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Main articles: Roman Constitution and History of the Roman Constitution
Initially, Rome was ruled by kings, who were elected from each of Rome's major tribes in
turn.[179] The exact
nature of the king's power is uncertain. He may have held near-absolute power,
or may also have merely been the chief executive of the Senate and the people. At least in military matters, the
king's authority (Imperium) was likely absolute. He was also the head of
the state religion. In addition to the authority of the King,
there were three administrative assemblies: the Senate, which acted as an advisory body for the King; the Comitia Curiata, which could endorse and ratify laws suggested
by the King; and the Comitia Calata, which was an assembly of the priestly college
that could assemble the people to bear witness to certain acts, hear
proclamations, and declare the feast and holiday schedule for the next month.
The class struggles of theRoman Republic resulted
in an unusual mixture of democracy and oligarchy. The word republic comes from the Latin res
publica, which literally translates to "public business". Roman lawstraditionally could only be passed by a vote of the
Popular assembly (Comitia Tributa). Likewise, candidates for public positions
had to run for election by the people. However, the Roman Senate represented an oligarchic institution, which acted as an
advisory body.
In the Republic, the Senate held great authority (auctoritas), but
no real legislative power; it was technically only an advisory council. However,
as the Senators were individually very influential, it was difficult to
accomplish anything against the collective will of the Senate. New Senators were
chosen from among the most accomplishedpatricians by Censors (Censura), who could also remove a Senator from
his office if he was found "morally corrupt"; a charge that could include
bribery or, as under Cato the Elder, embracing one's wife in public. Later, under
the reforms of the dictator Sulla, Quaestors were made automatic members of the Senate, though most
of his reforms did not survive.
The Republic had no fixed bureaucracy, and collected taxes through the practice of tax farming. Government positions such as quaestor, aedile, or praefect were funded from the office-holder's private finances.
To prevent any citizen from gaining too much power, new magistrates were elected annually and had to share power with a
colleague. For example, under normal conditions, the highest authority was held
by two consuls. In an emergency, a temporary dictator could be appointed. Throughout the Republic, the
administrative system was revised several times to comply with new demands. In
the end, it proved inefficient for controlling the ever-expanding dominion of
Rome, contributing to the establishment of the Roman Empire.
In the early Empire, the pretense of a republican form of government was
maintained. The Roman Emperor was
portrayed as only a princeps, or "first citizen", and the Senate gained
legislative power and all legal authority previously held by the popular
assemblies. However, the rule of the Emperors became increasingly autocratic, and the Senate was reduced to an advisory body
appointed by the Emperor. The Empire did not inherit a set bureaucracy from the
Republic, since the Republic did not have any permanent governmental structures
apart from the Senate. The Emperor appointed assistants and advisers, but the
state lacked many institutions, such as a centrally planned budget. Some historians have cited this as a significant
reason for the decline of the Roman Empire.
Further information: History of citizenship § Roman conceptions of
citizenship Law
Main article: Roman law
The roots of the legal principles and practices of the ancient Romansmay be traced to the Law of the Twelve Tables promulgated in 449 BC and to the codification of law issued by order of Emperor Justinian Iaround 530 AD (see Corpus Juris Civilis). Roman law as preserved in Justinian's codes continued into the Byzantine Empire, and formed the basis of similar codifications in continental Western Europe. Roman law continued, in a broader sense, to be applied throughout most of Europe until the end of the 17th century. The major divisions of the law of ancient Rome, as contained within the Justinian and Theodosian law codes, consisted of Ius Civile, Ius Gentium, and Ius Naturale. The Ius Civile ("Citizen Law") was the body of common laws that applied to Roman citizens.[180] The Praetores Urbani(sg. Praetor Urbanus) were the people who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens. The Ius Gentium ("Law of nations") was the body of common laws that applied to foreigners, and their dealings with Roman citizens.[168] The Praetores Peregrini (sg. Praetor Peregrinus) were the people who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens and foreigners. Ius Naturale encompassed natural law, the body of laws that were considered common to all beings. Economy Main articles: Roman agriculture, Roman commerce, Roman finance and Roman currencyAncient Rome commanded a vast area of land, with tremendous natural and human resources. As such, Rome's economy remained focused on farmingand trade. Agricultural free trade changed the Italian landscape, and by the 1st century BC, vast grape and olive estates had supplanted theyeoman farmers, who were unable to match the imported grain price. Theannexation of Egypt, Sicily and Tunisia in North Africa provided a continuous supply of grains. In turn, olive oil and wine were Italy's main exports. Two-tier crop rotation was practiced, but farm productivity was low, around 1 ton per hectare. Industrial and manufacturing activities were smaller. The largest such activities were the mining and quarrying of stones, which provided basic construction materials for the buildings of that period. In manufacturing, production was on a relatively small scale, and generally consisted of workshops and small factories that employed at most dozens of workers. However, some brick factories employed hundreds of workers. The economy of the early Republic was largely based on smallholding and paid labor. However, foreign wars and conquests made slavesincreasingly cheap and plentiful, and by the late Republic, the economy was largely dependent on slave labor for both skilled and unskilled work. Slaves are estimated to have constituted around 20% of the Roman Empire's population at this time and 40% in the city of Rome. Only in the Roman Empire, when the conquests stopped and the prices of slaves increased, did hired labor become more economical than slave ownership. Although barter was used in ancient Rome, and often used in tax collection, Rome had a very developed coinage system, with brass,bronze, and precious metal coins in circulation throughout the Empire and beyond—some have even been discovered in India. Before the 3rd century BC, copper was traded by weight, measured in unmarked lumps, across central Italy. The original copper coins (as) had a face value of one Roman pound of copper, but weighed less. Thus, Roman money's utility as a unit of exchange consistently exceeded its intrinsic valueas metal. After Nero began debasing the silver denarius, its legalvalue was an estimated one-third greater than its intrinsic value. Horses were expensive and other pack animals were slower. Mass trade on the Roman roads connected military posts, where Roman markets were centered.[181] These roads were designed for wheels.[182] As a result, there was transport of commodities between Roman regions, but increased with the rise of Roman maritime trade in the 2nd century BC. During that period, a trading vessel took less than a month to complete a trip from Gades to Alexandria via Ostia, spanning the entire length of theMediterranean.[106] Transport by sea was around 60 times cheaper than by land, so the volume for such trips was much larger. Some economists like Peter Temin consider the Roman Empire a market economy, similar in its degree of capitalistic practices to 17th century Netherlands and 18th century England.[183] |
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