Mark Antony's Judiciary Reform and its Revival under the Triumvirs

Abstract

This article discusses the probable aims and provisions of Mark Antony's judiciary law of September 44 B.C. and challenges the prevailing view that this law had no further existence after it was annulled by the Senate in January 43 B.C. Instead, it is demonstrated that Antony's law was almost certainly reinstated under the Triumvirs and thus radically altered the composition of juries in Rome's criminal courts. This realization makes it possible to reconstruct the likely nature and timing of Augustus' judicial reforms, which can now be regarded as measures designed to reverse major changes that had been introduced by Antony's legislation.