The concept of treason can be dated back to the early Roman republic, but was defined by nebulous criteria, it would be the common laws of this time period which would most directly influence those customary in the court of King Arthur, a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against which invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD?
King Arthur King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the "Annales Cambriae", the "Historia Brittonum", and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as "Y Gododdin".
Tribal Assembly The Tribal Assembly or Assembly of the People ("comitia populi tributa") of the Roman Republic was an assembly consisting of all Roman citizens convened by the tribes (tributim). During the Roman Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of 35 tribes: four urban tribes of the citizens in the city of Rome, and 31 rural tribes of citizens outside the city. The tribes gathered in the Tribal Assembly to vote on legislative, judicial and electoral matters. Each tribe voted separately and one after the other. In each tribe, decisions were made by majority vote and its decision counted as one vote regardless of how many electors each tribe held. Once a majority of tribes voted in the same way on a given measure, the voting ended and the matter was decided. The president of the Tribal Assembly was usually either a "consul" or a "praetor". The Tribal Assembly elected the "quaestors", and the "curule aediles". it conducted trials for non-capital punishment cases. However, the Roman Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla reassigned this to special jury courts ("quaestiones perpetuae") in 82 BC. There are disagreements among modern historians regarding the number and nature of the tribal assembly (see below).