DEFENSOR CIVITATIS. – A civic magistrate for the defence of the lower classes against abuses and the excessive power of local magistrates.
It was created at the beginning of the 4th century, when the structure of the Empire was already showing signs of weakening. The office of the *defensor civitatis* received its own regulation, at least for Illyricum, in 368 by Valentinian I.
The *defensor civitatis* had a precedent in the *patronus civitatis* or *coloniae*, but it was neither a continuation nor a simple substitution of II. The *patronus* acted as an intermediary between the colony and the Senate or central authorities, whereas the *defensor civitatis* was an institution of social assistance, a state advocacy to defend the rights of the poor and oppressed before local authorities. The *defensor civitatis* gained much favour. Not only cities, but every collectivity capable of rights soon had its own *defensor civitatis*: associations, *gentes*, the Senate, the fisc. The office of the *defensor civitatis* was initially held for life (*defensor perpetuus*), then reduced to five years, and by Justinian (527–565) to two.
The *defensor civitatis* was to have paternal solicitude for those under his protection: *imprimis parentis vicem plebi exhibens*, says Justinian (Cod. Inst., I, 55, 8). Interesting data are provided by papyri, in which we find one person appealing to the *defensor civitatis* to be freed from imprisonment, where he is held for debt, and another asking to be freed from torture (cf. P. De Francisci, *Storia del diritto romano*, III, I, Milan 1943, p. 153).
To facilitate the performance of his functions, the *defensor civitatis* had free access to the *praeses*, the *praefectus praetorio*, the *magister equitum*, and even to the emperor, to whom he could directly denounce abuses. Originally, the *defensor civitatis* was appointed by the *praefectus praetorio* and chosen from among persons of the *ordo senatorius* who had held important offices. However, it was not easy to find a sufficient number of capable, worthy, and disinterested persons, so in 387 Theodosius I resorted to the system of election. The *defensor civitatis* was proposed by the city concerned through a decision of its own senate (Cod. Theod. 1, 29, 6). Honorius in 409 entrusted the election to the bishop together with the three classes of the *primores civitatis*. The election was then approved by the *praefectus praetorio*, by the emperor according to the provisions of Majorian, and under the Ostrogoths, by the kings.
Despite all these reorganizations, limitations, and precautions, the *defensor civitatis* achieved its purpose only in rare cases. Imperial officials understood that it was a weapon against them and gradually nullified its power, turning it into an instrument of their own interests and increasingly restricting the *defensor civitatis*’s action to the judicial field for minor causes. Justinian made a final attempt to save the institution by increasing its power and prestige, but it does not seem that the situation improved. A sign of this can be seen in the fact that for a long time the poor and oppressed no longer had confidence in the *defensor civitatis* and turned to the protection of the Church. A canon of the Council of Carthage of 401 denounces «the affliction of the poor, whose burden the Church is more heavily and continuously weighed down by» (*Conc. Carth. V, can. 9*; Mansi, *Conc. ampl. coll.*, III, 778), for which the same Council establishes that the emperors be asked to appoint a *defensor pauperum* for the protection of the rights of the poor, thus with attributions similar to those of the *defensor civitatis*. This demonstrates that by the beginning of the 5th century the *defensor civitatis* had already lost much of its importance and also reveals the Church’s tendency to supplement the action of the *defensor civitatis*, exercised by laymen, with the pastoral action of the bishops. The bodies created within the ecclesiastical sphere gradually came to replace those of the imperial administration as these latter declined.