Aes uxorium
The Aes uxorium was a tax paid by those who reached adulthood without marrying.[1] With an exception of the vestal virgins. [2]
History
It was first imposed by the censors in 403 BC under the Lex Papia Poppaea.[1] It was one of the many measures against Caelibes (celibites), unless they married within 100 days, not only did they have to pay the tax, but also couldn't have a hereditas or a legacy (legatum)[3] A man, when he attained the age of sixty, and a woman, when she attained the age of fifty, were not included within certain penalties of the law.[4] But if they had not obeyed the law before attaining those respective ages, they were perpetually bound by its penalties by a Senatus-consultum Pernicianum. A Senatus-consultum Claudianum so far modified the strictness of the new rule as to give a man who married above sixty the same advantage that he would have had if had married under sixty, provided he married a woman who was under fifty; the ground of which rule was the legal notion that a woman under fifty was still capable of having children.[5] If the woman was above fifty and the man under sixty, this was called Impar Matrimonium, and by a Senatus-consultum Calvitianum it was entirely without effect as to releasing from incapacity to take legata and dotes. On the death of the woman, therefore, the dos became caduca.
References
- 1 2 Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. - ↑ Ulp. Frag. xvii.1
- ↑ Ulp. Frag. xvii.1
- ↑ Ulp. Frag. xvi
- ↑ Ulpian, Frag. xvi; Sueton. Claud. 23
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under Public Domain Licence statement: Aes Equestre, William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.:, Bill Thayer. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875..