Lex Pompeia de ambitu

The lex Pompeia de ambitu was a law of the Roman Republic, passed in 52 BCE, aimed at prosecuting bribery and corruption in elections. It was proposed and enacted by Pompey the Great, who used it to prosecute and exile his political enemies.

The law originated in the political crisis of the 50s BCE, in which electoral violence and corruption led to political paralysis and deepened Rome's growing political crisis. The precise definition of ambitus — the crime that could be prosecuted under the law — was ambiguous even to the Romans, but it centred around the improper use of wealth or bribery for political advantage. The lex Pompeia followed a series of similar laws, including the lex Baebia de ambitu of 181 BCE, the lex Acilia Calpurnia of 67 BCE and the lex Tullia of 63 BCE, which imposed increasingly severe penalties for ambitus, eventually punishing the crime with exile. Pompey's law allowed those prosecuted under it to escape punishment by naming and prosecuting others who had also breached its terms.

Pompey used accusations of ambitus under the law to persecute his political enemies, notably Gaius Memmius, a former praetor who was tried and exiled under the law in 52 BCE. The law was also perceived as a means of attacking Julius Caesar, Pompey's political rival, as it theoretically opened him up to prosecution for his actions during his consulship of 59 BCE.