In course of time, the roman land, which was handed down from father to son, and frequently sold, began to be regarded by the occupants as their own property. Also the land tax (TRIBÚTUM), which was levied on all ager privátus, and which was especially hard upon the small plebeian land-owners, could not legally be levied upon the ager occupátus. Thus the patricians who possessed, not owned, this land were naturally regarded as usurpers by the plebeians.

Some of this land was sold or given away as "homesteads," and then it became AGER PRIVÁTUS, or private land. But the most of it was occupied by permission of the magistrates. The occupants were usually rich patricians, who were favored by the patrician magistrates. This land, so occupied, was called AGER OCCUPÁTUS, or possessio; but it really was still the property of the state. The rent paid was a certain per cent (from 10 to 20) of the crops, or so much a head for cattle on pasture land. Although the state had the undoubted right to claim this land at any time, the magistrates allowed the occupants to retain it.

The plebeians were now (about 475 BC) as numerous as the patricians, if not more so during the civil war. Their organization had become perfected, and many of their leaders were persistent in their efforts to better the condition of their followers. Their especial aim was to raise their civil and political rights to an equality with those of the patricians. The struggle finally culminated in the murder of one of the Tribunes, Gnarus Genucius, for attempting to veto some of the acts of the Consuls.

VALERO PUBLILIUS, a Tribune, proposed and carried, notwithstanding violent opposition by the patricians, a measure to the effect that the Tribunes should hereafter be chosen in the Comitia Tribúta, instead of the Comitia Centuriáta. Thus the plebeians gained a very important step. This bill is called the PUBLILIAN LAW (Plebiscítum Publilium).
For the next twenty years the struggle continued unabated. The plebeians demanded a WRITTEN CODE OF LAWS.

We find among all early peoples that the laws are at first the unwritten ones of custom and precedent. The laws at Rome, thus far, had been interpreted according to the wishes and traditions of the patricians only. A change was demanded. This was obtained by the TERENTILIAN ROGATION, a proposal made in 461 by Gaius Terentilius Harsa, a Tribune, to the effect that the laws thereafter be written. The patrician families, led by one Kaeso Quinctius, made bitter opposition. Kaeso himself, son of the famous Cincinnátus, was impeached by the Tribune and fled from the city.
Finally it was arranged that the Comitia Centuriáta should select from the people at large ten men, called the DECEMVIRATE, to hold office for one year, to direct the government and supersede all other magistrates, and especially to draw up a code of laws to be submitted to the people for approval. A commission of three patricians was sent to Athens to examine the greek laws.

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