Latin Right

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This article is about Roman citizenship. For the Western Catholic Church, see Latin Rite.

The Latin Right (Latin ius Latii or Latinitas or Latium) was a civic status given by the Romans, intermediate between full Roman citizenship and non-citizen status (peregrines). The most important tenets of the Latin right were commercium, conubium, and ius migrationis. Commercium allowed Latins to own land in any of the Latin cities and to make legally enforceable contracts with their citizens. Conubium permitted them to make a lawful marriage with a resident of any other Latin city. Ius migrationis gave people with Latin status the capacity to acquire citizenship of another Latin state simply by taking up permanent residence there. People with the Latin right were protected under Roman law.

1 Origin of the Latin Right
2 The Latin Right under the Empire
3 The Latin Right and Citizenship
4 External sources

[edit] Origin of the Latin Right

The Latin War (340-338 BC) was a conflict between the Roman Republic and the people of Latium. The war ended with a Roman victory and the dissolution of the Latin League, a confederation of about 30 villages in the province of Latium. With this victory, some city-states were fully incorporated into the Republic while others were given fewer rights. These provincial rights came to be known as the Latin right. From this time on Latin status no longer depended on membership of a distinct ethnic, jural and sacral community, but rather possession of legally defined rights and privileges that could be exercised in dealings with Roman citizens. The Latin right subsequently was extended to other Latin colonies in the 3rd century BC, and in 171 BC, the city of Carteia in Spain was founded as the first Latin colony outside of Italy.

[edit] The Latin Right under the Empire

Following the great spate of colonial settlements under Caesar and Augustus, the Latin right was used more as a political instrument that aimed at integration of provincial communities via local leadership. The core right imparted by Latin status was the acquisition of Roman citizenship upon the holding of municipal office (ius adipiscendae civitatis per magistratuum), which presumed a trajectory of development that would carry at least the local elites along the path to the creation of a Roman-style community. In 123 AD, the emperor Hadrian made a key modification to the Latin right. This so-called "greater" Latin right (Latium maius), made all of the councilors in communities Roman citizens.

The Latin right was an acquisition that relied solely on an imperial gift. This beneficence could span the whole range from grants to individuals, to awards made to whole towns, and could even be applied to an entire population, as when the emperor Vespasian gave the Latin right to all of Spain in 74 AD. Although this decree could encompass whole cities, it is important to note that it did not necessarily entail the establishment of a municipium. Often, as in Spain, the constitution of formal municipalities might have followed some years after the initial grant.

[edit] The Latin Right and Citizenship

The Latin right was an intermediate step in obtaining full-fledged Roman citizenship. In the days of the Republic, those holding the Latin right had most of the liberties of citizens except the right to vote. Furthermore, only citizens could run for office in Rome and serve in the Roman army. For the mass of the population, though, the formal meaning of citizenship symbolized being part of the empire. This was instrumental in foreign policy, allowing rulers to incorporate new territories into the empire under the incentive of improved standing. Citizenship was granted to Italy after the Social War (91-88 BC) and was then extended to some of its Western provinces under the leadership of Julius Caesar and Augustus. Finally in 212 AD, emperor Caracalla issued the Constitutio Antoniniana, which gave full citizenship to any free-born man in the Roman Empire. With this edict, the Latin right became more of a formality than a political standing.