- The Kings replaced
Following the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus in 509 B.C., supreme powers were vested in two magistrates elected annually by the Comitia Centuriata, known first as Praetors. They were endowed with imperium, subject to a veto which each could exercise over the other. Increased powers were given to the Senate.
- The Assemblies
+ The Senate
The Senators were chosen by Consuls, later buy Censors. They were summoned by a magistrate whom they advised on matters of peace and war. They were also required to approve decrees of the Comitia Centuriata. By the end of the third century B.C. the Senate had become the State's policy making executive. A senatusconsultum had the force of law. Sulla (81-79 B.C.) increased the number of Senators to 600. Senators held office for life, unless expelled for serious misconduct. They controlled the Treasury and nominated Dictators (high officials invested with dictatorial powers during an emergency). They were able to remove a citizen from the operation of the law, but Lex Cornelia (67 B.C.) enacted that al least 200 Senators were to be present when such a resolution was passed.
Note: The Roman magistrate was a high state official who possessed extensive political and judicial powers. His title and office should not be confused in any way with those of the modern Justice of the Peace.
+ Comitia Curiata
The Comitia played an important role in the Republic, but lost its right of ratifying in the election of magistrates.
+ Comitia Centuriata (Assembly of the Centuries)
Created by Servius Tullus, the Comitia was originally established for purposes of warfare and included patricians and plebeians. They were divided into five classes on the basis of a property qualification as assessed by the Censors. Each of the five classes provided centuries of armed men, 175 in all (later increased to 373). The wealthiest patricians also provided 18 centuries of cavalry.
The Assembly was convened by a summons of the Consuls and met in the Field of Mars. Voting took place by centuries. The functions of the Assembly came to include deciding on matters of war and the election of magistrates possessing imperium. From c. 508-287 B.C., the Comitia occupied a dominant position in the Roman State.
+ Comitia Tributa
Established in 499 B.C., the Comitia Tributa was an assembly of patricians and plebeians on the basis of tribal organisation. It was convoked by a magistrate possessing imperium. Its enactments had the force of leges (laws). Initially these enactments required the auctoritas patrum (approbation) of the Senate, but following Lex Publilia Philonis (399 B.C.), this requirement became a mere formality. Its functions included the election of Quaestors. It was at the height of its powers in the third century B.C. and had disappeared by the earlier period of the Empire.
+ Concilium Plebis (Meeting of the Plebeians)
This assembly consisted of plebeians selected on a tribal basis. It was convoked by a Tribune, who would present suggestions for legislation, and its members enacted plebiscita which originally bound the plebeians only. Its functions included the election of Tribunes of the plebs and the plebeian Aediles, who assisted them. Lex Hortensia (287 B.C.) enacted that plebiscita were binding on all. The Concilium disappeared during the early part of the Empire.
Note: The process by which assemblies usually legislated commenced when a magistrate stated his proposals for legislation. These were given in the form of a request (rogatio). The proposals were then published by the magistrate in the form of an edict and a final vote was taken by the assembly concerned, usually 24 days later. The voting was oral (at a later date, by secret ballot). The assembly could not amend the magistrate's proposed legislation, but could only accept or reject it.
- The XII Tables and Interpretatio
The publication of written code of law –The XII Tables– was the outcome of continuing hostility between patricians and plebeians. It was a landmark in the development of Roman Law under the Republic.
+ Interpretatio
The interpretation of the XII Tables was undertaken for one hundred years after their publication in 450 B.C. by the College of Pontiffs, presided over by the Pontifex Maximus. The method of interpretatio adopted by the Pontiffs was an explanation of the application of the law of the Tables and, hence, in the creation of new law. For example, under the XII Tables, three separate sales of a filiusfamilias by the father ended the father's power over the son. By an interpretatio of the Pontiffs it was held that one sale only was needed in the case of a grandson.
+ Ius Civile Flavianum
In 304 B.C. Gnaeus Flavius published a treatise on the Civil Law, which revealed the legis actiones and the calendar of court-days and holidays. This publication, followed in 300 B.C. by Lex Ogulnia, which allowed plebeians to enter the College of Pontiffs, ended the dominant position of the College. Sextus Aelius Paetus published, c. 204 B.C., a Commentaria Tripertita, which discussed the law as established by pontifical interpretatio. Publications such as these enabled jurists outside the College to share in the development of the civil law.
- Magistrates and Officers of the Republic
+ Consuls
The Consuls were the highest magistrates of the Republic. They were originally elected by the Comitia Centuriata. During their annual term of office they acted as Heads of State, each having imperium, and each being subject to the other's veto. They had power to convene the Senate and to initiate legislation in the Comitia Centuriata. The Licinio-Sextian Laws (introduced in 367 B.C. by Licinius and Sextius) enacted that one Consul had to be a plebeian. Their very extensive powers were curtailed by the growth of the Praetor's power, by the publication of the law, and by the creation of new magistracies, e.g. the Censors.
+ Praetors
The Leges Liciniae established the office of Praetor Urbanus, responsible for the administration of justice. The work of the Praetors was of outstanding importance in the development of Roman Law.
+ Censors
Two Censors (censere = to assess) were first selected by the Comitia Centuriata in 443 B.C. in order to make assessments of property for taxation purposes. Each person enrolled on the census was registered according to his position in his tribe and centuria. About one hundred years later the Censors were given important powers in deciding the Senate's composition. They acted as magistri morum (mos = conduct, behaviour), in which capacity they could exclude from public office those whose behaviour had gravely offended against public morality. They had the duty of letting out the taxes to farmers of the public revenue (publicani) and of investing surplus revenue on behalf of the State.
+ Tribunes
In 494 B.C. a meeting of plebeian legionaries decided to appoint two executive officers (Tribunes), whose persons were to be inviolable, so as to balance the power of the patrician Consuls. In the second century B.C. they obtained the right to sit in the Senate.
+ Quaestors
Two Quaestors were elected annually by the Comitia Tributa. Their main duties involved finance and, until Augustus, they had charge of the contents of the Treasury. They possessed criminal jurisdiction in the case of political offences.
+ Curule Aediles
Two Curule Aediles were first appointed by the Comitia Tributa in 365 B.C. The first were patricians, but, at a later date, plebeians were appointed to the office. Their functions included: cura urbis (care of the city, including supervision of police and buildings); cura annonae (care of provisions, including supervision of the markets); cura ludorum (organisation of public games). They had some judicial powers, including the infliction of fines in cases of grain hoarding and the use of faulty weights. The Roman Law of Sale developed as a result of their exercise of judicial powers. The Curule Aediles issued an Edict on entering office which defined (in a similar fashion to the Praetor's Edict) the procedure which would govern their administration.
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- Roman Law: Historical background
+ Periods in the history of Roman Law
+ Roman political history (I): The period of the Kings
+ Roman political history (III): Praetorian development of the Law
+ Roman political history (IV): The period of the Empire
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Source:
Roman Law, L. B. Curzon, pages 6 - 10.
