COLLE´GIUM
COLLE´GIUM,
A collegium is an
association of at least three persons (
Dig. 50,
16,
85) for some
permanent and lawful purpose, recognised by the state as possessing the
attributes of a corporation (
Liv. 10.13,
22;
Tac. Ann.
3.31). The persons who for the time being were members of the
collegium were called
collegae or
sodales (
Dig. 47,
22,
4), the Greek equivalents
being
ἑταῖροι and
ἑταιρεία (Gaius, ib.).
Collegia are, in fact, a subdivision of the class of artificial or
“juristic” persons called
universitates
personarum. For the attributes of these in general, reference
should be made to the article on
UNIVERSITAS The chief characteristics of a corporation are the
perpetuity of its existence independently of the lives of the natural
persons who for the time being belong to it, and its recognition, apart from
them, as a subject of rights and duties. Thus, a collegium could possess
common property and a common chest or
arca, and
have its suits conducted for it by a syndicus or actor (
Dig. 3,
4,
1,
1): debts owed to it were not owed to its
members, nor were its own debts theirs (Dig. ib. 7, 1); its property was
liable to be sold for such debts, but if it was insufficient the creditors
could not, as in an ordinary partnership, resort to the separate property of
the individual members. It was governed by its own regulations, which the
members could settle at their pleasure, provided they were not contrary to
law--a rule which Gaius (
Dig. 47,
22,
4) conjecturally derives from the
legislation of Solon; the voice of the majority of members present was final
(
Dig. 50,
17,
160,
1). The collegium still
subsisted, though all the original members were changed (
Dig. 3,
4,
7,
2); and even if their number was reduced to one,
Ulpian was of opinion (notwithstanding
Dig. 50,
16,
85, referred to
above) that, at least for the purposes of litigation, the corporation still
existed. But if all the members died, there was no doubt that its existence
terminated.
We meet with a great variety of such collegia. in Roman history. The augurs
and pontifices. were incorporated (Caesar,
Caes.
Civ. 1.72 ;
Liv. 31.9), as were the
priests of many, if not all, of the different temples (Sueton.
Calig. 16 ;
Dig. 32,
38,
6; Ulp.
Reg. 22, 6). Magistrates bearing the same office usually
formed a collegium ( “magistratus municipales cum unum magistratum
administrent etiam unius hominis vicem sustinent,”
Dig. 50,
1,
25). The collegium of the praetors is spoken of in
Cic. de Off. 3, 20, 8:
that of the tribuni plebis in
Cic. in
Verr. 2.2, 41; Sueton.
Caes. 23;
Liv. 42.32. (According to the definition of a
collegium, the consuls,. being only two in number, were not a collegium,
though each was called
collega in respect of
the other, and their union in office was termed
collegium.) The decuriones of towns, who bore the municipal
offices and upon whom the heaviest municipal burdens fell, also formed a
corporation (see the references to Orelli's
Inscriptiones in Walter,
Geschichte des römischen
Rechts, § 298); and some collegia consisted of single
curiae in a civitas which had separate property (
Dig.
3,
4,
3; ib. 7, 1);
of legions and other military units (
Dig. 28,
3,
6,
7; Cod. 6, 62, 2), and even of associations of government clerks
(
Dig. 37,
1,
3,
4). Other collegia were
formed for the advancement of finance, trade, or other industry (
Liv. 2.27 ;
Tac. Ann.
14.17): e. g. those of the
publicani, who farmed the public revenues, and who are so
frequently referred to in Cicero and other classical writers; of
salinae, aurifodinae, and argentifodinae, associated
for the purpose of mining (
Dig. 3,
4,
1, pr. ; 17, 2, 59, pr.) ;
fabrorum, pistorum, &c., which more nearly
resembled our city companies and guilds; and finally the
collegia sodalicia, associations or clubs for less definite
purposes, sometimes religious, sometimes political, and sometimes anarchical
(
Cic. pro Planc. 15, 36;
Plin. Nat. 36.116;
Dig. 47,
22,
1).
The law or custom as to the formation of these collegia and their acquisition
of the corporate character is not quite clear. There are early instances of
their establishment by special legal authority (
Liv.
5.50,
52); but under the republic it
would seem that a specific authorisation or act of the state for the
creation of a corporation was not necessary. Both from the large number and
variety of the collegia, and from the known anxiety of the Romans to foster
and keep alive in every way the corporate civic spirit, it is probable that
there was a general
[p. 1.471]rule of law or custom to the
effect that, if certain conditions were fulfilled (especially one requiring
that the association must exist for certain specific purposes), any number
of persons exceeding two might form themselves into a collegium:
“neque societas neque collegium neque hujusmodi corpus passim
omnibus haberi conceditur, nam et legibus et senatusconsultis et
principalibus constitutionibus ea res coercetur” (
Dig. 3,
4,
1, pi.). About B.C. 64, owing to the use which was made of them for
secret association and plots against the state and its parties, all
collegia, except a few whose utility was recognised, were dissolved by a
senatusconsult: Cic.
in Pison. 4, 9 (cf.
Asconius, ib.);
pro Sest. 15, 25;
D. C. 38.13. Under the empire, it would seem
(from
Dig. 47,
22,
3,
1) that a special authority
from the senate or emperor was required to give any such association a
corporate character.
Collegia, like universitates in general, were
incertae
personae, and consequently under the older law could neither
be instituted heirs (Ulp.
Reg. 22, 5) nor take legacies under
a will (Ulp. ib. 24, 18): the first, because
aditio of an inheritance. was an
actus
legitimus, which could not be performed by an agent, and it is
only through agents that corporations can act at all. But municipal
corporations were allowed to be instituted heirs to their own liberti by one
senatusconsultum, and another permitted certain of the gods (i. e. the
collegia of their priests) to be instituted by any one (Ulp.
Reg. 22, 5, 6). Under Justinian public, charitable. and
ecclesiastical corporations (including churches) could in all cases be
instituted ; others only by special concession from the emperor (Cod. 6, 24,
8, 12). All collegia were enabled to take legacies by a senatusconsultum
passed under Marcus Aurelius (
Dig. 34,
5,
21). But no restrictions
were imposed on the acquisition of property by corporations in other ways
(
Dig. 41,
2,
1,
22). Independent states
could always receive gifts by will (
Tac. Ann.
4.43); and in the same way the Roman state accepted the inheritance
of Attalus, king of Pergamus, a gift which came to them from a foreigner: it
was considered by the Roman lawyers to be accepted under the jus gentium.
(
Dig. 3,
4,
47,
22 ; Savigny,
System, &c., vol. ii. pp. 235, &c.;
Mommsen,
de Collegiis et Sodaliciis; Puchta,
Institutionen, § § 191, 192.)
[
J.B.M]
