Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex

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Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex (died 82 BCE), the son of Publius Mucius Scaevola was a politician of the Roman Republic and an important early authority on Roman law. He is credited with founding the study of law as a systematic discipline.

Scaevola was elected tribune in 106 BCE, aedile in 104 BCE, and consul in 95 BCE. As consul, together with Lucius Licinius Crassus he had a law (the Lex Licinia Mucia) passed in the senate in that denied Roman citizenship to certain groups within the Roman sphere of influence ("Italians" and "Latins"). The passage of this law was one of the major contributing factors to the Social War.

Scaevola was next made governor of Asia, a position in which he became renowned for his harsh treatment of corrupt tax collectors and for publishing an edict that later became a standard model for provincial administration. He proved so popular that the people he governed instituted a festival day (the dies Mucia) in his honour.

Returning to Rome, he was made pontifex maximus, and took the opportunity to more strictly regulate the priestly colleges, and to ensure that traditional rituals were properly observed. Scaevola was the author of a treatise on civil law (Jus civile primus constituit generatim in libros decem et octo redigendo) that spanned 18 volumes, compiling and systematising legislation and precedents. He also wrote a short legal handbook (ο̉ροι, or simply Liber Singularis) containing a glossary of terms and an outline of basic principles. Four short sections of this latter work were incorporated by Justinian I into his Pandectae, but nothing of the rest of his works is extant today. Speeches by Scaevola extant in ancient times were praised by Cicero.

Scaevola was killed in the civil unrest surrounding the power struggle between Sulla and Marius. Refusing to side with the Marians, he was pursued by them and killed in the temple of the Vestals and his body thrown into the Tiber. A previous attempt had been made on his life in 86 BCE.

Preceded by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus

Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Licinius Crassus 95 BCE

Succeeded by Gaius Coelius Caldus and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus