Societas Liberorum (Abrittus)

A societas liberorum (engl.: society of the free) is a specific legal person in Roman law.

It is the dominant rural socioeconomic structure of the Second Roman Republic and still an important element of Roman society.

Societates liberorum formed in the Roman revolution, which in turn resulted from the Crisis of the Third Century. Across the empire, large agricultural compounds had formed, owned by a very small elite. The work was done by large numbers of half-free coloni, to a smaller extent also by slaves.

As the old public order of the Principate cracked, rebellions were common both in the countryside and in the cities - motivated by religious, economic and political reasons. At the end of the 250s, public order was about to collapse - and the coloni and slaves on the latifundia dealt it the fatal blow by rising up in rebellion, especially in the important provinces of Africa and Aegyptus.

During the revolution, the Societates Liberorum forged alliances with the Plebeian Councils in the towns and cities and with the comitia of mutinous soldiers. In this "war economy", the S.L. continued to provide the resources required for the victory of the revolutionary forces.

After the revolution, the Second Roman Republic emerged as a federation of civitates. These civitates were formed by cities (pomeria) and their surrounding countryside. In most civitates, the comitia (general assemblies) recognised and formalised the land claims of the S.L. to the latifundia they had formerly been employed on. Even latifundia which had not yet been collectivised during the revolution were often given into the hands of ad hoc-S.L., unless the landowners had played important and positive parts in the revolution. As a result, 80 % of the arable land in the Roman Empire and 25 % of the forests became owned by a number of approximately 90,000 S.L. by 265.

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