In Ancient Rome, the Lex Villia Annalis was a law passed in 180 BC that regulated the minimum age requirements of candidacy for different public offices within the cursus honorum.
[1] The law was proposed by Lucius Villius Annalis, a Tribune of the Plebs, after previous debate within the senate pertaining to the age requirements for magistracies.
These debates had arisen due to an increase in competition from a rise in new families attempting to gain success and social change within Roman society, which placed pressure on the political sphere.
Where previous laws had failed to be passed or were too ambiguous to result in change, the Lex Villia Annalis has been described as having created a standard for a career in the cursus honorum.
[3] The Lex Villia Annalis appears to form a part of several legislative changes that sought to ease the intensity of political competition (there was a high level of bribery and corruption resulting from the growing number of candidates for the curule seat) and the irregularity by which individuals could achieve the senior magisterial positions.
A number of laws proposed and carried out at the beginning of the second century suggest a greater legislative movement concerned with a further regulation and codification of the cursus honorum.
In 180 BC, the tribune of the plebs Lucius Villius Annalis made a successful proposal for a law that regulated 'the ages at which each magistracy might be sought and held' (Livy 40.
[4] The Lex Villia Annalis formalise limits on the minimum age at which a Roman politician could ascend to a particular magistracy on the cursus honorum.
Even in situations where an exceptional candidate such as Scipio Aemilianus attained the consulship early at the age of 36, special legislation was required to be passed before he was able to take the office.
[6] While perhaps not fundamentally changing the way Roman political magistracies could be obtained, the Lex Villia Annalis formalised rules and regulations surrounding its passing.
[7] The voters bypassed this law since they believed that the exceptional circumstances surrounding the Third Punic War required them to do so and more importantly, that it was their prerogative to do so.
The Roman people thought it necessary to have the same competent leader to deal with the fresh threats, even if it meant violating the lex Villia Annalis, a law which their ancestors had passed.