The Roman Republican Constitution
Introduction
The Romans never had a written constitution, but their form of their government,
especially from the time of the passage of the lex Hortensia (287 B.C.), roughly parallels
the modern American division of executive, legislative, and judical branches, although
the senate doesn't neatly fit any of these categories. What follows is a fairly traditional,
Mommsenian reconstruction, though at this level of detail most of the facts (if not the
significance of, e.g., the patrician/plebian distinction) are not too controversial. One
should be aware, however, of the difficulties surrounding the understanding of forms of
government (as well as most other issues) during the first two centuries of the Republic.
[For a mid-second century B.C. outsider's account of the Roman government see John
Porter's translation of Polybius 6.11-18.]
EXECUTIVE BRANCH -- the elected magistrates
Collegiality: With the exception of the dictatorship, all offices were collegial, that is, held
by at least two men. All members of a college were of equal rank and could veto acts of
other members; higher magistrates could veto acts of lower magistrates. The name of
each office listed below is followed (in parentheses) by the number of office-holders;
note that in several cases the number changes over time (normally increasing).
Annual tenure: With the exception of the dictatorship (6 months) and the censorship (18
months), the term of office was limited to one year. The rules for holding office for
multiple or successive terms were a matter of considerable contention over time.
CONSULS (2): chief civil and military magistrates; invested with imperium (consular
imperium was considered maius ("greater") than that of praetors); they convened the
senate and curiate and centuriate assemblies.
PRAETORS (2-8): had imperium; main functions (1) military commands (governors) (2)
administered civil law at Rome.
AEDILES (2): plebian (plebian only) and curule (plebian or patrician); in charge of
religious festivals, public games, temples, upkeep of city, regulation of marketplaces,
grain supply.
QUAESTORS (2-40): financial officers and administrative assistants (civil and military);
in charge of state treasury at Rome; in field, served as quartermasters and seconds- incommand.
TRIBUNES (2-10): charged with protection of lives and property of plebians; their
persons were inviolable (sacrosanct); had power of veto (Lat. "I forbid") over elections,
laws, decrees of the senate, and the acts of all other magistrates (except dictator);
convened tribal assembly and elicited plebiscites, which after 287 B.C. (lex Hortensia)
had force of law.
CENSORS (2): elected every 5 years to conduct census, enrol new citizens, review roll of
senate; controlled public morals and supervised leasing of public contracts; in protocol
ranked below praetors and above aediles, but in practice, the pinnacle of a senatorial
career (ex-consuls only) -- enormous prestige and influence (auctoritas).
DICTATOR (1): in times of military emergency appointed by consuls; dictator appointed
a Master of the Horse to lead cavalry; tenure limited to 6 months or duration of crisis,
whichever was shorter; not subject to veto.
SENATE
-originally an advisory board composed of the heads of patrician families, came to be an
assembly of former magistrates (ex-consuls, -praetors, and -questors, though the last
appear to have had relatively little influence); the most powerful organ of Republican
government and the only body of state that could develop consistent long-term policy.
-enacted "decrees of the senate" (senatus consulta), which had no formal authority, but
often in practice decided matters.
-took cognizance of virtually all public matters, but most important areas of competence
were in foreign policy (including the conduct of war) and financial administration.
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH -- the three citizen assemblies (cf. Senate)
-all 3 assemblies included the entire electorate, but each had a different internal
organization (and therefore differences in the weight of an individual citizen's vote).
-all 3 assemblies made up of voting units; the single vote of each voting unit determined
by a majority of the voters in that unit; measures passed by a simple majority of the units.
-called comitia. specifically the comitia curiata, comitia centuriata, and comitia plebis
tributa (also the concilium plebis or comitia populi tributa).
CURIATE ASSEMBLY: oldest (early Rome); units of organization: the 30 curiae (sing:
curia) of the early city (10 for each of the early, "Romulan" tribes), based on clan and
family associations; became obsolete as a legislative body but preserved functions of
endowing senior magistrates with imperium and witnessing religious affairs. The head of
each curia ages at least 50 and elected for life; assembly effectively controlled by
patricians, partially through clientela)
CENTURIATE ASSEMBLY: most important; units of organization: 193 centuries, based
on wealth and age; originally military units with membership based on capability to
furnish armed men in groups of 100 (convened outside pomerium); elected censors and
magistrates with imperium (consuls and praetors); proper body for declaring war; passed
some laws (leges, sing. lex); served as highest court of appeal in cases involving capital
punishment. 118 centuries controlled by top 3 of 9 "classes" (minimum property
qualifications for third class in first cent. B.C.-HS 75,000); assembly controlled by landed
aristocracy.
TRIBAL ASSEMBLY: originally for election of tribunes and deliberation of plebeians;
units of organization: the urban and 31 rural tribes, based on place of residence until 241
B.C., thereafter local significance largely lost; elected lower magistrates (tribunes,
aediles, quaestors); since simpler to convene and register 35 tribes than 193 centuries,
more frequently used to pass legislation (plebiscites). Voting in favour of 31 less densely
populated rural tribes; presence in Rome require to cast ballot: assembly controlled by
landed aristocracy (villa owners). Eventually became chief law-making body (criminal
and civil). Civil litigation: chief official-Praetor. The praetor did not try cases but
presided only in preliminary stages; determined nature of suit and issued a "formula"
precisely defining the legal point(s) at issue, then assigned case to be tried before a
delegated judge (iudex) or board of arbiters (3-5 recuperatores for minor cases, one of
the four panels of "The one hundred men" (centumviri) for causes célèbres (inheritances
and financial affairs of the rich). Judge or arbiters heard case, rendered judgment, and
imposed fine.
Criminal prosecution: originally major crimes against the state tried before centuriate
assembly, but by late Republic (after Sulla) most cases prosecuted before one of the
quaestiones perpetuae ("standing jury courts"), each with a specific jurisdiction, e.g.,
treason (maiestas), electoral corruption (ambitus), extortion in the provinces
(repetundae), embezzlement of public funds, murder and poisoning, forgery, violence
(vis), etc. Juries were large (c. 50-75 members), composed of senators and (after the
tribunate of C. Gracchus in 122) equites (knights), and were empanelled from an annual
list of eligible jurors (briefly restricted to the senate again by Sulla).
OTHER
First plebeian consul in 366 B.C., first plebeian dictator 356, first plebeian censor 351,
first plebeian praetor 336.
The many priestly colleges (flamines, augures, pontifex maximus, etc.) were also state
offices, held mostly by patricians.
Imperium is the power of magistrates to command armies and (within limits) to coerce
citizens.
NB: This diagram shows the ladder of political advancement (cursus honorum) during
the late Republic. The straight ladder shows the typical path of advancement
(theoretically open to all freeborn male citizens), beginning with election to quaestor, the
lowest office, and proceeding to consul, the highest (of course very few men made it that
far; it was quite exceptional when a man like Cicero, who did not come from a noble
family, was elected consul). The curule aedile and all higher offices (those higher on the
ladder) were known as “curule magistrates,” who had the right to sit on a special ivory
folding stool (sella curulis) as a symbol of their office; they also had the right to wear the
purple-bordered toga (toga praetexta). Offices marked with an asterisk carried imperium,
the highest political authority, which included the right to command an army, to interpret
and carry out the law, and to pass sentences of death. Magistrates whose title began with
“pro” were in charge of provinces; the Senate normally conferred these after the men had
finished their term of office in Rome. The more important provinces, especially those
requiring large military forces, were assigned to ex-consuls, while the less significant
provinces were governed by ex-praetors.
During the Empire, most of these offices remained in place, though their functions
changed. Most significantly, imperium was now reserved for the emperor, and
advancement in rank proceeded in orderly stages based on conditions laid down by the
emperors rather than through competitive electioneering. Thus the cursus honorum
changed from a ladder of power (with important social status attached) to a ladder of
primarily social rank and status. The cursus honorum was, of course, reserved for men;
during the entire period of Roman history, women were prohibited from holding political
office, though in the Empire their roles as mothers, wives, and daughters of emperors
gave a few women very high social status and even a kind of indirect rank. Even elite
women who were not members of the imperial family sometimes claimed the rank of
their fathers or husbands (e.g., as consulares feminae, “consular women”).
Principles of Structure:
These principles evolved under the impetus of the “conflict of orders,” a struggle between
two social classes, the patricians and plebeians, that occurred primarily during the fifth
and fourth centuries BCE.
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system of checks and balances
o collegiality—at least two in each magistracy
o limited terms of political office (usually one-year term; eligible for
election to higher office in 2-3 years and for re-election to the same office
in 10 years)
in theory was a participatory democracy, but in practice had oligarchic elements
(primarily governed by an elite class) and representative elements (offices
required popular election, and tribunes represented a plebeian constituency)
crucial role played by Senate, which was composed solely of ex-magistrates, was
the only permanent governing body and the only body where debate was possible.
The Senate controlled all finances, foreign affairs, and state administration and
had by far the greatest social prestige.
Magistrates:
2 *consuls—chief magistrates who convened and presided over the Senate and
assemblies, initiated and administered legislation, served as generals in military
campaigns, and represented Rome in foreign affairs. Consuls could appoint and/or serve
as *dictator for up to 6 months in times of emergency when the constitution was
suspended. When their term of office was completed, consuls usually governed a
province as *proconsul.
8 *praetors—served primarily as judges in law courts, but could convene the Senate and
assemblies; they assumed administrative duties of consuls when these were absent from
Rome. When their term of office was completed, praetors might govern a province as
*propraetor.
2 censors—elected every 5 years for terms of 1½ years; revised lists of senators and
equestrians; conducted census of citizens and property assessments for tax purposes;
granted state contracts.
4 aediles—supervised public places, public games, and the grain supply in the city of
Rome; 2 were required to be plebeians, and the other two (who had more status) could
come from either order; the latter 2 were called curule aediles.
10 tribunes—had to be plebeian, because the office was established to protect the
plebeians from arbitrary actions of magistrates. Hence the primary power of tribunes was
negative; they could veto the act of any magistrate and stop any official act of
administration. They were by law sacrosanct, meaning that anyone who attacked them
physically could be immediately and summarily killed; they could convene the Senate
and assemblies and initiate legislation.
20 quaestors—administered finances of state treasury and served in various capacities in
the provinces; when elected quaestor, a man automatically became eligible for
membership in the Senate, though censors had to appoint him to fill a vacancy
Senate:
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composed of 600 magistrates and ex-magistrates (minimum qualification was
election as quaestor) who served for life unless expelled by the censors
normally met in a building called the Curia located in the Roman Forum; click
here for a drawing of the chamber in which the Senate met, or find out more about
the building by visiting the Senate House in VRoma via the web gateway or the
anonymous browser
although technically an advisory body, in effect the Senate was the chief
governmental body because it controlled public finances and foreign affairs,
assigned military commands and provinces, and debated and passed decrees that
would be submitted to the assemblies for final ratification
the Republican government was symbolized by the letters SPQR (senatus
populusque Romanus), meaning “the Senate and the Roman people”
Assemblies:
These were theoretically composed of all males who were full Roman citizens, though
individuals had to attend in person in order to vote. No debate from the floor was
possible, and votes were counted in groups, not individually (the vote of each group was
determined by the vote of the majority of individuals in that group). For more
information about voting, see Notes on Politics.
Assembly of the Curiae (comitia curiata): oldest assembly; by the late Republic had
mostly ceremonial and clan functions.
Assembly of the Centuries (comitia centuriata): elected consuls, praetors, censors;
declared war; served as court of appeal for citizens sentenced to death. The 193 centuries
were determined by wealth, and the richest centuries were also the smallest, so individual
votes in these counted more heavily (when a majority of the 193 votes was reached,
voting was stopped, so some of the largest centuries rarely got to cast votes).
Assembly of the Tribes (comitia tributa): elected all other magistrates; voted yes or no
on laws; the 35 tribes were originally determined geographically and then passed on by
birth. A subgroup of this assembly, the Concilium Plebis, was open only to plebeians.
This plebeian assembly elected the magistrates open only to plebeians (tribunes and
plebeian aediles). After 287 BCE, the measures passed by the Concilium Plebis
(plebiscita) had the force of laws binding on the whole state.