ROMAN LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES
In one important respect in the management of their political affairs,
the citizens of the Roman republic occupied a most disadvantageous
position in comparison with the citizens of any modern republic. The
greatest defect in the political organization of Rome, as of all other
ancient republics, lay in the utter absence of representative
legislative assemblies. The want of such institutions, in the absence
of all the other causes of disruption, might of itself have been
sufficient to have caused the downfall of the Roman republic.
The invention and development of such representative assemblies has
been the greatest contribution which the Anglo-Saxon race has made to
the political progress of the world. It is largely the existence of
such bodies which renders practical the continued existence of modern
republics, with jurisdiction over extended areas.
The Roman legislative bodies were, throughout the whole period of
Roman history, popular assemblies,--bodies of a character well
adapted for the government of the community when Rome was a mere
city-republic on the Tiber, but entirely inadequate to meet existing
conditions when the Roman territories had been extended far beyond the
confines of Latium and even beyond the shores of the Italian
peninsula.
The system of Roman popular assemblies was so complicated, and these
assemblies were so closely connected with every phase and every
important epoch in Roman political history, that it seems advisable to
stop at the outset and give a brief description of each of these
assemblies; of the manner in which they were constituted; of their
origin; and of the scope of their respective powers.
The oldest of these popular assemblies was the _comitia curiata_,
which for a considerable period was the only body in Rome with the
power to enact laws. This assembly was based upon the original
division of the people into _gentes_ and _curiæ_, and was throughout
its history a distinctively patrician body. The force of the contest
for a share in political power, waged by the plebeians, took in the
main the direction of stripping the comitia curiata of its power
instead of securing for the plebeians the right of membership in this
assembly.
After the creation of the _comitia centuriata_ the powers of the older
comitia rapidly declined, and were in the main limited to the control
of certain portions of the state religion; particularly those
religious formalities connected with elections, legislation, or the
investure of military leaders with the _imperium_. At a still later
time, the comitia curiata ceased to meet at all, and was merely
considered as being represented by the lictors.
The two important assemblies of the people during the period of the
history of the Roman republic were the comitia centuriata and the
_comitia tributa_. The comitia centuriata came into existence during
the period which lies on the border line between mythology and
history. In the legendary history of the Roman kingdom the creation of
this assembly is given as one of the reforms of Servius Tullius.
However this may be, it was undoubtedly in existence (although not in
the exact form which it later acquired) as early as the sixth century
before Christ. This assembly was reorganized some time before the
Punic Wars. In its final form the tribal division was taken as the
primary division of the people; each tribe was divided into five
classes, according to the wealth of the citizens, and each class into
two centuries, one century in each class consisting of _seniores_, or
men above forty-five years of age, and one consisting of _juniores_,
or men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. The ten centuries
from each of the tribes made a total of three hundred fifty centuries,
to whom were added eighteen centuries of knights, making a total of
three hundred sixty-eight centuries. Every question submitted to the
comitia centuriata was decided by the vote of a majority of centuries.
Although all freemen had the right to vote in this assembly, the power
of the richer classes was disproportionately great. This was secured
by assigning to the five classes, into which each tribe was divided, a
very disproportionate number of citizens. The first class, to which
only the richest citizens were admitted, was very small in size, while
the fifth (and lowest) class was probably more numerous than the other
four classes combined.
The comitia centuriata was originally an assembly of the Roman
citizens in the form of an army, and the divisions into classes was
based upon the kind of equipment with which each soldier was able to
provide himself. The eighteen centuries of knights represented the
cavalry of the army. These centuries of knights possessed the right of
having their votes taken first, which constituted another advantage
for the wealthy classes. In 241 B.C. the knights were deprived of
their right of voting first, but this privilege was given to the
centuries of the first rank, assigned by lot.
The comitia tributa, or assembly of the tribes, first met in 489 B.C.,
it being convened by the Senate at that time to sit in judgment upon a
patrician, Coriolanus, the responsibility for whose fate the Senate
desired to throw upon the plebeians. This assembly was originally a
strictly plebeian body, and its original authority was limited to the
administration of the business of the plebeian order. The class
character of the comitia tributa is indicated by its original
name--_concilium tributum plebis_, the word _concilium_ indicating a
conference of a certain part of the people rather than a legislative
assembly of the whole people.
It would be hard to say whether it was the increased power of the
tribunes which developed the authority of the comitia tributa, or
whether it was the increased power of the comitia tributa which first
gave to the tribunes the vast power which they were ultimately able to
exercise in Rome. However this may be, the fact is evident that the
power of the comitia tributa and of the tribunes rose together. At a
later date, membership in the comitia tributa was not limited to the
plebeians, but the influence of the patricians in this assembly was
always inconsiderable and they generally absented themselves from its
meetings. Although the wealthy classes had no predominating influence
in the comitia tributa, its decision upon any question was far from
being, necessarily, the decision of the majority. Measures submitted
to the comitia tributa were carried or defeated by the vote of the
majority of the tribes, and the numbers enrolled in each tribe were
very unequal, all the inhabitants of the city of Rome being enrolled
into four tribes, and a very disproportionate power being thus given
to the rural voters.
The meetings of the comitia tributa were generally presided over by a
tribune, although sometimes by one of the consuls. At first the laws
passed by the comitia tributa were required to be confirmed by a vote
of the comitia centuriata, but this requirement was abolished in 339
B.C. by the Publilian and Horatian laws. The provisions of these laws
were reaffirmed by the Hortensian laws in 286 B.C.; and it is certain
that at least from this date the full validity of a law passed by the
comitia tributa was never questioned.
In the comitia centuriata and the comitia tributa we see the anomalous
condition of two independent law-making assemblies; and as there was
no division between them of the field of legislation, it is hard to
see how, even with the controlling influence of the Senate, conflicts
between the two were so generally avoided. So completely were the two
comitiæ on an equality as to the validity of the laws enacted by each
that the records generally fail to show by which assembly any
particular law was passed, but this can generally be ascertained by
looking at the name of the proposer of the law. If a tribune appears
as the proposer of the law it was passed by the comitia tributa; but
if the proposer was a consul, prætor, or dictator, the law was the
work of the comitia centuriata.
The powers of the two comitiæ as to the election of officers were
differentiated. The comitia centuriata, at all stages in the history
of the Roman republic, possessed the right of electing the highest
officers of the republic--the consuls, prætors, and censors. The
comitia tributa originally possessed the right of electing only the
tribunes and the plebeian ædiles; at a later period they elected also
the curule ædiles, the quæstors, the majority of the legionary
tribunes, and all the inferior officers of state. The comitia tributa,
in the later days of the republic, secured an indirect control over
the election of the higher officers also, since the adoption of the
legal principle that all Romans who sought the highest honors of the
state must pass through a regular gradation of offices rendered it
necessary for the comitia centuriata to choose as consuls and prætors
men who had previously been chosen by the comitia tributa as quæstors
and ædiles. It must be remembered, however, that the law relative to
the order in which the various offices must be held was of a
directory rather than a mandatory character; while in the main obeyed,
it was, nevertheless, frequently violated.
The various public offices here referred to will be discussed in the
later chapters as each office first comes into existence in Roman
history. It remains at this time to speak of the organization, powers,
and authority of the Roman Senate, particularly as to its control over
the work of the popular assemblies.
The extent of the power of the Senate over legislation varied greatly
in different periods of Roman history, and these differences were
caused more by the existing political conditions, and by the relative
strength of the aristocratic and popular parties in Rome, than by any
express changes by legislation.
At the very outset of Roman history we see the Senate existing as an
aristocratic body, embodying in itself both the oligarchical
principles upon which the Roman government was based, and also the
patriarchal basis upon which the Roman family organization and later
the organization of the Roman state itself had been built.
Originally, each of the three Roman tribes was divided into ten
gentes, each gens into ten curiæ, and each curia, besides constituting
one of the units in the comitia curiata, furnished one member of the
Roman Senate. The Senate continued after the organization by curiæ had
become obsolete. Membership in the Senate was at all periods for life,
but did not descend from father to son. Vacancies in the Senate were
filled by appointment, these appointments being made first by the
kings, later by the consuls, and finally by the censors. As the
censors were chosen only once in five years, vacancies in the Senate
were filled only at such intervals. The aristocratic party in Rome, by
keeping control of the office of censor, was able to perpetuate their
majority in the Senate. In filling such vacancies, preference was
given to those who had held some of the higher offices during the
preceding five-year-period. Many members of the Senate had held the
office of consul; many more hoped to hold it in the future. All
members of the Senate, with few exceptions, had held some civic
office, and were men of property and of mature age.
All the dignity of Rome and of the Roman government centered in the
Roman Senate. The minister of Pyrrhus described this body as "an
assembly of kings," and it might well have aroused the surprise and
admiration of a foreign ambassador, as nowhere else in the world at
that time was it possible to find such an assembly, either from the
standpoint of the character of the body itself or of the
qualifications of its members.
At an early period no law could be presented before the comitia
centuriata or the comitia tributa without having been previously
approved by the Senate, and after the passage of the act, either by
the comitia centuriata or the comitia tributa, it must be promulgated
by the Senate before it went into effect. The Senate, therefore, was
never possessed of a direct general power of legislation, but had in
the fullest degree both the power of initiating legislation and of
vetoing it. At a later period the control of the Senate over
legislation became theoretically less, but practically greater.
By the Publilian Law (339 B.C.) the control of the Senate over the
comitia centuriata was reduced to a mere formality. By this time,
however, the officers of the state, the tribunes as well as the
consuls, had fallen completely under the control of the Senate, while
the comitia tributa, in turn, fell more and more under the control of
the consuls and tribunes respectively. During the latter period of the
republic the Senate practically legislated, and gave the bill to one
of the tribunes (the tribunes were at this time far more completely
under the control of the Senate than were the consuls) to secure the
mere formality of its passage by the comitia tributa.
The management of foreign affairs was at all times exclusively in the
hands of the Senate, except that the question of declaring war or
concluding peace must be submitted to the vote of the people in one of
the popular assemblies. The Senate also regulated the religious
affairs of the Roman state (after this power fell from the hands of
the comitia curiata); assigned consuls and prætors their provinces of
administration and command; fixed the amount of troops to be raised
both from the Roman citizens and from the Italian allies; sent and
received ambassadors; controlled the calendar, adding to or taking
away from a year so as to lengthen the term of a favorite official or
to shorten the term of an unpopular one; decreed or refused triumphs
to Roman generals, and possessed a general control over the financial
affairs of the state.