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Peregrines (from Lat. peregrinus-foreigner,outlander) - free residents of the Roman Empire who do not have Roman citizenship. As a rule,representatives of the tribes conquered by Rome,now Roman provinces,living on the outskirts of the country. The Peregrines were not allowed to use the ius civile (civil law of Rome),but they could establish legal relations with Roman citizens,that is,they could use the ius gentium. The legal status of the Peregrines was a cross between ordinary foreigners and citizens of the Empire. Within the provinces,they continued to enjoy their own national rule of law,which may have extended to the general culture of behavior and dress. The courts dealing with disputes between Roman citizens and Peregrines,in their activities,did not proceed from the norms of law,but from considerations of justice and common sense (Latin Ex aequo et bono).
A peregrinus (Latin peregrinus) was a free inhabitant of the Roman state or a dependent territory who did not possess full Roman citizenship. This status mattered for taxation, service, marriage, inheritance, and access to Roman legal mechanisms. Peregrini could be wealthy and influential, but their rights differed from those of citizens.
The topic of peregrini shows that Roman society was not divided only into citizens and slaves. Between them stood many groups of free people with different sets of rights. After the Constitutio Antoniniana of AD 212 the boundaries of status changed, but for the early and high Empire the concept of peregrinus remains central for understanding the provinces and the army.
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