Edict of Caracalla. Check it out.
appr. 210 AD
nothing is new
extension of civitas (citizenship)
(ancient Rome)
.. Roman citizenship declined in the empire, however, because military service was no longer compulsory, and suffrage was invalidated by the abolition of republican government., In ad 212 the Edict of Caracalla granted citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire.
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Interesting , goes to show that history does repeat itself, and that we're looking more like Ancient Rome every day