To Belong Or Not To Belong 141 Naturalization of foreigners was also very rare and difficult in the Greek poleis. It took a decision of the popular assembly following the legislative procedure.22 2.2 Rome from City-State to Empire The Roman Republic, too, conceived of itself as a community of citizens.23 The Roman ius civilis applied only to Roman citizens, a character acquired ‘by birth, adoption, emancipation, [or; RK] admission.’24 With the exclusion of others, citizens held civic and political rights. Relations and conflicts with non-­ citizens/foreigners (which could also be people not belonging to any other civitas such as freed slaves, conquered people or Romans who had lost their citizenship25) were beyond the scope of this law and foreigners could neither seize nor be brought before Roman courts.26 However, unlike the Greek poleis, Rome did not remain a small city-state. As Rome expanded its territory and became an important centre for the entire Mediterranean, the restricted personal scope of its ius civile increasingly caused tensions and problems. Rome could simply not afford to exclude so many people from its political and legal systems nor to lack any mechanisms to settle disputes. These problems were solved in various ways. A special magistrate was introduced in Rome charged with initiating the adjudication of cases in which free foreigners were involved; the praetor pere­ grinus.27 These magistrates developed law and legal procedures in practice for disputes concerning any foreigners.28 Thus, foreigners were gradually recognized as people with legal rights.29 Under the influence of Greek Stoic philosophy – a branch of philosophy that abandoned the Greek emphasis on the particularity of the polis in favour of universalist and cosmopolitan 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Bederman, n13 121; Finer, n4 344; Phillipson, n13 180-191. Finer, n4 387; Phillipson, n13 p. 245. Phillipson, n13 94 and 245-266; Olga Tellegen-Couperus, A Short History of Roman Law (London-New York 1993) 18. Roman citizenship could be lost for several reasons. Citizenship could be renounced voluntarily. It could also be lost by way of punishment e.g. for neglecting military service or as a consequence of exile, by being declared enemy of Rome, by acquiring the citizenship of another civitas, or by moving to a colony that lacked full rights; Philipson, n13, 211-213. Phillipson, n13 213-235. Jacob Giltaij, Mensenrechten in het Romeinse recht? (Nijmegen 2011) 29; M. Kaser & F. Wubbe, Romeins privaatrecht (Zwolle 1967) 378-380; Phillipson, n13 267-271. Giltaij, n27 140; Tellegen, n24 53. Giltaij, n27 32; Phillipson, n13 235-244. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 136-152