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The Roman assemblies were the '''''Comitia Calata''''', the '''''Comitia Curiata''''', the '''''Comitia Centuriata''''', and the '''''Comitia Tributa''''' and possessed ultimate Legislative and Judicial powers in the Roman Republic and were also responsible for the election of Magistrate s. Unlike could propose legislation). The assemblies also possessed Judicial powers, some of which were transferred to permanent courts later in the Republic. The absence of modern Separation Of Powers did not mean that checks and balances were absent from Roman government (they were in fact remarkably elaborate). In the later Republic, a subset of the ''Comitia Tributa'', the '' Concilium Plebis '', gained the legislative powers of the assemblies and became the favored legislative mechanism. The honoured expression '' Senatus Populusque Romanus '' (abbreviated as SPQR), often used as an indication for the Roman state, clearly testifies to the general perception that Rome was legitimately ruled by the will of the people (in the assemblies) guided by the Senate , and under their authority by the magistrates. Only when the Principate was established—within the republic, which was never abolished—did a single person, the Roman Emperor , start to embody the state politically and hence incarnate the ''maiestas'' of Rome. CONSTITUTION Comitia Calata The ''Comitia Calata'' was the most ancient and least-known of the ''comitia''. By the time accurate historical records began its significance and use had both greatly declined. The ''Comitia Calata'' was different from the other assemblies because there was no voting or other active participation by the people. It was called for the people to hear announcement and witness certain acts. The ''Comitia Calata'' was held under the presidency of the '' Pontifex Maximus ''. The meeting probably took place in the Capitoline Hill in front of the '' Curia Calabra ''. The ''Comitia Calata'' and the ''Comitia Curiata'' were the only assemblies recognised before the time of Servius Tullius . The assembly consisted entirely of Patrician s, organized into '' Curia e'', and performed the following functions:
Comitia Curiata The ''Comitia Curiata'' (Curiate Assembly) was the oldest Roman assembly after the ''Comitia Calata''. It consisted entirely of Patrician s organized in 30 ''curiae'', which were voting units that each cast one collective vote. This assembly originally was the only assembly which transacted business, electing all magistrates, granting their '' Imperium '', and enacting laws. Later, though, it only retained the right to grant the ''imperium'' through the ''lex curiata de imperio'', acting as a power to confirm those elected by the Centuriate Assembly. Comitia Centuriata The ''Comitia Centuriata'' (Centuriate Assembly) included both Patrician s and Plebeian s organized into five economic classes ( Knight s and Senator s being the First Class) and distributed among internal divisions called '' Centuriea ''. Membership in the Centuriate Assembly required certain economic status, and power was heavily vested in the First and Second Classes. The Centuriate Assembly met annually to elect the next year's Consul s and Praetor s, and quintannually (every 5 years) to elect the Censor s. It also sat to try cases of high treason (''perduellio''), although this latter function fell into disuse after Lucius Appuleius Saturninus introduced a more workable format (''maiestas''). A citizen's vote did not count in the Centuriate Assembly. Rather, the individual's vote was counted within his century and determined the outcome of the century's vote. Because only the first eighteen (and richest) centuries were kept to the nominal size of 100 members, members of those centuries exerted a disproportionate influence over the outcome of votes. The Centuriate Assembly, originally a military assembly of knights, had to meet outside the '' Pomerium '' of Rome on the Campus Martius since no army was permitted inside the ''pomerium''. It also consisted of many people, which when combined with the meeting place made the assembly extremely clumsy to convoke and manage. Thus, although it had legislative powers, it was not normally used except to elect magistrates. Comitia Tributa The ''Comitia Tributa'' (Tribal Assembly) included both patricians and plebeians distributed among the thirty-five tribes into which all Roman citizens were placed for administrative and electoral purposes. The vast majority of the urban population of Rome was distributed among the four urban tribes, which meant that their votes were individually insignificant. Like the Centuriate Assembly, voting was indirect, with one vote apportioned to each tribe. The voting was therefore heavily slanted in favor of the thirty-one rural tribes. The Tribal Assembly met in the well of the Comitia in the '' Forum Romanum '', and elected the '' Aediles Curulis '', the Quaestor s, and the Military Tribune s (''tribuni militum''). It conducted most trials until the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla established the standing courts (''quaestiones''). A subset of the Tribal Assembly, called the Plebeian Council , legislated for the plebeians and lower classes and elected the plebeian '' Tribunes '' and '' Aedile s''. Their Plebiscite s only had the force of law for the entire Republic after 287 BC. REFORM AND ABANDONMENT Sulla's Changes During his consulate in 88 BC , Lucius Cornelius Sulla passed a series of three laws impeding the Tribal Assembly and the Plebeian Council from considering any law unless it was sent to them by ''senatus consultum'' with a favorable "do pass" recommendation. His fourth law restructured the Centuriate Assembly such that the First Class — the senators and the most powerful knights — had nearly fifty percent of the voting power. His fifth law stripped both popular assemblies — the Tribal Assembly and the Plebeian Council — of their legislative functions, leaving all legislation in the hands of the restructured Centuriate Assembly. The tribal assemblies were left with the election of certain magistrates and the conduct of trials — but no trials could be held unless authorized by ''senatus consultum''. These reforms were overturned by the ''populares'' led by Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna , restored by Sulla during his Dictatorship ''rei publicae constituendae'', and were again overturned after his death. They represent one of the most wide-ranging and direct shifts in the constitutions of the Roman state during both the Republic and the Empire . Under the Empire Augustus maintained the forms of republican government while he and his successors concentrated more and more power in their own hands by having themselves elected to various magistracies for life. Augustus transferred the legislative functions of the popular assemblies to the Senate and the senators were appointed by the emperor. Tiberius transferred the election of magistrates to the Senate as well. The assemblies, apart from the Senate, did not meet again after the reign of Caligula . When Constantine founded Constantinople he established a Senate in the new city which existed, in vestigial form, until 1453 . |
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