Lex Arria de veteribus tribubus et curiis (Nova Roma)

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Preamble

The curiae of early ancient Rome formed a vital aspect of community life; they stood at the center of the spontaneous civilian organization of festivals, celebrations, public and private religious experience, serving as an intermediate layer between the acts of state religion, and the acts of domestic practice of the Roman religion. Since Nova Roma is also in its early stages, and because the civic and religious community life of Nova Roma needs cohesive drive, incentive and all kinds of positive stimuli, the Nova Roman people, after having completed all the Founding Ceremonies and re-established the Palladium and the Pignora Imperii, according to the instructions of the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda, is hereby re-establishing the three old tribes and the thirty curiae of the Roman people for the aforementioned ceremonial and social purposes.

I. The old ceremonial tribes

The censores shall distribute all citizens by gentes into the three original tribes of the Roman people, the tribus I. Ramnes, II. Tities and III. Luceres, by gentes. All members of the same Nova Roman gens shall belong to one tribe. The censores shall distribute the gentes of Latin origin into the curiae of the Ramnes tribe, the gentes of Sabine origin into the Tities, the gentes of Etruscan origin into the Luceres. The rest of the gentes shall be allocated according to their establishment in Nova Roma: those which were established in the first year of Nova Roma shall be distributed into the Ramnes, those which were established until the Completion of the Founding of Nova Roma into the Tities, and those of the third decade or later into the Luceres.

II. The curiae

II.A. Within each ceremonial tribus, the censores shall divide the gentes into ten curiae; all members of the same gens within one ceremonial tribe gens shall belong to the same curia. Each curiae shall celebrate the sacra of the curia together and the primary role of all curiae shall be the fostering of community and helping the social practice of the religio Romana and the cultus of the Roman gods.

II.B. The ancient Roman names of the curiae were lost, excepting the following which shall be used in Nova Roma as well: curia Acculeia, curia Faucia, curia Foriensis, curia Hersilia, curia Rapta, curia Tifata, curia Titia, curia Veliensis, curia Velitia. In these original Roman curiae only gentes originally founded during the Roman Kingdom can be allocated. The rest of the curiae shall receive reconstructed hypothetical names based on the research of Robert E. A. Palmer, published in his book “The Archaic Roman Community” (Cambridge, 1970), with some orthographic modifications and omissions of the least likely names. The following distribution of the curiae into the three ceremonial tribes is just a convention introduced by this present law (it is from the book of Robert E. A. Palmer, except Solonia which is suggested to belong to the Luceres tribe):

II.B.1. The Ramnes shall contain the following curiae: I. Foriensis , II. Veliensis, III. Velitia, IV. Palatina, V. Cermalensis, VI. Caelia, VII. Cispia, VIII. Oppia, IX. Martia, X. Volturna

II.B.2. The Tities shall contain the following curiae: I. Titia, II. Faucia, III. Acculeia, IV. Hersilia, V. Quinctia, VI. Fabia, VII. Septima, VIII. Octava, IX. Nona, X. Decima

II.B.3. The Luceres shall contain the following curiae: I. Rapta, II. Tifata, III. Semuria, IV. Solonia, V. Taracia, VI. Lateria, VII. Latia, VIII. Gabina, IX. Crustumina, X. Querquetulana

III. The officers of the old tribes and the curiae

The officers of the curiae, the curio maximus, the curio, the flamen curialis and the lictor curiatus, shall be responsible to motivate, assist and aid the cultic practice of the individual citizens and gentes belonging to them. They shall organize programs and celebrations to engage the citizens within the curia and to celebrate Romanitas, the sacra privata and sacra publica of Nova Roma. The curio maximus is entitled to convene the Comitia Curiata in lieu of the pontifex maximus. The curio maximus and the officers of the ceremonial tribes, the tribuni tribuum, shall oversee the work of the curial officers. The Collegium Pontificum shall regulate and assist in discovering what the sacra are that each curia shall uphold and what the religious duties of the curial officers are.

III.A. Each curia shall elect a curio (head of the curia), and the ten curiones within the same tribe shall elect the tribunus (chief) of the tribe from among the curiones of the tribe, and the thirty curiones shall elect a curio maximus from among the curiones. The position of the curio maximus can also be filled by one of the three tribuni if so elected by the curiones. The Comitia Curiata shall confirm the election of the curio maximus and the tribuni of the tribes.

III.A.1. Curiones are forbidden to hold a magistracy or governorship, because their primary focus within Nova Roma should be nothing else than the promotion of the social and religious community life of the curiales (members of the curia) in their curiae, however the Collegium Pontificum may grant exceptions from under this rule to individuals in justified cases.

III.A.2. The three tribuni are responsible to monitor and review the work of the curiones within their respective tribes, and, by a majority decision, the tribuni are empowered to remove any curio, except the curio maximus, from office if they find his or her work or behavior unsatisfactory. The tenure of these offices is not limited to time, but the Collegium Pontificum may remove any of these officers (curio, curio maximus, tribunus) if the performance or behavior of any of them is unsatisfactory, and instruct the curiae or the curiones to elect new ones in place of those who were removed, who died or who resigned from office.

III.B. Each curia shall nominate candidates for a flamen curialis whom the Collegium Pontificum shall appoint or refuse based on the evaluation of the candidate. The Comitia Curiata shall witness the appointment of a flamen curalis. The priesthood of the flamen curialis is for life, but the Collegium Pontificum may remove any of them if the performance or behavior of any of them is unsatisfactory, and instruct the curia to nominate new ones in place of those who were removed, who died or who resigned from the priesthood.

III.C. The curio and the flamen curialis, jointly, may nominate candidates for a lictor curiatus from among the members of the curia to the Collegium Pontificum for appointment whom the Collegium Pontificum shall appoint or refuse based on the evaluation of the candidate. The Collegium Pontificum may select any member of the curia for appointment as lictor curiatus at any time, independently from the nomination by the curio and flamen. The tenure of this office is not limited to time, but the Collegium Pontificum may remove them if their performance or behavior is unsatisfactory, and may instruct the curio and the flamen to nominate new candidates, or may appoint new ones in place of those who were removed, who died or who resigned from office, on its own initiative. The curio and the flamen curialis may also remove the lictor curiatus from office by unanimous decision, unless the Collegium Pontificum intervenes and forbids the removal of a certain lictor curiatus.

III.D. Only a member of the curia can be an officer of the curia, and each officer shall hold only one office, but the Collegium Pontificum may allow for individuals to hold two or all three offices of the curia if there are no candidates for the office. If a candidate appears later and requests the Collegium Pontificum to be considered for a curial office, the Collegium shall order the curia to arrange the election or nomination.

III.E. All of the aforementioned officers shall be of assiduus status. Regarding their service points, the curio maximus, the tribuni tribuum and the curiones shall belong under III.A.7.f of the lex Arria de censu civium aestimando, “officers of recognized corporations”, falling under the “president” category. They shall receive 6 CP for each position they hold, but they shall not receive Past Service Points for more than one year, and these Past Service Points shall be given only if they no longer hold the office. The flamen curialis falls in the category of “other sacerdos”, III.B.1 of said lex Arria, receiving 20 CP.

IV. Voluntary association with a curia and change in membership within curiae

Since the curiae are meant to become community fostering institutions, it is important that the gentes can feel a connection to their curia. It is encouraged that members of a gens discuss their association to a curia, and if the majority of the adult sui iuris members in a gens petition the censores for re-allocation of the gens to another curia, the censores shall complete the request if it would not infringe on the regulations at Sections I-II of this law. Requests for re-allocation that would infringe on the rules set forth in this law shall not be completed.