lex (P)Laetoria

Abstract

The lex Laetoria (or Plaetoria) was a law of the late 3rd or early 2nd century bce that gave special protection to minors. The law gave an action against persons who were alleged to have fraudulently induced a minor to enter into a transaction. The praetor built on this protection by allowing a defence to be raised on the basis of the law. By the late Republic, the praetor had also stated in his Edict that he would grant a remedy known as in integrum restitutio to minors who had been taken advantage of. The practice of minors using curators to reassure potential creditors that they were entering into transactions on sound advice was formalised by the emperor Marcus Aurelius. By the post-classical period, the rules concerning the protection of minors (cura minorum) became closely assimilated to those concerning guardianship (tutela).