Lex Antonia
Lex Antonia (
Latin for
Antonine law, sometimes presented plurally as the
leges Antoniae,
Antonine laws) was a law established in
ancient Rome in
44 BC.
It was proposed by
Mark Antony and passed by the
Roman Senate, following the assassination of
Julius Caesar.
It formally abolished the
Dictatorate. It was the second law to do so (the first being passed after the
Second Punic War, replacing the Dictatorate with the
final decree of the Senate); however, the earlier law had essenitally been nullified by the subsequent Dictatorates of
Sulla and Caesar.
The
lex Antonia was mainly intended to provide Antony, who was beginning his consolidation of power, with some support from the Senatorial class, who had been alienated by the perpetual Dictatorates of Sulla and (especially) Caesar. In the end, this law did not succeed either, for in
22 BC the Senate offered
Caesar Augustus with the Dictatorate; however, he declined.
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Roman Law*
List of Roman laws
