Roman’s Oldest Zoning Law

10/11/2022 | Articles & Alerts, General, News & Resources

Montgomery Bar Association bestowed the Judge Cheryl Austin Award on Paula Souvannaphasy at the closing ceremony for the Bar’s summer intern program. After working as an intern Law Clerk at Kaplin Stewart, Paula needed a vacation to rejuvenate to prepare for her future. Paula went to Rome and came across something that looked like the oldest zoning law she has ever seen. It was carved into a stone in 93 BC and says:

“Lucius Sentius, son of Gaius, praetor, by decision of the Senate dealt with the demarcation of spaces with dipping. Useful work! No one, within the boundary stones closest to the city, shall create spaces for burning corpses nor throw dung and carcasses. Carry the dung far away so as not to incur punishment!”

It made her laugh and appreciated that the zoning laws she looked up were not like that!

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Related Practices: Zoning