Were debts owed or outstanding debts factored into the Roman census?
Upvote:5
tl;dr
Yes, it appears that debts were taken into account by the censors, and that details were provided as part of the statement given by every Roman citizen to the censors.
This is an interesting question, and is complicated somewhat by the nature of Roman Law.
Every Roman citizen was required to provide a statement of his familia (including his wife, children, slaves and freemen if he had them) and his property. The property which had to be reported to the censors was limited to that held under Quiitarian Ownership. this would include land (which was considered to be by far the most important asset), slaves, cattle, clothing, jewels and carriages (Livy, History of Rome, xxxix. 44).
This was important, as a persons value in the census determined their position in society. The census senatorius, would be the estate of a senator; while the census equestris, was the estate of an eques (sometimes translated as 'knight').
The punishment for providing a false statement was to be flogged and sold into slavery. His property would also be forfeit.
Based on another passage in Livy (History of Rome, vi. 27):
The year required censors also, chiefly on account of the uncertain representations regarding the debt; the tribunes of the commons exaggerating the amount of it on account of the odium of the thing, whilst it was underrated by those whose interest it was that the difficulty of procuring should appear to depend rather on [the want of] integrity, than on the ability of the debtors.
it seems the census did indeed show the amount of a man's debts and the names of his creditors. Further, it is clear that there could also be disputes over the value of that debt.
There is a reasonably accessible description of the Roman census in Charles Knight's Political Dictionary of 1845 (beginning at page 464).
More post
- 📝 What was the area of Nazi Germany at its height?
- 📝 Was Karst (Kras) first region that was man-made reforested?
- 📝 Why did the Protestants in Ireland in the 1800s not want Home Rule?
- 📝 When was the Ottoman mosque within the Parthenon demolished?
- 📝 Was there any time in non-recent history where it was fashionable to wear ripped clothes?
- 📝 What are some settlements in Greece circa 2000 BCE - 1900 BCE?
- 📝 When and why China started to make a difference in the superpower arena?
- 📝 Have any major US book publisher published a book about USA war crimes?
- 📝 How did the Palace of Poitiers change from its depiction in Tres Riches Heures to now?
- 📝 Why did the dominance of maize last so long in North America?
- 📝 Pre-WW2 location of Skalat
- 📝 What is the meaning of the hand gesture performed by King James II in the portrait by Peter Lely?
- 📝 Works of "Longue Durée" history in English
- 📝 How did the use of tanks differ in the Pacific war from the European war?
- 📝 Did Chinese Hundred Schools of Thought influence Ancient Greek Philosophy?
- 📝 Why was Kentucky not admitted to the Union in 1789?
- 📝 Where to find birth records for those born in Ireland pre-Independence?
- 📝 Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?
- 📝 Did 20% of the Soviet Population use a Latin script in 1935?
- 📝 Did either Chinese government (Beijing or Taipei) operate an administrative structure in the Kowloon Walled City at any time between 1898 and 1994?
- 📝 Why did the French nobility adopt Calvinism?
- 📝 Who is the latest famous person to have no known likeness?
- 📝 Who was the 18th century French eccentric who proposed the Dutch colonize SW Australia?
- 📝 Why did the UK Parliament sit on Saturday 30 July 1949?
- 📝 Is this movie tactic realistic?
- 📝 How long did men have to serve in the US army until they were promoted to sergeants during WW2?
- 📝 Can someone identify this coin? ΤΙΓΡΑΝΟ(Υ) (Β)ΑΣΙΛΕΩ(Σ)
- 📝 What was the importance of the patrician class in the Roman Empire?
- 📝 What were the effects of the Black Death in the Muslim world?
- 📝 Why weren't German V-2 weapons used against the Russians?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Were debts owed or outstanding debts factored into the Roman census?
- 📝 Were Roman gladiators ever enlisted into the military?
- 📝 Were Medieval Britons aware of the existence of the Roman Empire?
- 📝 What language(s) were spoken within the Holy Roman Empire?
- 📝 When did the Roman Forum fall into disuse?
- 📝 How rich were carpenters in Roman Galilee in the 1st century AD?
- 📝 Were there punishments in the Roman Empire for not believing in the official religion?
- 📝 Where were the western legions when the Roman empire fell?
- 📝 How were the British and French armies invited into Belgium in 1914?
- 📝 What were the conditions of joining or leaving the Holy Roman Empire?
- 📝 Were the lands of the Teutonic Knights part of the Holy Roman Empire?
- 📝 Were there any Roman villas in Britain which were used rather than destroyed after the Romans left?
- 📝 What were the rights of various classes of people in the Roman Republic?
- 📝 Were there any Jewish members of the Roman Senate?
- 📝 What Roman Republican legal structures lasted into the Empire and which ones didn't?
- 📝 What proportion of the population of Soviet Union were taken into custody by the state during Stalin's time?
- 📝 How were the borders of the Holy Roman Empire established?
- 📝 What were the insignia of the Western Roman Empire and what happened to them?
- 📝 How many citizens were in each century of the Roman electoral system?
- 📝 What kinds of goods were commonly smuggled in the Roman Empire up to the end of the 3rd century AD?
- 📝 Were Roman emperors in the first century AD shown as holding stars in their hands?
- 📝 Who were the successors of the Roman Empire?
- 📝 Were taxes from senatorial provinces and imperial provinces sent to their respective treasuries in the Roman Empire? (Under the rule of Augustus)
- 📝 Inquiry into the nature and roots of the temporal power of the Roman Catholic Pope:
- 📝 What were the incentives for joining the Roman army before the Marian reforms?
- 📝 Were slaves allowed to use the Roman baths?
- 📝 Were the Roman Empire provinces Alpes Poeninae and Alpes Graiae different provinces or the same?
- 📝 Were quaestors in the Roman Republic entitled to lictors/fasces?
- 📝 What were the rights and statuses of different types of Roman colonies?
- 📝 Were there ever instances of sailors pressed into British service in Europe ending up in the Caribbean?