La successione delle leggi nel tempo e la disciplina «de repetundis»

The Republican age in Rome is characterized by a huge sequence of rogationes, plebiscita and leges that follow one another on each legal topic at the same time. On the one hand, this succession of rules represents a change of social needs integrating each time a new iussum populi, on the other hand, this sequence does not involve an automatic removal of the previous legal disposition from the legal system in which it was taking effect. The main objective of this research is to analyze the phenomenon of the succession of rules over time from a different perspective in an attempt to identify the mechanism underlying this dynamic. Therefore, this issue will be carefully addressed considering the number of leges that followed one another concerning the topic of repetundae, together with some incidental aspects such as the change in the nature of the poena, of the crimen, and the leges iudiciariae which influenced the composition and functioning of the connected quaestiones perpetuae.