The Early Roman Republic from Pojer, The Roman World
Patricians and Plebeians:
In the early republic, different groups of Romans struggled for power. One group was the patricians, the
aristocratic landowners who held most of the power. The other important group was the plebeians, the common
farmers, artisans, and merchants who made up the majority of the population.
The patricians inherited their power and social status. They claimed that their ancestry gave them the authority to
make laws for Rome and its people. The plebeians were citizens of Rome with the right to vote. They, however,
were barred by law from holding most important government positions. In time, the Senate allowed them to form
their own assembly and elect representatives called tribunes. Tribunes protected the rights of the plebeians from
unfair acts of patrician officials. Eventually, plebeian pressure on the patricians gained them additional political
power.
Government Under the Republic:
In the first century B.C.E., Roman writers boasted that Rome had achieved a balanced government. What they
meant was that their government had taken the best features of a monarchy (government by a king), an
aristocracy (government by the nobility), and a democracy (government by the people). In place of a king, Rome
had two officials called consuls. Like kings, they commanded the army and directed the government. However,
their power was limited. First a consul’s term was only one year long. The same person could not be elected consul
again for ten years. Second, one consul could always overrule, or veto, the other’s decision.
The senate was the aristocratic branch of Rome’s government. It had both legislative and administrative function
sin the republic. By tradition, there were 300 members, chosen from the upper class of Roman society. Later,
plebeians were allowed in the senate. Because membership was for life, the senate provided continuity. It also
exercised enormous influence over both foreign and domestic policy.
The assemblies were the more democratic side of the government. All citizen-soldiers were members of the
Centuriate Assembly. In the early days of the republic, this patrician-controlled assembly appointed the consuls and
made laws. It had less power than the senate. An assembly organized by the plebeians, the Tribal Assembly,
elected the tribunes and made laws for the common people. Later, it won the right to make laws for the republic.
In times of crisis, the republic could appoint a dictator—a leader who had absolute power to make laws and
command the army. A dictator’s power lasted for only six months. Dictators were chosen by the consuls and then
elected by the senate.
The Roman Army:
All citizens who owned land were required to serve in the army. To secure certain public offices, ten years of
military service were required. Roman soldiers were organized into large military units called legions. The Roman
legion was made up of some 5,000 heavily armed foot soldiers (infantry). A group of soldiers on horseback (cavalry)
supported each legion. Legions were divided into smaller groups of 80 men, each of which was called a century.
The centurian was the Roman officer in charge of a century. In battle, the strength of the legion was its flexibility.
Each century in a legion could act independently. The military organization and fighting skill of the Roman army
were key factors in Rome’s rise to greatness.
Roman Citizenship:
In the time of the Republic, the rights of citizenship could be acquired by birth, by naturalization [by petitioning for
citizenship of foreign-born], or for a slave, by being freed by his master. Children of a legal marriage enjoyed these
rights. Before 445 B.C.E., a legal marriage could be entered into by patricians only, but in that year it was given to
plebeians also. Foreigners could gain the rights of Roman citizenship only through the action of the Popular
Assembly. The formal announcement of a slave’s freedom by his master made him a citizen. The slaves of a Latin
acquired the rights of citizenship when he was adopted by a Roman citizen. [Latins were members of one of the
tribes on the peninsula of Italy].
Under the Roman Empire, the practices of the Republic continued and others were added. Those who received an
honorable discharge after having served 25 years in the auxiliary force, or 26 years in the navy, became Roman
citizens. Latins gained the same privilege when they were enrolled in the Roman legions, and magistrates in the
towns enjoying the Latin rights were honored with Roman citizenship. Freedmen also, after serving a certain
number of years as "sentinels’ gained full civic rights. The conditions on which citizenship was granted to
individuals or particular communities cannot be so exactly stated. Personal favor, or political considerations, or a
desire to reward those who had rendered a noteworthy service to the community were usually the deciding factors
in these cases. The greatest addition to the number of citizens, however, came by way of freeing the slaves.
All Roman citizens, except freedmen, had the full employment of the traditional rights of commerce, marriage, the
right of appeal, the right to due process of law; the right to vote, and the right to hold office. The two principal
obligations resting on Roman citizens were the payment of taxes and service in the army. Roman citizens in Italy
paid no direct taxes. Those in the provinces were subject to two taxes. The exemption of Roman citizens in Italy
was the peculiar privilege going with the Italic Rights. Military service was incumbent on [necessary for] every
freeman but, since a sufficient number of soldiers were usually to be had by voluntary enlistment, it was rarely
necessary to resort to a draft. In fact, after the time of the Flavian emperors, the Roman Legions were never
recruited from Italy. The legions and the Praetorian Guard were made up exclusively of free-born Roman citizens
and of Latins. Freedmen served in the navy.
Roman Law & The Twelve Tables
The Romans were one of the most legally minded people in history. The development of their law was Rome’s
GREATEST and most enduring achievement. Roman law formed during the Republic, was adapted to serve the needs of
the Empire. When the Empire declined, it was carried forward into the legal system of the Middle Ages, where it became
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the model for European and South American law codes until the 20 .
The earliest law was that of religious customs. The Romans called them fas. The pontiffs, or priests, in their capacity as
advisors to the kings, determined the fas. Disputes between individuals were arbitrated [decided] by the king who in the
regal period was also a judge. The king’s judgments were called jus, and they were first codified in the Twelve Tables in
450 BCE.
The Twelve Tables were strict and harsh [draconic]. They were also limited. As the little city-state of Rome by the Tiber
River grew, more detailed laws were needed to regulate a society that was growing more complex and more civilized.
The Roman magistrates, particularly the praetors, were the source of this new law. The praetor’s duty was to decide
cases by interpreting the Twelve Tables and by applying their regulations to the dispute in question. When the praetor
had to judge a case where the law was not clear, or where it was not exactly suitable, he rendered an interpretation
based on his opinion. This new ruling, if it worked, was then adopted by his successors. At the beginning of his term,
each praetor issued an edict stating the principles he would use to guide him in administering the law. In this way, a
body of law developed that could be changed to fit new needs, and yet was based on the customs and traditions
inherited from the ancestors.
The largest body of Roman law was the jus civile or common law. It applied to Romans only. After Roman rule was
extended over the Mediterranean, disputes arose between Roman and foreigners. In Rome, a new official, the praetor
for foreigners, was appointed to listen to disputes between citizens and foreigners. In the provinces, the governors had
the job of settling disputes between Romans and provincials. The opinion of both the praetors for foreigners and the
governors together produced a new set of rules called the law of nations, or jus gentium. In order to make fair rulings,
the praetor for foreigners and governors carefully studied the laws and customs of the conquered territories. Often they
found that foreign laws and customs were applicable to Roman needs, so the praetors gradually incorporated them into
the civil law. In such a way did the excellent maritime regulations of Rhodes become part of the Roman code.
As the law grew more complex over the centuries, schools arose to train lawyers in the technicalities of their profession.
Two such schools had appeared by the reign of Augustus and they were later supplemented by several in the provinces.
Lawyers advised the emperors, who became a new source of law by issuing edicts, while other jurists collected the
written sources of law. In the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, these written sources were collected, edited and, by order
of the emperor, issued into one body of law called the Perpetual Edict. It was binding in every Roman court. Some 400
years late, the Emperor Justinian issued the most famous law code in western antiquity, and it was through this code,
the Corpus Juris Civilis or Body of Civil Law, that Roman law was passed on to us.
Roman law was based on the concept of JUSTICE and the RIGHTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL. It is from the Romans that we
inherited the belief that a man should not be accused anonymously, that he should not be penalized for what he thinks,
that he should be considered innocent until he is proven guilty. Justice, as defined by the Romans, was the steady and
abiding purpose to give every man that which is his own. Remarkably, Rome’s legal system developed in a pagan society
in which slave labor was common, turned out to be adaptable to the Christian society of the Middle Ages, the capitalists
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of the 17 , and to us today.
The Twelve Tables:
An important step in the political development of any people is the organization and publication of their laws in a
way that makes it possible for all persons to know what the law is. About 450 B.C.E., the Romans codified their laws
and inscribed them on twelve bronze tables which were set up in the Roman Forum. These Twelve Tables were the
basis of all later Roman law, and through it, of the legal system of much of the world today.
Below are some of the more important excerpts from the Twelve Tables:
TABLE III:
1. In the case of an admitted debt of awards made by a court, 30 days shall be allowed for payment.
2. In default of payment, after these 30 days of grace have elapsed, the debtor may be arrested and brought before
the magistrate.
3. Unless the debtor discharge the debt, or someone come forward in court to guarantee payment, the creditor may
take the debtor away with him and bind him with thongs and fetters the weight of which shall be fifteen pounds, or
less if the creditor wishes . . .
5. In default of settlement of the claim, the debtor may be kept in bonds for 60 days. In the course of this period he
shall be brought before the judge on three successive market days, and the amount of the debt shall be publicly
declared. After the third market day the debtor may be punished with death or sold beyond the Tiber.
TABLE IV:
1. Monstrous or deformed offspring may be put to death by the father.
2. The father shall, during his who life, have absolute power over his children. He may imprison his son, or scourge him, or
keep him working in the fields in fetters {chains}, or put him to death, even if the son held the highest offices of state . . .
TABLE V:
1. All women shall be under the authority of a guardian.
2. The provisions of the will of a paterfamilias [head of the household] concerning his property and the tutelage [support]
of his family, shall have the force of law.
TABLE VI:
1. The legal effect of every contract, and of every conveyance shall rest upon the declarations made in the transaction.
2. Any one who refuses to stand by such contractual declarations shall pay a penalty of double damages.
TABLE VII: . . .
7. Holders of property along a road shall maintain the road to keep it passable; but if it be passable, anyone may drive his
beast or cart across the land wherever he chooses.
TABLE VIII:
1. Whoever publishes a libel—that is today writes falsely imputed [intending] crime or immorality to anyone—shall be
beaten to death with clubs . . .
3. For breaking a bone of a freeman, the fine shall be 300 asses; of a slave, 150 asses ..
12. A person committing burglary in the night may be lawfully killed.
13. A thief in the daytime may not be killed unless he carried a weapon . . . .
23. Perjurers and false witnesses shall be hurled from the Tarpeian Rock . . . .
26. Seditious [conspiratorial, rebellious] gatherings in the city during the night are forbidden.
Statue of Justice in front of the U. S. Supreme Court Building
Roman Government During the Republic
Senate
330 men
Assembly of Centuries
Declared war and peace
Controlled public funds and
determined foreign policy.
Sometimes acted as a court.
Elected the magistrates or
public officials who oversaw
the daily affairs of government
Assembly of Tribes
35 tribes 4 elected 10 officials
called tribunes. Could veto any
acts they felt were contrary to
the public interest
In times of emergency could
declare a dictator.
The Roman Republic: Checks & Balances
Source: Chart by Paul Halsall
American System -- based on balance of powers/functions
Executive
Legislative
Judicial
President
Congress
Supreme Court
Note: The only legitimate interest is that of the people
Roman System -- based on balance of interests
Monarchical
Aristocratic
2 Consuls + other magistrates
Senate
Democratic
Assembly of Tribes
Tribune
Directed government and
army
Acted as judges
Could issue edicts
Acted as chief priest
Controlled state budget
Could pass laws
Approved/rejected laws
Decided on War
Tribune could veto actions
of magistrate
Acted as final court
Basis of power:
Basis of power:
Basis of power:
Possess imperium, the right
to rule
Need for leadership
Members were richest men
in Rome.
provided most of the
soldiers
Limits on power:
Limits on power:
Limits on power:
One year term
Each could veto
Could not control army
Needed majority as soldiers
Could not suggest laws
Often paid as clients by the
elite