The lex Titia was a Roman law passed on 27 November 43 BC that established the Triumvirate of Octavian, Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus for five years until the end of 38 BC. The triumvirate established by the law was then renewed in 38 BC. Unlike the so-called First Triumvirate, which was a private arrangement among three men, the Second Triumvirate was a legal instrument which created a formal legal framework to empower the three triumvirs with practically absolute power. Passage It was named for Publius Titius, one of the tribunes of the plebs in that year, who introduced the law. It was passed before the comitia tributa. This was somewhat irregular, as magistrates possessing consular and praetorian imperium were normally elected and constituted from the senior popular body, the comitia centuriata. Contents Legal powers The triumvirate which the lex Titia created was largely a "collegial iteration of Sulla's [dictatorship]" and gave the triumvirs enormous legal powers that overrode those of all the other magistrates, both in Rome and the provinces. The commission, formally titled triumviri rei publicae constituendae ("three-man commission for restoring the constitution of the republic"), first vested the commissioners with consular imperium. It also included a number of other special powers. Like the Decemvirate and the dictatorship of Sulla, the triumvirs had power to issue legally-binding edicts. They were also granted powers to change the rolls of the senate (ius senatus legendi) and establish new Roman colonies. These powers amounted "to the enhanced domestication of the [powers] traditionally used for the foundation and settlement of colonies and colonists". The law also provided that the triumvirs would exercise their powers sine provacatione (ie without appeal to the people). This gave them power over the life and limb of all Roman citizens; they used this authority to engage in the largest proscriptions in Roman history where they killed large numbers of rich citizens and political opponents. With such powers, the triumvirs likely were given lictors holding axes in their fasces and were also authorised to retain armed bodyguards. Modelled on the lex Valeria which established Sulla's dictatorship, the law also gave the triumvirs the power to divide up provinces by agreement or sortition, appoint magistrates, and award honours. With the provincial authority, they also were given large predicate powers to make war and peace, recruit and deploy soldiers, along with broad financial powers over taxation. Their military authority