Concilium plebis
The Roman Republic ( Res Publica Romana ) formally divided the legislative power into three separate assemblies, the comitia centuriata , the comitia tributa and the concilium plebis .
The concilium plebis was - like the comitia tributa - a tribal meeting, but only the plebeians to the exclusion of all patricians who were also not allowed to take part in the meetings. Only the tribunes ( tribuni plebis ) could convene the concilium plebis ; it usually met in the Comitium in the Roman Forum . Patrician senators often observed the gathering from the steps of Hostilia Curia and tried to influence the tribunes from here. The concilium plebis was the preferred legislature of the republic, although technically its laws were called plebiscites - referendums. It elected the plebeian aediles ( aediles plebis ) and the tribunes and conducted court hearings until the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla established the permanent courts of justice.
The concilium plebis had emerged from the class battles with the patricians in 494 BC. Developed. However, the assembly was apparently only able to assert itself politically through the institutions of the people's tribunate and the plebeian aedility. This gave the plebeians, for the first time in Roman history, an important voice that was able to represent their interests effectively in the state structure.
The concilium plebis was not bound by the recommendations of the Senate and was able to vote them down - for example in the Jugurthin War , when the senatus consultum decided to extend the term of office of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus as commanding general, which the concilium plebis with the appointment of Gaius Marius rejected - or added: while Caesar was appointed proconsul of Gallia cisalpina and Illyricum by resolution of the popular assembly , Gallia transalpina was given to him by senatus consultum .
During his consulate in 88 BC In BC Sulla issued a series of leges Corneliae that radically changed the political structure of the republic. His third law forbade the concilium plebis and the comitia tributa to deliberate on laws that had not been introduced by senatus consultum . His fourth law restructured the comitia centuriata so that the first class, the senators and the most powerful knights, had nearly half the votes. His fifth law stripped both tribal assemblies, concilium plebis and comitia tributa , of their legislative functions, so that all legislation lay with the comitia centuriata . The tribal meetings were thereby limited to the election of certain magistrates and the management of negotiations - which, however, could not be started without authorization from a senatus consultum .
These reforms were reversed by the Populares under the leadership of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna , reintroduced by Sulla during his dictatorship rei publicae constituendae , and suspended again after his death. They represent one of the most far-reaching interventions in the constitution of the Roman state, both in the republic and in the principate .
Remarks
- ↑ For the legal position of the tribunes and their right to convene see Detlef Liebs : Römisches Recht. A study book (= UTB 465). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1975, ISBN 3-525-03118-1 , p. 24.
- ^ Karl Christ : Crisis and Fall of the Roman Republic. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Scientific book company, Darmstadt 1984, ISBN 3-534-08061-0 , p. 298.
- ↑ On Sulla's laws see Ernst Meyer : Römischer Staat und Staatsgedanke. 2nd, revised and supplemented edition. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1961, pp. 318–323.