Lex Cincia

Lex Cincia de donis et muneribus was a law reportedly passed in 204 BC by the tribune Marcus Cincius Alimentus, so documented in Livy.

Per Cicero, the law was proposed in 204 BC by Marcus Cincius Alimentus as a plebiscite, with the support of the famous senator Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who spoke in favour of it.

[7] The other main effects were those on gift-giving in general: gifts to those outside a rather large circle of exempted persons with amount greater than that set in the statute were prohibited.

[10] The law itself was administered by the praetor, who could grant an pleadable defence to a defendant who was being sued on the promise of a gift not yet handed over.

Cicero was shortly thereafter lent millions more by Gaius Antonius Hybrida (his consular colleague in 63 BC) for an unsuccessful defence on charges of corruption.

Cicero was a famous and well-regarded orator and advocate in the courts of the late republic. He also violated the lex Cincia in taking gifts and other remuneration for his legal services.