The senatus consultum Vellaeanum

Before concluding this chapter, a small arabesque should be added. At some time between A.D. 41 and 65¹⁹⁵ the Roman Senate enacted the following law:

"Quod Marcus Silanus et Velleus Tutor consules verba fecerunt de obligationibus feminarum, quae pro aliis reae fierent, quid de ea re fieri oportet, de ea re ita censuere: quod ad fideiussiones et mutui dationes pro aliis, quibus intercesserint feminae, pertinet, tametsi ante videtur ita ius dictum esse, ne eo nomine ab his petitio neve in eas actio detur, cum eas virilibus officiis fungi et eius generis obligationibus obstringi non sic aequum, arbitrari senatum recte atque ordine facturos ad quos de ea re in iure aditum erit, si dederint operam, ut in ea re senatus voluntas servetur.

These are the words of the famous (or notorious) senatus consultum Vellaeanum by which women were prohibited from "interceding", that is, from incurring liability for the benefit of others (pro aliis reas fieri), as, for instance, in the case of suretyship contracts.

Reading this enactment, one is not struck by its precision and lucidity. But that in itself is no reason to regard the text, as it has been handed down to us, as largely interpolated.^{[762] [763] Modern legislators have not always done much better as far as the clarity of expression and stylistic elegance of their enactments are concerned; the science (or art) of how to legislate has, until very recently, received hardly any attention in academic legal circles.193 Besides, the Roman Senate was not composed of private lawyers; the wording of its consulta was often based, quite probably, on the motions brought before it, and these motions, frequently containing not only a specific rule but also the motivation for it, were not necessarily skilfully drafted.[764] It is, however, precisely its somewhat clumsy wording that makes this senatus consultum such an instructive example of how classical lawyers interpreted statutory provisions in order to make them workable tools for the implementation of the legislative policy.}

2.