Valerio-Horatian Laws

The Valerio-Horatian Laws (leges Valeriae Horatiae) were three laws which were passed by the consuls of Rome for 449 BC, Lucius Valerius Potitus and Marcus Horatius Barbatus. They restored the right of appeal to the people and introduced measures which were favourable to the plebeians. The consuls' actions came after a plebeian rebellion, the second plebeian secession, which overthrew the second decemvirate, which had ruled tyrannically. The two consuls had shown sympathy towards the plebeians and, as a result, had been chosen to negotiate the resolution of the rebellion. Their new laws quelled the plebeian unrest.

In 454 BC, during what was to be the 200-year Conflict of the Orders between the patricians and the plebeians, the patricians gave “consent to the appointment of a body of legislators, chosen in equal numbers from plebeians and patricians to enact what would be useful to both orders and secure equal liberty for each.” The plebeians wanted a published set of laws so that there were clear and known rules and protections as well as punishments. Up until that time, the laws were unwritten and open to arbitrary use and, at times, abuse. A ten-man commission was appointed to develop the laws, the Decemviri Legibus Scribundis Consulari Imperio (decemviri means ten men). The consulship (the office of the two annually elected heads of the republic) and the plebeian tribunes (the representatives of the plebeians) were suspended. The decemviri were also to act as a government exempt from the right to appeal to the people against arbitrary actions on their part. The conduct of the first decemvirate was exemplary and it drew up ten bronze tablets of laws.

It was felt that two more laws were needed to complete the legislation. A new decemvirate was elected. According to Livy, the second decemvirate was despotic and abused the people, taking advantage of their exemption from the right to appeal. This eventually led to the plebeian rebellion known as the second plebeian secession. The plebeians seceded to Mons Sacer (Sacred Mount) outside the city and pledged to remain there until their demands were met. Their demands were the resignation of the decemviri, the restoration of the right to appeal to the people and the restoration of the plebeian tribunes and their powers. Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, two patricians who had stood up to one instance of abuse of a plebeian by the decemviri and had shown sympathy towards the plebeians, were sent to Mons Sacer negotiate. The negotiations were successful, the decemviri resigned and the secession was called off. Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius were elected as the consuls for the year. They restored the right to appeal to the people and passed measures which were favourable to the plebeians to address their grievances which had emerged during the rebellion.

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