RHŎDĬA. The Rhodians had a maritime code which was highly esteemed.
Some of its provisions were adopted by the Romans, and have thus
been incorporated into the maritime law of European states. It was
not, however, a lex in the proper sense of the term.
ROSCĬA THEĀTRĀLIS, proposed by the tribune L. Roscius Otho, B.C.
67, which gave the equites a special place at the public spectacles
in fourteen rows or seats (_in quatuordecim gradibus sive
ordinibus_) next to the place of the senators, which was in the
orchestra. This lex also assigned a certain place to spendthrifts.
The phrase _sedere in quatuordecim ordinibus_ is equivalent to
having the proper census equestris which was required by the lex.
There are numerous allusions to this lex, which is sometimes
simply called the Lex of Otho, or referred to by his name. It is
erroneously supposed by some writers to have been enacted in the
consulship of Cicero, B.C. 63.
RUBRĬA. The province of Gallia Cisalpina ceased to be a
provincia, and became a part of Italia, about the year B.C. 43.
When this change took place, it was necessary to provide for
the administration of justice, as the usual modes of provincial
administration would cease with the determination of the provincial
form of government. This was effected by a lex, a large part of
which, on a bronze tablet, is preserved in the Museum at Parma. The
name of this lex is not known, but it is supposed by some to be the
Lex Rubria.
RŬPĬLĬAE LĒGES (B.C. 131), were the regulations established by P.
Rupilius, and ten legati, for the administration of the province of
Sicily, after the close of the first servile war. They were made
in pursuance of a consultum of the senate. Cicero speaks of these
regulations as a decretum of Rupilius, which he says they call
Lex Rupilia; but it was not a lex proper. The powers given to the
commissioners by the Lex Julia Municipalis were of a similar kind.
SĂCRĀTAE. Leges were properly so called which had for their object
to make a thing or person _sacer_. A lex sacrata militaris is also
mentioned by Livy.
SAENĬA DE PATRICIORUM NUMERO AUGENDO, enacted in the 5th consulship
of Augustus.