Lex Valeria I de provocatione

The Lex Valeria gave the Roman citizen the right to appeal, provocatio, to the Comitia Centuriata from a sentence by a magistrate.

Livy II.8 Latae deinde leges, non solum quae regni suspicione consulem absoluerent, sed quae adeo in contrarium uerterent, ut popularem etiam facerent. Inde cognomen factum Publicolae est. 2. Ante omnes de prouocatione aduersus magistratus ad populum sacrandoque cum bonis capite eius, qui regni occupandi consilia inisset, gratae in uulgus leges fuere.

2.8]Laws were passed which not only cleared the consul from suspicion but produced such a reaction that he won the people's affections, hence his soubriquet of Publicola. The most popular of these laws were those which granted a right of appeal from the magistrate to the people and devoted to the gods the person and property of any one who entertained projects of becoming king.

idemque, in quo fuit « Publicola » maxime, legem ad populum tulit eam quae centuriatis comitiis prima lata est, ne quis magistratus ciuem Romanum aduersus prouocationem necaret neue uerberaret. Cicero, de Rep, II, 53