AGRARIAN LAWS

ancient Rom. laws governing the use of state lands for pasturage or other purposes; purpose was to give every citizen his fair share in the public domain and prevent patricians from monopolizing it. One of most important was the Licinian law, introduced by the tribune, Licinius Stolo (367 B.C.), which provided that every Rom. citizen should, by payment of a tax to the public treasury, have the right to graze 100 head of large, or 500 head of small cattle, upon unallotted state lands. A later law, introduced by known as the Sempronian law, provided that every f. of a family should have the right to occupy 500 jugera (acres), and 250 jugera additional for each of his sons. The pa ing of this law aroused the patricians’ jealousy, which resulted in the a a ination of Tiberius and his bro. Caius.