Roman Constitution
Politics of ancient Rome |
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Periods |
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Constitution |
Political institutions |
Assemblies |
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Ordinary magistrates |
Extraordinary magistrates |
Public law |
Senatus consultum ultimum |
Titles and honours |
The Roman Constitution was an uncodified set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent.
Concepts that originated in the Roman constitution live on in both forms of government to this day. Examples include checks and balances, the
Over the years, the Roman constitution continuously evolved. By the late 5th century BC, the
Legislative assemblies
The first Roman assembly, the
Most modern legislative assemblies are bodies consisting of elected representatives. Their members typically propose and debate bills. These modern assemblies use a form of
Unlike many modern assemblies, Roman assemblies were not
After the founding of the empire, the vast majority of the powers of the assemblies were transferred to the Roman Senate. When the Senate elected magistrates, the results of those elections would be read to the assemblies. Occasionally, the emperor would submit laws to the comitia tributa for ratification. The assemblies ratified laws up until the reign of the Emperor Domitian. After this point, the assemblies simply served as vehicles through which citizens would organize.
Senate
The Roman Senate was the most permanent of all of Rome's political institutions. It was probably founded before the first king of Rome ascended the throne. It survived the fall of the Roman Kingdom in the late 5th century BC, the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC, and the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. It was, in contrast to many modern institutions named 'Senate', not a legislative body, but rather, an advisory one. The power of the Senate waxed and waned throughout its history. During the days of the kingdom, it was little more than an advisory council to the king, though in the interregnum between monarchs, it elected the next king.[3] The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown following a coup d'état that was planned in the Senate.
During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak. During these early years, the executive magistrates were quite powerful. The transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was probably more gradual than the legends suggest. Thus, it took a prolonged weakening of these executive magistrates before the Senate was able to assert its authority over those magistrates. By the middle Republic, the Senate reached the apex of its republican power. This occurred because of the convergence of two factors. The plebeians had recently achieved full political enfranchisement. Therefore, they were not as aggressive as they had been during the early Republic in pushing for radical reforms.
The period was marked by prolonged warfare against foreign enemies. The result was that both the popular assemblies and the executive magistrates deferred to the collective wisdom of the Senate. The late Republic saw a decline in the Senate's power. This decline began following the reforms of the radical
The Senate of the very early Roman Empire was as weak as it had been during the late Republic. However, after the transition from republic to empire was complete, the Senate arguably held more power than it had held at any previous point. All constitutional powers, legislative, executive and judicial, had been transferred to the Senate. However, unlike the Senate of the Republic, the Senate of the Empire was dominated by the emperor. It was through the Senate that the emperor exercised his autocratic powers, and by the late Principate, the Senate's power had declined into near-irrelevance. It never again regained the power that it had held in the middle Republic.
Much of the surviving literature from the imperial period was written by senators. To a large degree, this demonstrates the strong cultural influence of the Senate, even during the late empire. The institution survived the fall of the Empire in the West, and even enjoyed a modest revival as imperial power was reduced to a government of Italy only. The senatorial class was severely affected by the Gothic wars.
Executive magistrates
During the years of the Roman Kingdom, the king (rex) was the only executive magistrate with any power. He was assisted by two quaestors, whom he appointed. He would often appoint other assistants for other tasks. When he died, an interrex would preside over the Senate and assemblies until a new king was elected.
Under the
The two highest ranking ordinary magistrates, the
Plebeian tribunes were not officially "magistrates", since they were elected only by the plebeians. Since they were considered to be the embodiment of the people of Rome, their office and their person were considered sacrosanct. It was considered to be a capital offense to harm a tribune, to attempt to harm a tribune or to attempt to obstruct a tribune in any way. All other powers of the tribunate derived from this sacrosanctity, with two rights: intercession between magistrates and advocacy for the people. The tribunes were assisted by plebeian aediles.
In an emergency, a dictator would be selected by the Senate. A newly appointed dictator would usually select a deputy, known as the magister equitum ("Master of the Horse"). Both the dictator and magister equitum were extraordinary magistrates, and they both held imperium. In practice, the dictator functioned as a consul without any constitutional checks on his power. After 202 BC, the dictatorship fell into disuse, and during emergencies, the Senate would pass the senatus consultum ultimum ("ultimate decree of the Senate") which suspended civil government, and declared (something analogous to) martial law. It would declare "videant consules ne res publica detrimenti capiat" ("let the consuls see to it that the state suffer no harm"). In effect, the consuls would be vested with dictatorial powers.
After the establishment of the Principate, the old magistracies (consuls, praetors, censors, aediles, quaestors and tribunes) lost the majority of their actual powers, effectively being reduced to municipal officers in charge of various games and holidays. The vast majority of actual political and administrative work was transferred into the emperor. The founding of the empire was tantamount to a restoration of the old monarchy. The chief executive became the unchallenged power in the state, with overwhelming dominance of the Senate, which, while it as a body gained practically all authorities formerly held by the Assemblies, also became nothing more than a rubber stamp for the emperor.
Legacy
The Roman Constitution was one of the few constitutions to exist before the 18th century. Although the constitutions of Sparta and Carthage were drafted and utilised either on paper or by nature much of their existence is only known through secondary sources, and such constitutions are questioned in the book II of Aristotle's Politics. None of the others are as well known to us today, and none of the others governed such a vast empire for so long. Therefore, the Roman Constitution was used as a template, often the only one, when the first constitutions of the modern era were being drafted. Because of this, many modern constitutions have superstructures which are similar, or even identical (such as a separation of powers and checks and balances) to the Roman Constitution.
See also
- History of the Roman Constitution
- History of the Constitution of the Roman Kingdom
- History of the Constitution of the Roman Republic
- History of the Constitution of the Roman Empire
- History of the Constitution of the Late Roman Empire
- Constitutional reforms of Julius Caesar
- Constitutional reforms of Sulla
Notes
- ^ Byrd, 161
- ^ Abbott, Frank Frost (1963). A History and Descriptions of Roman Political Institutions (3 ed.). New York: Noble Offset Printers Inc. p. 18.
- ^ Abbott 1963, p. 14.
References
- Abbott, Frank Frost (1901). A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions. Elibron Classics (ISBN 0-543-92749-0).
- Byrd, Robert (1995). The Senate of the Roman Republic. U.S. Government Printing Office, Senate Document 103-23.
- Cicero, Marcus Tullius (1841). The Political Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero: Comprising his Treatise on the Commonwealth; and his Treatise on the Laws. Translated from the original, with Dissertations and Notes in Two Volumes. By Francis Barham, Esq. London: Edmund Spettigue. Vol. 1.
- ISBN 0-19-926108-3).
- Polybius (1823). The General History of Polybius: Translated from the Greek. By James Hampton. Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter. Fifth Edition, Vol 2.
- ISBN 0-472-08125-X).
Further reading
- Ihne, Wilhelm. Researches Into the History of the Roman Constitution. William Pickering. 1853.
- Johnston, Harold Whetstone. Orations and Letters of Cicero: With Historical Introduction, An Outline of the Roman Constitution, Notes, Vocabulary and Index. Scott, Foresman and Company. 1891.
- Mommsen, Theodor. Roman Constitutional Law. 1871-1888
- Tighe, Ambrose. The Development of the Roman Constitution. D. Apple & Co. 1886.
- Von Fritz, Kurt. The Theory of the Mixed Constitution in Antiquity. Columbia University Press, New York. 1975.
- The Histories by Polybius
- Cambridge Ancient History, Volumes 9–13.
- A. Cameron, The Later Roman Empire, (Fontana Press, 1993).
- M. Crawford, The Roman Republic, (Fontana Press, 1978).
- E. S. Gruen, "The Last Generation of the Roman Republic" (U California Press, 1974)
- F. Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, (Duckworth, 1977, 1992).
- A. Lintott, "The Constitution of the Roman Republic" (Oxford University Press, 1999)
Primary sources
- Cicero's De Re Publica, Book Two
- Rome at the End of the Punic Wars: An Analysis of the Roman Government; by Polybius