This principle of a limitation of the power of the local courts is found fully developed in a lex Rubria which deals with the organisation of Cisalpine Gaul. This district had held an anomalous position from the time of the social war. Although still a province, its towns had been given Latin rights in 89 B.C.[1] This was interpreted by the democratic party as a forecast of the citizenship, for Gallia Cisalpina was certainly enrolled in Rome by the revolutionary government of Cinna or his successors.[2] The grant, however, was not approved at the Sullan restoration, and its validity was disputed until Caesar renewed the gift in 49 or 48 B.C.[3] Two or three years earlier he had busied himself with the creation of an Italian organisation in the Gallic towns;[4] but, even after his conferment of the citizenship, the incorporation of the district into Italy was not immediately accomplished. It remained technically a province until 42 B.C., when Octavianus gained the consent of the Senate to its "autonomy,"[5] i.e. to its recognition as a group of Italian townships. It is doubtful whether the lex Rubria belongs to the epoch of the Julian or the Augustan organisation;[6] but it is practically certain that it extends an already existing Italian system to the new district. The chief characteristic of the system is a division of power between the praetor at Rome and the magistrate in the municipal town. In the fragment of the law which we possess this division is manifested in two particulars. The right of declaring bankruptcy (missio in possessionem) is reserved for the praetor, although the provisional arrest of the debtor (duci jubere) may be ordered by the local magistrate. Again, in the action for the recovery of a loan and in those(i.e. Octavianus after Philippi) [Greek: autonomon aphienai, gnômê tou proterou Kaisaros.] Cf. iii. 30 and Dio Cass. xlviii. 12.]
- ↑ Ascon. in Pison. p. 8.
- ↑ This is proved both by the attempt of Crassus, as censor in 65 B.C., to place the Transpadanes on the register of citizens (Dio Cass. xxxvii. 9), and by Cicero's comment on Marcellus' action in scourging a citizen of Novum Comum in 51 B.C. (Cic. ad Att. v. 11, 2 "Marcellus foede in Comensi: etsi ille magistratum non gesserit, erat tamen Transpadanus").
- ↑ Dio Cass. xli. 36.
- ↑ Cic. ad Att. v. 2, 3 "eratque rumor de Transpadanis, eos jussos IIIIviros creare. Quod si ita est, magnos motus timeo."
- ↑ App. B.C. v. 3 [Greek: tên te gar Keltikên tên entos Alpeôn edokei Kaisaros axiountos
- ↑ The name given to the district in the law Gallia Cisalpeina, Gallia cis Alpeis (cc. 22 and 23) suits both epochs equally well, for Caesar had not made it a part of Italy. The fact that the praetor urbanus is the central authority in jurisdiction (cc. 21 and 22) suits the Augustan epoch better.
