Kitap 10
20
The meaning of rogatio, lex, plebisscitum and privilegium, and to what extent all those terms differ.
20
I HEAR it asked what the meaning is of lex, plebisscitum, rogatio, and privilegium. Ateius Capito, a man highly skilled in public and private law, defined the meaning of lex in these words: Fr. 22, Huschke; Coniect. fr. 13, Bremer. A law, said he, is a general decree of the people, or of the commons, answering an appeal That is, a royatio. made to them by a magistrate. If this definition is correct, neither the appeal for Pompey's military command, nor about the recall of Cicero, nor as to the murder or Clodius, nor any similar decrees of the people of commons, can be called laws. For they are not general decrees, and they are framed with regard, not to the whole body of citizens, but to individuals. Hence they ought rather to be called privilegia, or privileges, since the ancients used priva where we now use singula (private or individual). This word Lucilius used in the first book of his Satires: v. 49, Marx. I'll give them, when they come, each his own (priva) piece Of tunny belly and acarne The acarne was a kind of sea-fish. heads.
