Extract

The plebiscitum Canuleium (commonly designated lex Canuleia) was a plebiscite proposed in 445bce by the plebeian tribuneGaius Canuleius, which reputedly abrogated (repealed) a provision of the Twelve Tables (450–451bce) that prohibited intermarriage (conubium) between patricians and plebeians (Tabula XI, 1).¹Livy links the plebiscite to a bill (rogatio) on the election of plebeian consuls, while Florus and Ampelius link it to an otherwise unattested plebeian secession (secessio) to the Janiculum.²

Scholars often interpret the plebiscite within the context of the so-called Conflict of the Orders.³ While some accept the plebiscite’s historicity, others question its details and historicity on the grounds of anachronism, misinterpretation, or legal validity prior to the lex Hortensia (287bce), and some suggest the abrogation occurred in the reforming milieu of the plebiscitum Ogulnium (300bce).