Lex Visellia

The lex Visellia of AD 24 granted full Roman citizenship to informally manumitted slaves after they had served for six years as vigiles,^[5] the ancient Roman equivalent of police and firefighters. The law was passed during the consulship of Lucius Visellius Varro.^[6] The term of service was later shortened by a decree of the senate to three years.^[7]

Slaves received Roman citizenship automatically when they had been manumitted by a citizen owner through certain legal procedures recognized by the state. Slaves whose manumission did not meet these formal criteria held a form of Latin rights, codified by the lex Iunia Norbana and based on a status originally developed for the Italian allies that was not embedded in the particular social structures of the city of Rome. The lex Visellia was one of several pathways to full citizenship for informally manumitted slaves, called Junian Latins in modern scholarship.