Lex de imperio Vespasiani
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Lex de imperio Vespasiani is an ancient Roman law partially preserved on a bronze tablet. The law was written across two tablets, but only the second survives. The title and preamble of the law are lost. The name by which it is now known is a reconstruction.
The law was decreed by the Senate as a senatus consultum in December 69 following the death of the Emperor Vitellius. It was approved by the Comitia in January 70, becoming a lex. It represents what Tacitus in his Histories described as the Senate giving Vespasian "all that is usual for emperors" (cuncta principibus solita). It contains eight clauses laying out what Vespasian was empowered to do and the precedents for this. Each clause begins with the word utique. The final section is a sanctio (sanction).
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