said praetor in the presence of the judices publicly assembled on the front of the Rostra shall pronounce his verdict thus: "It appears that he is guilty" . . . If there must be a trial on this matter he shall provide that the trial shall be held on the third day . . . If the judex with jurisdiction over the proceedings in the said matter does not approve the excuse in accordance with this law, the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law . . .
23) THE JUDICES TO TAKE OATH before They Retire for Deliberation. The praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law shall provide that the judices who are selected for the said case in accordance with this law, shall take oath before they retire for deliberation: that he . . . will not do anything fraudulently whereby anyone will be informed of his opinion or that of any other judex . . .
24) THE JUDICES TO BE LIABLE for the Maximum Fine. . . . if the judex with jurisdiction over the proceedings in this matter does not approve the excuse, that one of the judices who . . . by the excuse, to be submitted on the first day, and the said investigator . . .
25) HOW THE JUDICES Shall Retire for Deliberation. The praetor who presides over the court in accordance with this law . . . if the judex selected for this purpose reports that more than one third of the judices present when the case is tried have said that the case is not proved under consideration, the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law shall announce this publicly and shall grant another date for trying this case anew . . . and shall order all the judices present on that day to give their verdict . . . if it is reported to that praetor that more than one third of the judices refuse to give a verdict, he shall pronounce a fine of 10,000 sesterces against each judex who refuses to give a verdict . . . for each occasion exceeding twice in a single case that they refuse to give their verdict. Then he publicly shall record the reason for and the amount of the fine which he levies . . .
26) HOW TO GIVE THE VERDICT ON DEFENDANTS. When two thirds of the judices present report that the case is proved . . . the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in this case shall provide that those judices who refuse to give a verdict shall be removed . . . shall conduct the proceedings. Then the praetor shall provide that his summoners and apparitors shall prevent any judex from leaving the court . . . and shall provide that an urn . . . digits broad and twenty digits high shall be provided, wherein the judices may cast their ballots . . . and the said praetor shall place openly in the hand of each juror one ballot of boxwood four digits long and . . . digits wide, waxed on each side . . . of which ballot on one side the letter A has been written and on the other side the letter C, and he shall order this judex to erase one letter or the other as he wishes . . .The judex shall make such erasure and he shall carry the ballot to the urn in full view in accordance with this law and with his arm bared, but with the letter covered by his fingers, and he shall display this ballot to the people . . . and also to the other judices in turn and shall cast it into the said urn . . .
27) HOW TO DECLARE THE VOTES. That judex selected by lot for declaring the votes shall come to the urn and he shall reach his hand into the urn, displaying it to the people as it is brought forth from the urn . . . the court . . . and he shall declare clearly what verdict this ballot has for the aforesaid accused. When the letter A is written, he shall say, "I acquit"; when the letter C is written, "I condemn" and when nothing is written, "No vote." When he declares the vote on each ballot, . . . he shall place the ballot in the hand of the next judex.
28) THE COUNTING OF THE VOTES . . .
29) THE ACQUITTAL OF THE DEFENDANT. If the majority of the votes therein is not for condemnation, the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings I accordance with this law shall declare that the said defendant does not appear to be guilty. That defendant whom the praetor declares "Not guilty" in such manner shall be acquitted of this charge in accordance with this law, except as regards any later act or any act of collusion.
30) THE CONDEMNATION OF THE DEFENDANT. If the majority of the votes therein is for condemnation, the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law shall declare that the said defendant appears to be guilty . . .
31) THE SAME CASE NOT TO BE TRIED TWICE. There shall be no second action under this law against a person who is condemned or is acquitted in accordance with this law, except as regards some later act or some act of collusion or as regards the assessment of damages or of penalties specified in this law . . .
32) FURNISHING SURETIES or Seizure of Property. The judex having jurisdiction over the proceedings in the said matter shall provide that the person condemned in accordance with this law shall give sureties to the quaestor according to the vote of the majority of his advisory council for the amount specified by them; if sureties are not given in this manner, he shall provide that the condemned man's goods shall be publicly seized, collected, and sold. The judex having jurisdiction over the proceedings in the said matter shall collect from the buyer as much money as these goods bring . . . and shall deliver this money to the quaestor with a record of the amount; the quaestor shall receive it and shall have it recorded in the public archives.
33) THE ASSESSMENT OF DAMAGES. The praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in this case shall order the judices who constitute the court for the said case to make an assessment in respect to that which each plaintiff in accordance with this law shall claim from the person condemned in accordance with this law . . . As regards everything which is proved in court to have been seized. exacted, taken, appropriated, or procured before the passage of this law the assessment shall be simple; as regards all those other things which are proved in court to have been seized, exacted, taken, appropriated, or procured after the passage of this law the assessment shall be double; and the praetor shall provide that the amount of the assessment in the name of each person for whom these damages are assessed shall be delivered to the quaestor.
34) THE PAYMENT OF MONEY from the Treasury. When a person satisfies . . . the judex having jurisdiction over the proceedings in the said case and the majority of the panel of judices that the assessment of damages should be in his own name or his father's or in the name of a person to whom he or his father is legal heir; or when a person satisfies the said judex and the majority of the panel of judices that the assessment of damages should be in the name of his king or people or some fellow citizen: the said judex shall provide that such sum of money . . . If sureties are given for this matter or if an amount of money equivalent to that which is assessed in accordance with this law is deposited in the treasury on account of the said matter for which under the said name assessment is made, it shall be paid in accordance with this law within the next three days after satisfaction is given in the said manner. No judex or quaestor shall do with malice aforethought anything whereby such satisfaction shall not be given and payment shall not be made in the said manner . . .
35) THE IMPOSITION of an Apportionment. If the judex having jurisdiction over the proceedings in the said matter is not able to collect for the quaestor in accordance with this law all the money that is assessed, then within the next ten days after such collection as has been possible is made the judex having jurisdiction over the proceedings in the said matter or the judex appointed by this law shall order an apportionment . . . and shall publish a day on which the person for whom damages are assessed in this manner, while acting for himself or his father or for a person to whom he or his father is legal heir, or on which the envoys of a king or of a people for whom damages are assessed shall appear, provided that the time so published is no later than 100 days.
36) THE OBSERVANCE of an Apportionment. When the day arrives on which the aforesaid persons are ordered to be present, the judex who imposes the said apportionment shall assign proportionately to the amount assessed in each case whatever money is realized from the goods of the person condemned in accordance with this law . . . and whoever satisfies the said judex and a majority of the panel of judices that the said damages assessed belong to him, the said judex shall order the quaestor to make payment to him on the first day possible and the quaestor shall make this payment without prejudice to himself.
37) THE RESIDUE TO REMAIN in the Treasury. Whatever is apportioned to the accounts of persons not appearing the quaestor shall keep in the treasury . . .
38) THE PUBLICATION of an Apportionment. That praetor who gives public notice of an apportionment in accordance with this law shall provide to the best of his ability that he have published and posted, in the manner that he should give public notice, all the aforesaid matters until payment is made, every day for the greater part of each day in the Forum, where they can be read clearly from the ground level . . . The praetor who makes the said apportionment shall publish it in the Forum, where it can be read clearly from the ground level for the next . . . days from that on which the apportionment is made.
39) AFTER FIVE YEARS Such Money To Become the Property of the People. Whatever money is deposited in the treasury in accordance with this law and the quaestor does not pay out in accordance with this law within five years from that day on which apportionment is made shall become the property of the people.
40) THE EXACTION OF MONEY FROM SURETIES. The quaestor assigned the treasury as his province, to whom sureties are given in accordance with this law, or whatever quaestor has the same province in the future, shall provide to the best of his ability that whatever money the said condemned person does not pay shall be exacted from the said sureties at the earliest date possible.
41) THE MONEY TO BE SEALED IN BASKETS. Whatsoever money is collected for the quaestor in accordance with this law, the said quaestor shall provide that it shall be placed in baskets and that the baskets shall be sealed with his own signet . . . and that there shall be written on basket the name of the praetor who assesses the damages and the source of the money collected and how much is in the said basket. Each quaestor shall provide to the best of his ability that within the next five days after the assignment of the treasury as his province to him the baskets shad be unsealed; and that if the amount of money written on the said basket is found therein they shall be sealed anew . . .

42) THE QUAESTOR TO MAKE PAYMENT. The quaestor assigned the treasury as his province, without prejudice to himself as an extraordinary act, shall give and shall pay the money to whom, in accordance with this law, the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law orders it to be given or paid, provided that this is done without any peculation.
43) THE QUAESTOR SHALL Not Cause Any Delay. The quaestor . . .
44) NO ONE TO HINDER A TRIAL. In regard to a trial which should be held properly in accordance with law: when it should be held properly in accordance with this law, no magistrate or promagistrate or person by virtue of any imperium or authority shall act in such that a trial cannot be held or a verdict given; nor shall anyone call from or cause to be called from this trial the person presiding over the trial in accordance with this law, nor a judex in accordance with this law, nor a plaintiff in accordance with this law, nor a defendant . . . nor shall he abduct said person nor cause him to be abducted, nor shall he act in a manner whereby anyone of the said persons shall be unable to be present at the said trial or to hear the words at the said trial or to retire for deliberation or to give a verdict; nor shall he order anyone to dismiss the court, except when the Senate is convened lawfully . . . or unless Centuriate or Tribal Assembly is called within the city for any reason other than the passage of omnibus legislation.
45) IF A JUDEX CEASES TO FUNCTION, His Successor To Act in His Place; in Like Manner in Case of the Quaestor. If the said praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law or if the said quaestor assigned the treasury or the city as his province leaves or resigns from the said magistracy, judicial office or imperium, or dies in office before all the said matters are adjudged, performed, or completed which it is proper, for the said praetor or the said quaestor in accordance this law to perform, to complete, or to order adjudged: whoever shall succeed as praetor and shall have jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law or whoever as quaestor shall have the treasury or the city . . . as his province shall provide to the best of his ability that everything which is not done in accordance with this law shall be done and that those things which properly should be done in accordance with this law shall be accomplished, as if this matter had been had been transacted before him; and in regard to this matter the law shall apply to the said praetor and to the said quaestor on all matters not performed in accordance with this law, exactly as if this matter had been transacted before either of them . . .
46) THE JUDGMENT OF CASES in Accordance with the Calpurnian or the Junian Laws. As regards persons who have been or shall be tried under the law passed by the plebeian tribune Lucius Calpurnius, son of Lucius, or under the law passed by the plebeian tribune Marcus Junius, son of Decimus, and who have been or shall be acquitted or condemned in the said trial: it is not the intent of this law that anyone of the said persons shall be named as an offender on the same matter in accordance with this law or that the said person shall be tried on the said matter in accordance with this law. And if anyone is said to have acted contrary to this law . . . unless the law is passed before the said act is committed, there shall be no action under this law with the said persons.
47) CASES OF ACCUSATION BY COLLUSION. If the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law and if the majority of the judices, who are alive and who are present for judging the said case in accordance with this law, are satisfied that the person who makes the accusation in accordance with this law did so by collusion . . .
48) THE GRANT OF CITIZENSHIP. If anyone of the aforesaid persons who is not a Roman citizen reports the name of another person as an offender in accordance with this law . . . before the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law and if the said person is condemned by the said court by the terms of this law, then the person who reports his name and by whose efforts the condemnation was primarily effected . . . shall be made a Roman citizen, if he wishes, himself and his children, who are born to him when he becomes a Roman citizen in accordance with this law, and the grandsons then born to said son shall be full Roman citizens; and they shall vote in that tribe in which the person accused in accordance with this law voted, and they shall be registered by the censor in that tribe, and they shall be exempt from military service, and all the money and pay earned by them they shall receive. It is not the intent of this law . . . to prevent any magistrate or promagistrate . . .
49) THE GRANT OF THE RIGHT OF APPEAL and Immunity. If any person belonging to the Latin name who has not been a dictator, praetor, or aedile in his own State, reports the name of another person as an offender in accordance with this law before the praetor having jurisdiction over the proceedings in accordance with this law and if the said person is condemned in the said court by the terms of this law, then if the person who reports the name and by whose efforts the condemnation was primarily effected does not wish to become a Roman citizen in accordance with this law he shall have the right of appeal to the Roman people thereafter, lust as if he were a Roman citizen. Likewise, he and his sons and his grandsons through the male line shall be exempt and immune from military service and from public duties in his own State.
. . . is sued, he shall have an option in this matter whether he desires, either within his own State . . . he shall be permitted to have . . . If any Roman citizen reports the name of another person as an offender in accordance with this law . . . whoever has or ought to have the right of appeal in accordance with this law . . . the peregrine praetor . . .