P. Falcidius
tribune of the plebs in B. C. 40, was the author of the Lex Falcidia de Legatis, which remained in force in the sixth century A. D., since it was incorporated by Justinian in the Institutes. It is remarkable that Dio Cassius (48.33). mistakes its import. He says that the heres, if unwilling to take the hereditas, was allowed by the Falcidian law to refuse it on taking a fourth part only. But the Lex Falcidia enacted that at least a fourth of the estate or property of the testator should be secured to the heres scriptus. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Legatum.) The Falcidius mentioned by Cicero in his speech for the Manilian law (19), had the praenomen Caius. He had been tribune of the people and legatus, but in what year is unknown. (Schol. Gronov. pro Leg. Man. 19. ed. Orelli).
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.