Concilium Plebis

The Plebeian Council usually met in the well of the Comitia at the call of a plebeian tribune, who also presided and proposed legislation. Patrician senators often observed from the steps of the Curia Hostilia and heckled the tribunes during meetings (Roman politics were considerably more rambunctious than even the modern House Of Commons ). Lacking the religious requirements of the ''Comitia Tributa'' and the ''Comitia Curiata'' or the awkwardness of the ''Comitia Centuriata'', the Plebeian Council's procedure was much less complicated than that of the various Roman Assemblies . As such, it eventually became the favored legislature of the Republic, so much so that in 287 BC, plebiscites gained the full force of law and became binding on the entire Republic.

From its inception the Plebeian Council played an important role in the clash of the orders, a struggle between patricians and plebeians over political power. The significance of the council was in that it was the first political power gained by the plebs, and that it provided a legal mechanism to safeguard against the abuse of plebeians at the hands of patricians.

EXTERNAL LINK

Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, article ''Concilium''

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Concilium Plebis