Definition: The Lex Publilia (really, plebiscitum Publilium) was a Roman plebeian resolution or plebiscite of 471 B.C., that had been proposed by Publilius Volero, a tribune of the Plebs. The Lex Publilia required that tribunes be elected by the concilium plebis, instead of the patrician bastion, the comitia centuriata. Publilius is credited with the reorganization of the concilium plebis. From then on, each tribe would have 1 vote and from the tally of the tribes' votes a majority vote would decide (referred to as the group-vote system).
References:
- Lex Publilia from Lacus Curtius
- "The Nature and Aims of the Patriciate," by E. Stuart Staveley; Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte (1st Qtr., 1983), pp. 24-57
- Cornell, Tim J. 1995. The beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC). London: Routledge.
Also Known As: plebiscitum Publilium, lex Publilia Voleronis
