EDICTUM AEDILICVM XIII

LAW ENFORCEMENT & PROSECUTION

Introduction

In accordance with the Constitution of NovaRoma, section IV.A.4.b, the Curule Aediles have the obligation to ensure order at public religious events and to administer the law, along with other duties. This edictum sets forth the manner and methods by which the Curule Aediles shall carry out their law enforcement and prosecutorial duties. These manners and methods will serve for current requirements and such other administrative and enforcement duties as may be assigned to the Curule Aediles in the future.

1. Since the establishment of the office of Curule Aedile in antiquity, the Curule Aediles have from time to time been required to enforce the laws within their respective areas of authority. Historically such enforcement included direct imposition of nonjudicial penalties and prosecutions before the Comitia Populi Tributa. This edictum establishes the continuation of these practices from antiquity as appropriate in the Republic of Nova Roma.
2. The Curule Aediles, by virtue of the potestas invested in the office, may act to investigate and punish violations of the laws they are charged to administer. They may also prosecute serious violations before a jury in the Comitia Populi Tributa, or before higher magistrates acting as judges.
3. Every Nova Roman citizen has the right to a trial by a jury of his peers. Therefore, any citizen may refuse nonjudicial penalties imposed by a Curule Aedile and instead insist on a trial before the Comitia Populi Tributa. In such cases, the investigating Curule Aedile or a designated representative will prosecute the case before a jury of citizens, the majority of whom are of the same order - patrician or plebian - as the accused. Such prosecutions shall occur in the Comitia Populi Tributa.
4. In the case of serious offenses which, in the Curule Aedile's judgement, fall outside the range of minor offenses for which nonjudicial penalties would be appropriate and sufficient, the Curule Aedile will remand the case to the Praetors for their disposition. Any case which becomes a matter for macro-national authorities must be remanded to the Praetors.
5. Nonjudicial penalties

The following measures may be imposed against citizens of Nova Roma by the Curule Aediles for offenses against the laws, subject to the provisions listed above which guarantee all citizens the choice of trial before the Comitia Populi Tributa in lieu of Curule Aedelian imposed nonjudicial penalties:

1. official recommendation to a list moderator that an offender be removed from the concerned list for a specified period of time or permanently.
2. official demand for apologies that must be publicly made in the same forum where the offense was made, with a copy sent to the Curule Aediles, and another to all other parties involved.
3. official request to the Censores for the issuance of a nota against the offender.
4. imposition of a fine of not more than $50 US, to be paid in the same way as taxes within a time specified by the Curule Aedile imposing the fine.
5. all these measures may be combined as the Curule Aediles see fit.
6. no corporal punishments of any sort, including flogging, beating with rods from the Lictor's bundle of fasces, or any other sort of violent physical contact, may be imposed.

VI. This edictum becomes effective immediately.

Given on the third of June, in the year of the consulship of Marcus Octavius Germanicus and Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, 2755 AUC.

Caeso Fabius Quintilianus Senior Curule Aedile

-- Vale Caeso Fabius Quintilianus Senator et Senior Curule Aedile Propraetor of Thule AUCTOR LEGIONIS, Legio VII "Res Publica"

03 June 2755