Also known as: collegia · college · guild · corporation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An association of at least three people in Roman law having the right to assemble and enact rules concerning membership, organization, and the rights and duties of members.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Three Roman artisans form a collegium to regulate their trade. The collegium enacts a rule requiring members to give notice before withdrawing. When one member ignores the rule, the collegium's officers enforce the penalty the group adopted.
Five Roman merchants in Ostia create a collegium. They adopt bylaws fixing meeting times and dues. The collegium later expels a member who refuses to pay the dues required by its rules.
A group of at least three freedmen in Rome organizes a collegium for burial purposes. The collegium passes a rule limiting new members to those approved by majority vote. An applicant denied membership challenges the decision under the group's own regulations.
The officers of a collegium sell a common fund asset to one of their own relatives. The remaining members, having received no disclosure, vote to rescind the sale under the collegium's internal rules.
A collegium elects a treasurer who later lends collegium funds to his brother. Members who were not told of the relationship invoke the collegium's conflict rule to demand repayment.
A collegium of scribes adopts a membership roster and contribution schedule. When a new member is proposed, the collegium applies its own rule requiring unanimous consent before adding the candidate.
A collegium requires at least three people to qualify as an association with the right to assemble and enact rules.
The definition requires only that the group possess the right to assemble and enact rules. It does not list specific purposes.
The definition supplies no distinction between lawful and unlawful groups. It states only the minimum size and rule-making power.
…defined mandamus as a command issuing in the king's name from the Court of King's Bench directed to any person, corporation or inferior court requiring them to do some particular thing appertaining to their office and duty and which the court has previously determined or at least supposes to be consonant to…