The Romans - Government of Rome | HistoryOnTheNet The Romans The Romans - Government of Rome Last Updated: 08/11/2014 - 14:27 From the time of Julius Caesar, 48BC, Rome and the Roman Empire was ruled by an Emperor. The Emperor was wise if he listened to the advice of the Senate but some chose to be dictators and do what they wanted rather than follow the Senate's advice. Before Julius Caesar took control in 48BC, the Roman Empire was not ruled by the Emperor but by two consuls who were elected by the citizens of Rome. Rome was then known as a Republic. Government in the time of the Republic People were divided into different classes. There were Patricians, Plebeians and Slaves. Patricians were wealthy citizens of Rome. They usually lived in grand houses and had slaves to do their work for them. Because they were citizens of Rome they were allowed to go to the Assembly to vote. Plebeians were not wealthy but they were citizens of Rome. They were usually craftsmen or tradesmen and they worked for a living. Because they were citizens of Rome they were allowed to go to the Assembly to vote.

Slaves had no money, no rights, no freedom and were not citizens of Rome. Because they were not citizens of Rome they were not allowed to go to the Assembly to vote. Citizens of Rome - Patricians and Plebeians met in the Assembly and voted for consuls, tribunes and magistrates. Women and slaves were not allowed in the Assembly and could not vote. Consuls The citizens of Rome voted for two consuls. They were elected to serve for one year. It was the Consuls job to govern Rome. They had to both agree on all decisions. After they had served their year they were replaced. They were not allowed to be consuls again for ten years. Magistrates The citizens of Rome voted for a number of magistrates. It was the magistrates job to keep law and order and also to manage Rome's financial affairs. When magistrates retired they became senators and attended the Senate. Tribunes The citizens of Rome voted for tribunes. It was the tribunes job to make sure that the people were treated fairly. The Senate Senators went to the Senate to discuss important government issues. Senators were retired magistrates and knew a lot about the government of Rome.

It was the job of the senate to give advice to the two consuls. When Rome had an Emperor the senate still gave advice on governing Rome and the Empire. Quiz: The Roman Republic [ushistory.org] 6a. The Roman Republic The Romans established a form of government — a republic — that was copied by countries for centuries In fact, the government of the United States is based partly on Rome's model. The ladder to political power in the Roman Senate was different for the wealthy patricians than for the lower-class plebeians. It all began when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan conquerors in 509 B.C.E. Centered north of Rome, the Etruscans had ruled over the Romans for hundreds of years. Once free, the Romans established a republic, a government in which citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf. A republic is quite different from a democracy, in which every citizen is expected to play an active role in governing the state. Citizen The Roman concept of the citizen evolved during the Roman Republic and changed significantly during the later Roman Empire.

After the Romans freed themselves from the Etruscans, they established a republic, and all males over 15 who were descended from the original tribes of Rome became citizens. Citizens of Rome distinguished themselves from slaves and other noncitizens by wearing a toga; most wore a white toga. During the Empire, each emperor wore a purple toga to distinguish himself as the princeps, or "first citizen." Citizenship varied greatly. The full citizen could vote, marry freeborn persons, and practice commerce. Some citizens were not allowed to vote or hold public office, but maintained the other rights. A third type of citizen could vote and practive commerce, but could not hold office or marry freeborn women. In the late Republic, male slaves who were granted their freedom could become full citizens. Around 90 B.C.E., non-Roman allies of the Republic gained the rights of citizenship, and by 212 C.E, under the Edict of Caracalla, all free people of the Roman Empire could become citizens. Frescoes line the walls of long-forgotten Etruscan tombs. This painting, found in the Tomb of Augurs in Tarquinia, is titled Hell's Door.

The aristocracy (wealthy class) dominated the early Roman Republic. In Roman society, the aristocrats were known as patricians. The highest positions in the government were held by two consuls, or leaders, who ruled the Roman Republic. A senate composed of patricians elected these consuls. At this time, lower-class citizens, or plebeians, had virtually no say in the government. Both men and women were citizens in the Roman Republic, but only men could vote. Tradition dictated that patricians and plebeians should be strictly separated; marriage between the two classes was even prohibited. Over time, the plebeians elected their own representatives, called tribunes, who gained the power to veto measures passed by the senate. Gradually, the plebeians obtained even more power and eventually could hold the position of consul. Despite these changes, though, the patricians were still able to use their wealth to buy control and influence over elected leaders. Hannibal marched his elephants south into the Italian peninsula during the Second Punic War. The Roman Senate The history of the Roman Senate goes as far back as the history of Rome itself. It was first created as a 100-member advisory group for the Roman kings.

Later kings expanded the group to 300 members. When the kings were expelled from Rome and the Republic was formed, the Senate became the most powerful governing body. Instead of advising the head of state, it elected the chief executives, called consuls. Senators were, for centuries, strictly from the patrician class. They practiced the skills of rhetoric and oratory to persuade other members of the ruling body. The Senate convened and passed laws in the curia, a large building on the grounds of the Roman Forum. Much later, Julius Caesar built a larger curia for an expanded Senate. By the 3rd century B.C.E., Rome had conquered vast territories, and the powerful senators sent armies, negotiated terms of treaties, and had total control over the financial matters of the Republic. Senatorial control was eventually challenged by Dictator Sulla around 82 B.C.E. Sulla had hundreds of senators murdered, increased the Senate's membership to 600, and installed many nonpatricians as senators. Julius Caesar raised the number to 900 (it was reduced after his assassination).

After the creation of the Roman Empire in 27 B.C.E., the Senate became weakened under strong emperors who often forcefully coerced this ruling body. Although it survived until the fall of Rome, the Roman Senate had become merely a ceremonial body of wealthy, intelligent men with no power to rule. Occasionally, an emergency situation (such as a war) arose that required the decisive leadership of one individual. Under these circumstances, the Senate and the consuls could appoint a temporary dictator to rule for a limited time until the crisis was resolved. The position of dictator was very undemocratic in nature. Indeed, a dictator had all the power, made decisions without any approval, and had full control over the military. The best example of an ideal dictator was a Roman citizen named Cincinnatus. During a severe military emergency, the Roman Senate called Cincinnatus from his farm to serve as dictator and to lead the Roman army. When Cincinnatus stepped down from the dictatorship and returned to his farm only 15 days after he successfully defeated Rome's enemies, the republican leaders resumed control over Rome. The Twelve Tables One of the innovations of the Roman Republic was the notion of equality under the law.

In 449 B.C.E., government leaders carved some of Rome's most important laws into 12 great tablets. The Twelve Tables, as they came to be known, were the first Roman laws put in writing. Although the laws were rather harsh by today's standards, they did guarantee every citizen equal treatment under the law. Laws from the Twelve Tables Females shall remain in guardianship even when they have attained their majority (except Vestal Virgins). A spendthrift is forbidden to exercise administration over his own goods. It is permitted to gather fruit falling down on another man's farm. If any person has sung or composed against another person a song such as was causing slander or insult to another, he shall be clubbed to death. Quickly kill ... a dreadfully deformed child. With respect to the law and citizenship, the Romans took a unique approach to the lands that they conquered. Rather than rule those people as conquered subjects, the Romans invited them to become citizens. These people then became a part of Rome, rather than enemies fighting against it. Naturally, these new citizens received the same legal rights as everyone else. The Punic Wars The early Roman Republic often found itself in a state of constant warfare with its surrounding neighbors.

In one instance, when the Romans were fighting the Carthaginians, Rome was nearly conquered. The people of Carthage (a city in what is today Tunisia in north Africa) were a successful trading civilization whose interests began to conflict with those of the Romans. The two sides fought three bloody wars, known as the Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.E.), over the control of trade in the western Mediterranean Sea. In the second war, Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, successfully invaded Italy by leading an army — complete with elephants — across the Alps. He handed the Roman army a crushing defeat but was unable to sack the city of Rome itself. After occupying and ravaging Italy for more than a decade, Hannibal was finally defeated by the Roman general Scipio at the Battle of Zama in 202 B.C.E. Why "Punic"?

How did the word "Punic" become an adjective meaning "relating to the people of Carthage"?"Punic" is derived from the Latin word Poenicus, meaning "an inhabitant of Carthage." Carthage was founded by Phoenicians, and Poenicus is the Latin word for "Phoenician." By the Third Punic War, Rome was ready to end the Carthaginian threat for good. After a successful several-year siege of Carthage, the Romans burned the city to the ground. Legend has it that the Romans then poured salt into the soil so that nothing would ever grow there again. Carthage was finally defeated, and the Roman Republic was safe. Law in Ancient Rome, The Twelve Tables - Crystalinks Law in Ancient Rome Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD - when the Roman�Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence - from the Twelve Tables (c. 439 BC) to the Corpus Juris Civilis (AD 529) ordered by Emperor Justinian I.

This Roman law, the Justinian Code, was effective in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire (331-1453), and also served as a basis for legal practice in continental Europe, as well as in Ethiopia, and most former colonies of European nations, including Latin America. Historically, "Roman law" also denotes the legal system applied in most of Western Europe, until the end of the 18th century. In Germany, Roman law practice remained longer, having been the Holy Roman Empire (963-1806); thus the great influence upon the civil law systems in Europe. Moreover, the English and North American Common law also were influenced by Roman law, notably in the Latinate legal glossary - stare decisis, culpa in contrahendo, pacta sunt servanda. In contrast, Eastern Europe, though influenced by the Byzantine Empire, was not much influenced by the jurisprudence of the Corpus Juris Civilis; however, they did accept the Roman influence of the Farmer's Law.

Roman Legal Development Before the Twelve Tables (754-449 BC), private law comprised the Roman civil law (ius civile Quiritium) that applied only to Roman citizens, and was bonded to religion; undeveloped, with attributes of strict formalism, symbolism, and conservatism, e.g. the ritual practice of mancipatio (a form of sale). The jurist Sextus Pomponius said, "At the beginning of our city, the people began their first activities without any fixed law, and without any fixed rights: all things were ruled despotically, by kings". It is believed that Roman Law is rooted in the Etruscan religion, emphasizing ritual. The Twelve Tables Supplement II Table I. 1. If anyone summons a man before the magistrate, he must go. If the man summoned does not go, let the one summoning him call the bystanders to witness and then take him by force. 2. If he shirks or runs away, let the summoner lay hands on him. 3. If illness or old age is the hindrance, let the summoner provide a team. He need not provide a covered carriage with a pallet unless he chooses. 4.

Let the protector of a landholder be a landholder; for one of the proletariat, let anyone that cares, be protector. 6-9. When the litigants settle their case by compromise, let the magistrate announce it. If they do not compromise, let them state each his own side of the case, in the comitium of the forum before noon. Afterwards let them talk it out together, while both are present. After noon, in case either party has failed to appear, let the magistrate pronounce judgment in favor of the one who is present. If both are present the trial may last until sunset but no later. Table II. 2. He whose witness has failed to appear may summon him by loud calls before his house every third day. Table III. 1. One who has confessed a debt, or against whom judgment has been pronounced, shall have thirty days to pay it in. After that forcible seizure of his person is allowed. The creditor shall bring him before the magistrate. Unless he pays the amount of the judgment or some one in the presence of the magistrate interferes in his behalf as protector the creditor so shall take him home and fasten him in stocks or fetters.

He shall fasten him with not less than fifteen pounds of weight or, if he choose, with more. If the prisoner choose, he may furnish his own food. If he does not, the creditor must give him a pound of meal daily; if he choose he may give him more. 2. On the third market day let them divide his body among them. If they cut more or less than each one's share it shall be no crime. 3. Against a foreigner the right in property shall be valid forever. Table IV. 1. A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly killed. 2. If a father sell his son three times, the son shall be free from his father. 3. As a man has provided in his will in regard to his money and the care of his property, so let it be binding. If he has no heir and dies intestate, let the nearest agnate have the inheritance. If there is no agnate, let the members of his gens have the inheritance. 4. If one is mad but has no guardian, the power over him and his money shall belong to his agnates and the members of his gens. 5.

A child born after ten months since the father's death will not be admitted into a legal inheritance. Table V. 1. Females should remain in guardianship even when they have attained their majority. Table VI. 1. When one makes a bond and a conveyance of property, as he has made formal declaration so let it be binding. 3. A beam that is built into a house or a vineyard trellis one may not take from its place. 5. Usucapio of movable things requires one year's possession for its completion; but usucapio of an estate and buildings two years. 6. Any woman who does not wish to be subjected in this manner to the hand of her husband should be absent three nights in succession every year, and so interrupt the usucapio of each year. Table VII. 1. Let them keep the road in order. If they have not paved it, a man may drive his team where he likes. 9. Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be bend crooked by the wind and lean over your farm, you may take legal action for removal of that tree. 10. A man might gather up fruit that was falling down onto another man's farm. Table VIII. 2.

If one has maimed a limb and does not compromise with the injured person, let there be retaliation. If one has broken a bone of a freeman with his hand or with a cudgel, let him pay a penalty of three hundred coins If he has broken the bone of a slave, let him have one hundred and fifty coins. If one is guilty of insult, the penalty shall be twenty-five coins. 3. If one is slain while committing theft by night, he is rightly slain. 4. If a patron shall have devised any deceit against his client, let him be accursed. 5. If one shall permit himself to be summoned as a witness, or has been a weigher, if he does not give his testimony, let him be noted as dishonest and incapable of acting again as witness. 10.

Any person who destroys by burning any building or heap of corn deposited alongside a house shall be bound, scourged, and put to death by burning at the stake provided that he has committed the said misdeed with malice aforethought; but if he shall have committed it by accident, that is, by negligence, it is ordained that he repair the damage or, if he be too poor to be competent for such punishment, he shall receive a lighter punishment. 12. If the theft has been done by night, if the owner kills the thief, the thief shall be held to be lawfully killed. 13. It is unlawful for a thief to be killed by day....unless he defends himself with a weapon; even though he has come with a weapon, unless he shall use the weapon and fight back, you shall not kill him. And even if he resists, first call out so that someone may hear and come up. 23. A person who had been found guilty of giving false witness shall be hurled down from the Tarpeian Rock. 26. No person shall hold meetings by night in the city. Table IX. 4.

The penalty shall be capital for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision. 5. Treason: he who shall have roused up a public enemy or handed over a citizen to a public enemy must suffer capital punishment. 6. Putting to death of any man, whosoever he might be unconvicted is forbidden. Table X. 1. None is to bury or burn a corpse in the city. 3. The women shall not tear their faces nor wail on account of the funeral. 5. If one obtains a crown himself, or if his chattel does so because of his honor and valor, if it is placed on his head, or the head of his parents, it shall be no crime. Table XI. 1. Marriages should not take place between plebeians and patricians. Table XII. 2. If a slave shall have committed theft or done damage with his master"s knowledge, the action for damages is in the slave's name. 5. Whatever the people had last ordained should be held as binding by law.

The Twelve Tables is the earliest attempt by the Romans to create a Code of Law and is also the earliest (surviving) piece of literature coming from the Romans. In the midst of a perennial struggle for legal and social protection and civil rights between the privileged class (patricians) and the common people (plebeians) a commission of ten men (Decemviri) was appointed (ca. 455 B.C.) to draw up a code of law which would be binding on both parties and which the magistrates (the 2 consuls) would have to enforce impartially. The commission produced enough statutes (most of them were already 'customary law' anyway) to fill Ten Tablets, but this attempt seems not to have been entirely satisfactory especially to the plebeians. A second commission of ten was therefore appointed (450 B.C.) and two additional tablets were drawn up. The originals, said to have been inscribed on bronze, were probably destroyed when the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in the invasion of 387 B.C.

The Twelve Tables give the student of Roman culture a chance to look into the workings of a society which is still quite agrarian in outlook and operations, and in which the main bonds which hold the society together and allow it to operate are: the clan (genos, gens), patronage (patron/client), and the inherent (and inherited) right of the patricians to leadership (in war, religion, law, and government). The Law of the Twelve Tablets (Latin: Leges Duodecim Tabularum or, informally, Duodecim Tabulae) was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centerpiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mos maiorum (custom of the ancestors). The Twelve Tables must be distinguished from the unrelated - and much older - "twelve shields" of King Numa Pompilius. The Twelve Tables came about as a result of the long social struggle between patricians and plebeians. After the expulsion of the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Suberbus, the Republic was governed by a hierarchy of magistrates.

Initially only patricians were eligible to become magistrates and this, among other plebeian complaints was a source of discontent for plebeians. In the context of this unequal status, plebeians would take action to secure concessions for themselves using the threat of secession. They would threaten to leave the city with the consequence that it would grind to a halt, as the plebeians were Rome's labour force. One of the most important concessions won in this class struggle was the establishment of the Twelve Tables, establishing basic procedural rights for all Roman citizens as against one another. Patricians long opposed this request, but around 451 BC, the first decemviri (decemvirate - board of "Ten Men") was appointed to draw up the first ten tables. They allegedly sent an embassy to Greece to study the legislative system of Athens, known as the Solonian Constitution, but also to find out about the legislation of other Greek cities. Modern scholars believe the Roman assembly most likely visited the Greek cities of Southern Italy, and did not travel all the way to Greece. In 450 B.C., the second decemviri started work on the last two tables.

The first decemvirate completed the first ten codes in 450 BC. Here is how Livy describes their creation, "...every citizen should quietly consider each point, then talk it over with his friends, and, finally, bring forward for public discussion any additions or subtractions which seemed desirable." (cf. Liv. III 34) In 449 BC, the second decemvirate completed the last two codes, and after a secessio plebis to force the Senate to consider them, the Law of the Twelve Tables was formally promulgated. The Twelve Tables were drawn up on twelve ivory tablets (Livy says bronze) which were posted in the Roman Forum so all Romans could read and know them. It was not a comprehensive statement of all law, but a sequence of definitions of various private rights and procedures. They generally took for granted such things as the institutions of the family and various rituals for formal transactions. For such an important document, it is somewhat surprising that the original text has been lost. The original tablets were destroyed when the Gauls under Brennus burnt Rome in 390 BC[citation needed]. There was no other official promulgation of them to survive, only unofficial editions.

What we have of them today are brief excerpts and quotations from these laws in other authors. They are written in a strange, archaic, laconic, and somewhat childish and sing-song version of Latin (described as Saturnian verse)[citation needed]. As such, though we cannot tell whether the quoted fragments accurately preserve the original form, what we have gives us some insight into the grammar of early Latin. The belief is that the text was written as such so plebians could more easily memorize the laws, as literacy was not commonplace during early Rome[citation needed]. Like most other early codes of law, they were largely procedural, combining strict and rigorous penalties with equally strict and rigorous procedural forms. In most of the surviving quotations from these texts, the original table that held them is not given. Scholars have guessed at where surviving fragments belong by comparing them with the few known attributions and records, many of which do not include the original lines, but paraphrases. It cannot be known with any certainty from what survives that the originals ever were organized this way, or even if they ever were organized by subject at all.

Early Law and Jurisprudence Many laws include Lex Canuleia (445 BC; which allowed the marriage - ius connubii - between patricians and plebeians), Leges Licinae Sextiae (367 BC; which made restrictions on possession of public lands - ager publicus - and also made sure that one of consuls is plebeian), Lex Ogulnia (300 BC; plebeians received access to priest posts), and Lex Hortensia (287 BC; verdicts of plebeian assemblies - plebiscita - now bind all people). Another important statute from the Republican era is the Lex Aquilia of 286 BC, which may be regarded as the root of modern tort law. However, Rome's most important contribution to European legal culture was not the enactment of well-drafted statutes, but the emergence of a class of professional jurists (prudentes, sing. prudens, or jurisprudentes) and of a legal science. This was achieved in a gradual process of applying the scientific methods of Greek philosophy to the subject of law, a subject which the Greeks themselves never treated as a science.

Traditionally, the origins of Roman legal science are connected to Gnaeus Flavius. Flavius is said to have published around the year 300 BC the formularies containing the words which had to be spoken in court to begin a legal action. Before the time of Flavius, these formularies are said to have been secret and known only to the priests. Their publication made it possible for non-priests to explore the meaning of these legal texts. Whether or not this story is credible, jurists were active and legal treatises were written in larger numbers the 2nd century BC. Among the famous jurists of the republican period are Quintus Mucius Scaevola who wrote a voluminous treatise on all aspects of the law, which was very influential in later times, and Servius Sulpicius Rufus, a friend of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Thus, Rome had developed a very sophisticated legal system and a refined legal culture when the Roman republic was replaced by the monarchical system of the principate in 27 BC.

Pre-classical Period In the period between about 201 to 27 BC, we can see the development of more flexible laws to match the needs of the time. In addition to the old and formal ius civile a new juridical class is created: the ius honorarium, which can be defined as "The law introduced by the magistrates who had the right to promulgate edicts in order to support, supplement or correct the existing law." With this new law the old formalism is being abandoned and new more flexible principles of ius gentium are used. The adaptation of law to new needs was given over to juridical practice, to magistrates, and especially to the praetors. A praetor was not a legislator and did not technically create new law when he issued his edicts (magistratuum edicta). In fact, the results of his rulings enjoyed legal protection (actionem dare) and were in effect often the source of new legal rules. A Praetor's successor was not bound by the edicts of his predecessor; however, he did take rules from edicts of his predecessor that had proved to be useful.

In this way a constant content was created that proceeded from edict to edict (edictum traslatitium). Thus, over the course of time, parallel to the civil law and supplementing and correcting it, a new body of praetoric law emerged. Ultimately, civil law and praetoric law were fused in the Corpus Juris Civilis. Classical Roman Law The first 250 years of the current era are the period during which Roman law and Roman legal science reached the highest degree of perfection. The law of this period is often referred to as classical period of Roman law. The literary and practical achievements of the jurists of this period gave Roman law its unique shape. The jurists worked in different functions: They gave legal opinions at the request of private parties. They advised the magistrates who were entrusted with the administration of justice, most importantly the praetors. They helped the praetors draft their edicts, in which they publicly announced at the beginning of their tenure, how they would handle their duties, and the formularies, according to which specific proceedings were conducted. Some jurists also held high judicial and administrative offices themselves. The jurists also produced all kinds of legal commentaries and treatises.

Around AD 130 the jurist Salvius Iulianus drafted a standard form of the praetor's edict, which was used by all praetors from that time onwards. This edict contained detailed descriptions of all cases, in which the praetor would allow a legal action and in which he would grant a defense. The standard edict thus functioned like a comprehensive law code, even though it did not formally have the force of law. It indicated the requirements for a successful legal claim. The edict therefore became the basis for extensive legal commentaries by later classical jurists like Paulus and Domitius Ulpianus. The new concepts and legal institutions developed by pre-classical and classical jurists are too numerous to mention here. Only a few examples are given here: Roman jurists clearly separated the legal right to use a thing (ownership) from the factual ability to use and manipulate the thing (possession). They also found the distinction between contract and tort as sources of legal obligations. The standard types of contract (sale, contract for work, hire, contract for services) regulated in most continental codes and the characteristics of each of these contracts were developed by Roman jurisprudence.

The classical jurist Gaius (around 160) invented a system of private law based on the division of all material into personae (persons), res (things) and actiones (legal actions). This system was used for many centuries. It can be recognized in legal treatises like William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England and enactments like the French Code civil or the German BGB. Post-classical Law By the middle of the 3rd century, the conditions for the flourishing of a refined legal culture had become less favourable. The general political and economic situation deteriorated as the emperors assumed more direct control of all aspects of political life. The political system of the principate, which had retained some features of the republican constitution, began to transform itself into the absolute monarchy of the dominate. The existence of a legal science and of jurists who regarded law as a science, not as an instrument to achieve the political goals set by the absolute monarch, did not fit well into the new order of things. The literary production all but ended. Few jurists after the mid-3rd century are known by name.

While legal science and legal education persisted to some extent in the eastern part of the Empire, most of the subtleties of classical law came to be disregarded and finally forgotten in the west. Classical law was replaced by so-called vulgar law. Where the writings of classical jurists were still known, they were edited to conform to the new situation. Roman Law Substance Concepts jus civile, Jus gentium, and jus naturale - the jus civile ("citizen law", originally jus civile Quiritium) was the body of common laws that applied to Roman citizens and the Praetores Urbani, the individuals who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens. The jus gentium ("law of peoples") was the body of common laws that applied to foreigners, and their dealings with Roman citizens. The Praetores Peregrini were the individuals who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens and foreigners. Jus naturale was a concept the jurists developed to explain why all people seemed to obey some laws. Their answer was that a "natural law" instilled in all beings a common sense. Jus scriptum and jus non scriptum - the terms jus scriptum and ius non scriptum literally mean written and unwritten law, respectively.

In practice, the two differed by the means of their creation and not necessarily whether or not they were written down. The ius scriptum was the body of statute laws made by the legislature. The laws were known as leges (lit. "laws") and plebiscita (lit. "plebiscites," originating in the Plebeian Council). Roman lawyers would also include in the ius scriptum the edicts of magistrates (magistratuum edicta), the advice of the Senate (Senatus consulta), the responses and thoughts of jurists (responsa prudentium), and the proclamations and beliefs of the emperor (principum placita). Ius non scriptum was the body of common laws that arose from customary practice and had become binding over time. ius commune and ius singulare - Ius singulare (singular law) is special law for certain groups of people, things, or legal relations (because of which it is an exception from the general principles of the legal system), unlike general, ordinary, law (ius commune).

An example of this is the law about wills written by people in the military during a campaign, which are exempt of the solemnities generally required for citizens when writing wills in normal circumstances. ius publicum and ius privatum - ius publicum means public law and ius privatum means private law, where public law is to protect the interests of the Roman state while private law should protect individuals. In the Roman law ius privatum included personal, property, civil and criminal law; judicial proceeding was private process (iudicium privatum); and crimes were private (except the most severe ones that were prosecuted by the state). Public law will only include some areas of private law close to the end of the Roman state. Ius publicum was also used to describe obligatory legal regulations (today called ius cogens - this term is applied in modern international law to indicate peremptory norms that cannot be derogated from). These are regulations that cannot be changed or excluded by party agreement. Those regulations that can be changed are called today jus dispositivum, and they are not used when party shares something and are in contrary.

Public Law The Roman Republic's constitution or mos maiorum ("custom of the ancestors") was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent. Concepts that originated in the Roman constitution live on in constitutions to this day. Examples include checks and balances, the separation of powers, vetoes, filibusters, quorum requirements, term limits, impeachments, the powers of the purse, and regularly scheduled elections. Even some lesser used modern constitutional concepts, such as the block voting found in the electoral college of the United States, originate from ideas found in the Roman constitution. The constitution of the Roman Republic was not formal or even official. Its constitution was largely unwritten, and was constantly evolving throughout the life of the Republic. Throughout the 1st century BC, the power and legitimacy of the Roman constitution was progressively eroding. Even Roman constitutionalists, such as the senator Cicero, lost a willingness to remain faithful to it towards the end of the republic. When the Roman Republic ultimately fell in the years following the Battle of Actium and Mark Antony's suicide, what was left of the Roman constitution died along with the Republic. The first Roman Emperor, Augustus, attempted to manufacture the appearance of a constitution that still governed the Empire.

The belief in a surviving constitution lasted well into the life of the Roman Empire. Private law Stipulatio was the basic form of contract in Roman law. It was made in the format of question and answer. The precise nature of the contract was disputed, as can be seen below. Rei vindicatio is a legal action by which the plaintiff demands that the defendant return a thing that belongs to the plaintiff. It may only be used when plaintiff owns the thing, and the defendant is somehow impeding the plaintiff's possession of the thing. The plaintiff could also institute an actio furti (a personal action) to punish the defendant. If the thing could not be recovered, the plaintiff could claim damages from the defendant with the aid of the condictio furtiva (a personal action). With the aid of the actio legis Aquiliae (a personal action), the plaintiff could claim damages from the defendant. Rei vindicatio was derived from the ius civile, therefore was only available to Roman citizens. Roman Status In Roman law, status describes a person's legal status.

The individual could be a Roman citizen (status civitatis), unlike foreigners; or he could be free (status libertatis), unlike slaves; or he could have a certain position in a Roman family (status familiae) either as head of the family (pater familias), or as a lower member (filii familias). In the Roman state, according to Roman civil law (ius civile), only Roman citizens had the full civil and political rights. In regard to status civitatis, in the Roman state, there were cives, Latini and peregrini, and foreigners. Outside the Roman state, there were externi, barbari and hosts. Status familiae is the legal status of an individual in the family. The pater familias had the authority in the family (patria potestas), and everyone was subjected to him based on adgnatio (kinship only from father's side). This had an impact in private law. There is a distinction between alieni iuris (persons under patria potestas) and sui iuris (persons autonomous of patria potestas, who could only be the pater familias himself).

Filius familias had ius suffragii and ius honorum, but in the area of private law he was restricted because of patria potestas. The social and legal status of slaves in the Roman state was different in different epochs. In the time of old civil law (ius civile Quiritium) slavery had a patriarchal shape (a slave did the same job and lived under the same conditions as his master and family). After Rome's victorious wars, from the third century BC, huge numbers of slaves came to Rome, and that resulted in slave trade and increased exploitation of slaves. From that time on, a slave became only a thing (res)- servi pro nullis habentur. Slavery in Rome The legal state of slaves was based on the fact that the slave was not a subject but an object of law. A master had the right of ownership over the slave. He could sell him, give him in pawn but certainly could not harm or kill him. If someone injured his slave, a master could initiate legal proceedings and demand protection. The ownership over the slave was called dominica potestas, and not dominium like the ownership of objects and animals.

In the Roman legal system, a slave did not have a family. His sexual relationships with other slaves was not marriage (matrimonium), but a cohabitation (contubernium), without legal consequences. Masters could also give over a certain amount of property (such as land, buildings), known as peculium, to a slave for his management and use. This peculium was protected under Roman law and inaccessible by the owner. This was another tool a slave could use to purchase their freedom. The oldest means of becoming a slave was to be captured as an enemy in war. However, even a foreigner could become free again and even a Roman citizen could become a slave. Slavery was hereditary, and the child of a slave woman became a slave no matter who the father was. However, according to classical law, a child of a slave became free (ingenuus), if her mother was free, even for a short period of time, during the pregnancy. After the Punic wars, Rome started the mass exploitation of slaves. However, the development of industry, trade and other branches of economy required skilled free workers that took interest in their jobs.

A slave could get free by the act of manumission, by which a master would release him from his authority. Manumissions were different in different epochs. According to Roman law, slaves that were freed (libertinus, in regard to his master libertus) became Roman citizens, but they had many fewer rights than Roman citizens that were born free (ingenuus). The slave's former master now became his patron (patronus), and the libertus still had obligations towards him (this was regulated by law). The libertus had to be obedient and respectful to his patron (obsequium et reverentia). The patron could punish a disobedient libertus, In older times he could even kill him (ius vitae necisque), but later he could not. In some circumstances he could even ask a magistrate to turn the libertus into a slave once again (accusatio ingrati). Roman Litigation The history of Roman Law can be divided into three systems of procedure: that of legis actiones, the formulary system, and cognitio extra ordinem.

The periods in which these systems were in use overlapped one another and did not have definitive breaks, but it can be stated that the legis actio system prevailed from the time of the XII Tables (c. 450 BC) until about the end of the 2nd century BC, that the formulary procedure was primarily used from the last century of the Republic until the end of the classical period (c. AD 200), and that of cognitio extraordinarem was in use in post-classical times. Again, these dates are meant as a tool to help understand the types of procedure in use, not as a rigid boundary where one system stopped and another began. During the republic and until the bureaucratization of Roman judicial procedure, the judge was usually a private person (iudex privatus). He had to be a Roman male citizen. The parties could agree on a judge, or they could appoint one from a list, called album iudicum. They went down the list until they found a judge agreeable to both parties, or if none could be found they had to take the last one on the list. No one had a legal obligation to judge a case. The judge had great latitude in the way he conducted the litigation.

He considered all the evidence and ruled in the way that seemed just. Because the judge was not a jurist or a legal technician, he often consulted a jurist about the technical aspects of the case, but he was not bound by the jurist's reply. At the end of the litigation, if things were not clear to him, he could refuse to give a judgment, by swearing that it wasn't clear. Also, there was a maximum time to issue a judgment, which depended on some technical issues (type of action, etc.). Later on, with the bureaucratization, this procedure disappeared, and was substituted by the so-called "extra ordinem" procedure, also known as cognitory. The whole case was reviewed before a magistrate, in a single phase. The magistrate had obligation to judge and to issue a decision, and the decision could be appealed to a higher magistrate. Legacy In the East When the centre of the Empire was moved to the Greek East in the 4th century, many legal concepts of Greek origin appeared in the official Roman legislation. The influence is visible even in the law of persons or of the family, which is traditionally the part of the law that changes least.

For example Constantine started putting restrictions on the ancient Roman concept of patria potestas, the power held by the male head of a family over his descendents, by acknowledging that persons in potestate, the descendents, could have proprietary rights. He was apparently making concessions to the much stricter concept of paternal authority under Greek-Hellenistic law. The Codex Theodosianus (438 AD) was a codification of Constantian laws. Later emperors went even further, until Justinian finally decreed that a child in potestate became owner of everything it acquired, except when it acquired something from its father. The codes of Justinian, particularly the Corpus juris civilis (529-534) continued to be the basis of legal practice in the Empire throughout its so-called Byzantine history. Leo III the Isaurian issued a new code, the Ecloga, in the early 8th century. In the 9th century, the emperors Basil I and Leo VI the Wise commissioned a combined translation of the Code and the Digest, parts of Justinian's codes, into Greek, which became known as the Basilica.

Roman law as preserved in the codes of Justinian and in the Basilica remained the basis of legal practice in Greece and in the courts of the Eastern Orthodox Church even after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the conquest by the Turks, and also formed the basis for much of the Fetha Negest, which remained in force in Ethiopia until 1931. In the West In the west, Justinian's political authority never went any farther than certain portions of the Italian and Hispanic peninsulas. Law codes were edicted by the Germanic kings, however, the influence of early Eastern Roman codes on some of these is quite discernible. In many early Germanic states, ethnic Roman citizens continued to be governed by Roman laws for quite some time, even while members of the various Germanic tribes were governed by their own respective codes. The Code and the Institutes of Justinian were known in Western Europe, and along with the earlier code of Theodosius II, served as models for a few of the Germanic law codes; however, the Digest portion was largely ignored for several centuries until around 1070, when a manuscript of the Digest was rediscovered in Italy.

This was done mainly through the works of glossars who wrote their comments between lines (glossa interlinearis), or in the form of marginal notes (glossa marginalis). From that time, scholars began to study the ancient Roman legal texts, and to teach others what they learned from their studies. The center of these studies was Bologna. The law school there gradually developed into one of Europe's first universities. The students who were taught Roman law in Bologna (and later in many other places) found that many rules of Roman law were better suited to regulate complex economic transactions than were the customary rules, which were applicable throughout Europe. For this reason, Roman law, or at least some provisions borrowed from it, began to be re-introduced into legal practice, centuries after the end of the Roman empire. This process was actively supported by many kings and princes who employed university-trained jurists as counselors and court officials and sought to benefit from rules like the famous Princeps legibus solutus est ("The sovereign is not bound by the laws", a phrase initially coined by Ulpian, a Roman jurist). There have been several reasons why Roman law was favored in the Middle Ages.

It was because Roman law regulated the legal protection of property and the equality of legal subjects and their wills, and because it prescribed the possibility that the legal subjects could dispose their property through testament. By the middle of the 16th century, the rediscovered Roman law dominated the legal practice in a lot of European countries. A legal system, in which Roman law was mixed with elements of canon law and of Germanic custom, especially feudal law, had emerged. This legal system, which was common to all of continental Europe (and Scotland) was known as Ius Commune. This Ius Commune and the legal systems based on it are usually referred to as civil law in English-speaking countries. Only England did not take part in the wholesale reception of Roman law. One reason for this is that the English legal system was more developed than its continental counterparts by the time Roman law was rediscovered. Therefore, the practical advantages of Roman law were less obvious to English practitioners than to continental lawyers. As a result, the English system of common law developed in parallel to Roman-based civil law, with its practitioners being trained at the Inns of Court in London rather than receiving degrees in Canon or Civil Law at the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge.

Elements of Romano-canon law were present in England in the ecclesiastical courts and, less directly, through the development of the equity system. In addition, some concepts from Roman law made their way into the common law. Especially in the early 19th century, English lawyers and judges were willing to borrow rules and ideas from continental jurists and directly from Roman law. The practical application of Roman law and the era of the European Ius Commune came to an end, when national codifications were made. In 1804, the French civil code came into force. In the course of the 19th century, many European states either adopted the French model or drafted their own codes. In Germany, the political situation made the creation of a national code of laws impossible. From the 17th century Roman law, in Germany, had been heavily influenced by domestic (common) law, and it was called usus modernus Pandectarum. In some parts of Germany, Roman law continued to be applied until the German civil code (Burgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB) came into force in 1900.

Colonial expansion spread the civil law system and European civil law has been adopted in much of Latin America as well as in parts of Asia and Africa. Roman Law Today Today, Roman law is no longer applied in legal practice, even though the legal systems of some states like South Africa and San Marino are still based on the old Ius Commune. However, even where the legal practice is based on a code, many rules deriving from Roman law apply: No code completely broke with the Roman tradition. Rather, the provisions of Roman law were fitted into a more coherent system and expressed in the national language. For this reason, knowledge of Roman law is indispensable to understand the legal systems of today. Thus, Roman law is often still a mandatory subject for law students in civil law jurisdictions. As steps towards a unification of the private law in the member states of the European Union are being taken, the old Ius Commune, which was the common basis of legal practice everywhere, but allowed for many local variants, is seen by many as a model. Roman Legal Tradition and the Compilation of Justinian Roman Legal Tradition and the Compilation of Justinian Law in Early Rome and the Republic Glossary & bibliography Lupa Capitolina (c.

500–480 BCE), bronze statue, Musei Capitolini, Rome. Legend holds that Rome was founded in 753 BCE by Romulus and Remus, twin brothers born to a human mother but fathered by Mars, the god of War in Roman mythology. Abandoned on the banks of the Tiber River, they were found by a she-wolf (lupa) who nursed and cared for them until they were rescued by a shepherd. Long before the Roman Republic was established in 509 BCE, the early Romans lived by laws developed through centuries of custom. This customary law (ius, in Latin) was handed down through generations and was considered by the Romans to be an inherited aspect of their society as it had evolved from its earliest days. Integral to the notion that this customary law was part of the fabric of early Roman culture was the fact that this law only applied to Roman citizens and was thus ius civile, or civil law. The citizens of Rome were divided into two classes: patricians, the elite class who ruled Roman society, and plebeians, the common people.

One element of the patricians' elite status was that a group of patrician men called pontiffs were the ones who made decisions and ruled in questions of customary law. Over time, plebeians came to see that because of the disparity between their positions, patricians tended to have some advantage in the legal decisions made by the pontiffs who were their equals in status and power, and dissatisfaction grew with what many perceived to be the arbitrariness of the decisions made. This dissatisfaction arose during a period in the early Republic of intense conflict within the social order, as plebeians agitated to gain more political and social equality and patricians attempted to keep a tight hold on their own power. The plebeians pressed for the law to be written down, so that they might better anticipate the decisions made by the patrician pontiffs and understand their basis in the established law. The Twelve Tables The Temple of Saturn (498 BCE), one of the oldest structures in the Roman Forum, dates back to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. Adjacent to these columns in the Forum are the remnants of the rostra, the speakers' platform, on which the engraved tablets of the Twelve Tables were mounted for all to see.

Thus a committee of ten men called the decemvirs was established in 451 BCE to write down the law for the first time. The work they produced in 449 BCE, the Twelve Tables, documented the centuries-old customary laws and became the foundation of Roman law as we know it. The Twelve Tables touched on many areas of law, not only the civil law that applied directly to citizens, but also areas such as public law and religious law, which applied to larger social constructs and institutions. The Twelve Tables did not rewrite existing law or create new law. Rather, they simply transferred established customary law (ius) to a written form (lex). Neither did the Twelve Tables commit all existing law to written form. Instead, they focused on specific facets that had led or could lead to dispute or disagreement, and they addressed the technical aspects of legal procedure, so that a citizen had a guide to the proper ways to pursue legal action.

While the Twelve Tables were destroyed during the Celtic invasions of the fourth century BCE, their legacy was very strong and much of their content remained known-Cicero (106–43 BCE) the great statesman, jurist and orator of the late Republic, wrote that he was made to memorize and recite their provisions as a student. Evolution of the Roman Legal System and Classical Roman Law Ulpian, Roman jurist, manuscript illumination (c. 1300 CE), Umbria, Italy. This illumination appears on a page from a medieval manuscript copy of Justinian's Digest. The seated judge is Domitius Ulpianus, or Ulpian, a Roman jurist and imperial official from the third century whose writings comprised nearly a third of the Digest. ©2007 The Robbins Collection. As the Roman republic grew and then transformed into an empire, its rulers faced the increasing challenge of governing an evermore diverse and far-flung population. Legal questions and disputes inevitably arose not only among Roman citizens, but with non-citizens living in or traveling through its territories, to whom the ius civile did not apply.

This led to the development of the ius gentium ("law of nations") and ius naturale ("natural law"). The ius gentium, or law of nations/peoples, was the body of laws that applied to all people, foreigners and non-citizens as well as citizens, and was based upon the common principles and reasoning that civilized societies and humankind were understood to live by and share. These laws common to all people were further understood to be rooted in the ius naturale, or natural law, a category of law based on the principles shared by all living creatures, humans as well as animals (such as laws pertaining to procreation, or physical defense against attack). As these areas of law became more complex in tandem with the society that they governed, Roman rulers found themselves in need of a larger group of legal authorities to give order to the system of legal formulas and decisions. By the second half of the third century BCE, a new professional group of specialists trained in law, the jurists, emerged to meet this demand. The jurists did not participate in administering the law, but rather focused on interpreting and generating formal opinions on the law, as the pontiffs had done in earlier days.

It was the work and scholarly writings of generations of great jurists that elevated Roman law to its apex during the first two and a half centuries CE, which is referred to as the classical period of Roman law. Emperor Justinian and the Corpus iuris civilis Relief of Justinian in the House chambers, US Capitol building. By the reign of the emperor Justinian I (ruled 527-565 CE), the vast territories of the Roman Empire in Europe, North Africa, and the East had for centuries been politically and culturally divided into the Western Empire and the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire. The Western Empire had endured a series of Germanic invasions that led to its final collapse by 476 CE. So the Roman Empire under Justinian's rule was the East – though during his reign, the emperor waged a successful campaign to reconquer some of the Western territories that had been lost to Germanic invaders, such as Italy and parts of Spain. Like other Roman emperors before him, Justinian faced the challenge of maintaining control and creating a sense of unity among far-flung territories where other cultures and languages besides Latin (such as Greek) predominated.

Justinian I, Pandectarum codex Florentinus (Florence: L.S. Olschki, 1988). This page is from a facsimile edition of the Pandectarum codex Florentinus, the oldest extant edition of Justinian's Digest, copied just after its promulgation in the sixth century CE. The manuscript is written in both Latin and Greek, reflecting its origins in the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, which Justinian ruled from Constantinople and where Greek was the lingua franca. One of the ways that Justinian sought to unify the empire was through law. Roman citizenship had been extended to the empire outside of Italy in the third century ce, making inhabitants far and wide "citizens of Rome" and subject to its civil law. He formed a commission of jurists to compile all existing Roman law into one body, which would serve to convey the historical tradition, culture, and language of Roman law throughout the empire. This compilation is sometimes referred to as "Justinian's Code," but in fact the Code was only one element.

The compilation of Justinian actually consisted of three different original parts: the Digest (Digesta), the Code (Codex), and the Institutes (Institutiones). The Digest (533 CE) collected and summarized all of the classical jurists' writings on law and justice. The Code (534 CE) outlined the actual laws of the empire, citing imperial constitutions, legislation and pronouncements. The Institutes (535 CE) were a smaller work that summarized the Digest, intended as a textbook for students of law. A fourth work, the Novella (Novellae), was not a part of Justinian's project, but was created separately by legal scholars in 556 CE to update the Code with new laws created after 534 CE and summarize Justinian's own constitution. The compilation of Justinian is widely considered to be the emperor's greatest contribution to the history of Western society. Though largely forgotten for several centuries after the fall of the Western Empire, Roman law experienced a revival that began at the University of Bologna, Italy, in the eleventh century and spread throughout Europe. Surviving manuscript copies of Justinian's compilation were rediscovered and systematically studied and reproduced.

These new editions of the compilation, which were given the name Corpus iuris civilis ("body of civil law"), became the foundational source for Roman law in the Western tradition. All later systems of law in the West borrowed heavily from it, including the civil law systems of Western continental Europe, Latin America, and parts of Africa and to a lesser but still notable extent the English common law system, from which American law is principally derived. Senate | Define Senate at Dictionary.com senate noun 1. an assembly or council of citizens having the highest deliberative functions in a government, especially a legislative assembly of a state or nation. 2. (initial capital letter) the upper house of the legislature of certain countries, as the United States, France, Italy, Canada, Ireland, Republic of South Africa, Australia, and some Latin American countries. 3. the room or building in which such a group meets. 4. Roman History. the supreme council of state, the membership and functions of which varied at different periods. 5. a governing, advisory, or disciplinary body, as in certain universities.

Origin of senate 1175-1225; Middle English senat < Latin senātus council of elders, equivalent to sen(ex) old + -ātus -ate 3 Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for senate Expand Contemporary Examples Pity this didn't take place in the senate post filibuster reform, because it would make a very compelling speech. Concord Days A. Bronson Alcott So, the senate decided that the question should be answered. Fairy Fingers Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie What atrocious edict was issued by the senate of Constantinople? British Dictionary definitions for senate Expand any legislative or governing body considered to resemble a Senate 2. the main governing body at some colleges and universities Word Origin C13: from Latin senātus council of the elders, from senex an old man Senate the upper chamber of the legislatures of the US, Canada, Australia, and many other countries 2. the legislative council of ancient Rome. Originally the council of the kings, the Senate became the highest legislative, judicial, and religious authority in republican Rome 3.

the ruling body of certain free cities in medieval and modern Europe Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for senate Expand n. c.1200, "legal and administrative body of ancient Rome," from Old French senat or Latin senatus "highest council of the state in ancient Rome," literally "council of elders," from senex (genitive senis) "old man, old" (see senile ). Attested from late 14c. in reference to governing bodies of free cities in Europe; of national governing bodies from 1550s; specific sense of upper house of U.S. legislature is recorded from 1775.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Political Institutions Facts (Illustrated History of Ancient Rome - Bible History Online Bible History Online Timelines & Charts - The story of the Roman Senate goes way back to a time before there was an accurate written history for Rome. - The Senate was composed of leading citizens who were members of the original aristocratic families in the old Republic. - The original purpose of the Senate was to advise the King. This worked well during the first two centuries of Rome�s existence when Rome was little more than a city-state built on seven hills and ruled by a king. - The Senate originally had one hundred members chosen from amongst the Patrician class but the early kings soon increased its size to three hundred members. - After the expulsion of the last Tarquin, Tarquinius Superbus , the Senate formed the main governing body of the Roman Republic. The two consuls, the chief ruling Magistrates of the Republic were chosen by the Senate, which served as the advisory body to the consuls. - Cornelius Sulla was the first to use an army to usurp the power of the Senate. He had many members of the Senate murdered who opposed his regime.

He also increased the number of senators from 300 to 600. - Many of these new senators appointed by Sulla were not Patricians , but instead members of the Equestrian Order who had supported Sulla�s takeover of the government. LATER HISTORY - The Roman Republic was a form of government that worked well with a city-state or even a group of powerful city-states in control of a region. With the annexation of Spain, Macedonia, Greece, the East, and North Africa in the Second Century BC, Rome had come to control a vast empire and the Republic with its two consuls, senate, and small group of magistrates was not an adequate government for an empire of the size Rome had acquired. - Many of the early senators were great orators and we have their words preserved for us today by contemporary historians. Cato the Censor, Cicero, and others sometimes swayed the opinion of the entire population of Rome with their fine oratory and persuasive arguments.

- The early years of the First Century BC ushered in a long period of civil war that began with the struggle between Sulla and Marius and reached a climax with Octavian�s defeat of Marcus Antonius at the Battle of Actium in 31 B. C. During that period, the Senate steadily lost power to the imperators, or generals of large Roman armies who controlled the government. In 27 B. C., the Senate voluntarily gave much of its power to Octavian, whom they had given the title of Augustus. - While most of the early emperors tried to involve the Senate in the governing process and actively sought its counsel, most of the Senate�s real power was gone by the reign of Tiberius. Domitian was hostile to most of the Senate and Septimius Severus openly thumbed his nose at this once powerful Roman governing body. - During the later Roman Empire, the Senate had become more of an elite club for members of old aristocratic and equestrian families. It had no real governing power and its approval of acts of the emperor his laws was purely ceremonial. By this time, there were over one thousand senators.

-The Roman Senate survived even after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West when Rome had sunk to the status of a medium sized Italian city. Boethius, the Sixth Century advisor and close friend to Theodoric the Ostrogoth declared that the thing that made him happiest in his life was when his two sons were made Roman Senators. Roman Government and Laws: The Roman Senate Contents - Previous Article - Next Article The Roman Senate The story of the Roman Senate goes way back to a time before there was an accurate written history for Rome. The Senate was composed of leading citizens who were members of the original aristocratic families in the old Republic. The original purpose of this group was to advise the King. This worked well during the first two centuries of Romes existence when Rome was little more than a city-state built on seven hills and ruled by a king. The Senate originally had one hundred members chosen from amongst the Patrician class but the early kings soon increased its size to three hundred members. After the expulsion of the last Tarquin, Tarquinius Superbus, the Senate formed the main governing body of the Roman Republic.

The two consuls, the chief ruling Magistrates of the Republic were chosen by the Senate, which served as the advisory body to the consuls. Cornelius Sulla was the first to use an army to usurp the power of the Senate. He had many members of the Senate murdered who opposed his regime. He also increased the number of senators from 300 to 600. Many of these new senators appointed by Sulla were not Patricians, but instead members of the Equestrian Order who had supported Sullas takeover of the government. The Roman Republic was a form of government that worked well with a city-state or even a group of powerful city-states in control of a region. With the annexation of Spain, Macedonia, Greece, the East, and North Africa in the Second Century B. C., Rome had come to control a vast empire and the Republic with its two consuls, senate, and small group of magistrates was not an adequate government for an empire of the size Rome had acquired. Many of the early senators were great orators and we have their words preserved for us today by contemporary historians.

Cato the Censor, Cicero, and others sometimes swayed the opinion of the entire population of Rome with their fine oratory and persuasive arguments. The early years of the First Century B. C. ushered in a long period of civil war that began with the struggle between Sulla and Marius and reached a climax with Octavians defeat of Marcus Antonius at the Battle of Actium in 31 B. C. During that period, the Senate steadily lost power to the imperators, or generals of large Roman armies who controlled the government. In 27 B. C., the Senate voluntarily gave much of its power to Octavian, whom they had given the title of Augustus. While most of the early emperors tried to involve the Senate in the governing process and actively sought its counsel, most of the Senates real power was gone by the reign of Tiberius. Domitian was hostile to most of the Senate and Septimius Severus openly thumbed his nose at this once powerful Roman governing body. During the later Roman Empire, the Senate had become more of an elite club for members of old aristocratic and equestrian families.

It had no real governing power and its approval of acts of the emperor his laws was purely ceremonial. By this time, there were over one thousand senators. The Roman Senate survived even after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West when Rome had sunk to the status of a medium sized Italian city. Boethius, the Sixth Century advisor and close friend to Theodoric the Ostrogoth declared that the thing that made him happiest in his life was when his two sons were made Roman Senators. To compare this form of government with the government of the later Roman Empire, see A Colorful Pageant of Imperial Government Officials . Senate in ancient Rome supreme governing body originally made - HIST - 101 View Full Document Senate – in ancient Rome, supreme governing body. originally made up of only aristocrats. Apostle – one of the followers of Jesus who preached and spread His teachings. Triumvirate – in ancient Rome, a group of 3 leaders sharing control of government. Republic – form of government where power is in hands of representatives and leaders are elected by the people. Pax Romana Populares – The Roman political faction supporting the common people established during the late republic.

Hannibal – brilliant military strategist/general who almost succeeded in conquereing Rome. Julius Caesar – governed as absolute leader, made sweeping change, and granted Roman citizenship to many people in the provinces. He expanded the senate, helped the poor by creating jobs, and started colonies where landless could own land and increased pay for soldiers. Nobles and senators troubled my Caesar’s growing power, success, and popularity, so they stabled him to death in 44 B.C. in the senate chamber 23 times. Constantine This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document. TERM World History - Chapter 20 Section 3 Question Ohio HIST 101 - Spring 2012 Chapter 20 Section 3 Question #s 1, 2 Page 499 Question #1 Atlantic slave trade the World History - Chapter 20 Section 3 Question

Question: What was the governing body of ancient Rome?
Answer: Senate