Tribunal violence

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The term tribunic power (Latin tribunícia potéstas ) describes the official powers of the tribunes of the people in ancient Rome .

republic

The tribunate and the associated powers were won by the plebeians in the class struggles . Initially, these powers stood alongside the official state offices or balanced their official powers in favor of the plebs .

Essential components of the tribunicia potestas were originally the chairmanship and the right to submit applications to the people's assembly ( concilium plebis ) as well as participation - together with the people - in people's court proceedings. Furthermore, the right of intercession was part of the official authority, which initially only amounted to a de facto prohibition of a magistrate act, but from which a prohibition right against all other - even higher - official authorities developed over time. This instrument of power arose from the duty of the tribune of the people to rush to the aid of plebeians in the event of attacks by magistrates, i.e. originally patricians (auxilium ferre) . Due to the uncertain legal status of the tribune and its increased powers, the person of the tribune was subject to a religious taboo: He was sacrosanct and the plebs obliged by oath to prevent or avenge any attack on a tribune. Anyone who attacked a tribune could be executed as a traitor.

The lex Hortensia (287 BC) recognized the assembly of the plebs as a popular assembly. The tribunes were given the power to have this assembly pass laws that are binding on the whole people (ius cum plebe agendi) , to convene and preside over the senate (ius senatus habendi) , and to carry out all official acts, including those of the highest magistrates. to forbid (ius intercessionis of the maior potestas) . With this abundance of power, the tribunate was formally the most powerful office in Rome, but for a long time it was not part of the cursus honorum . There were ten popular tribunes in the classical and late republic; thus the power of the individual incumbent was clearly curtailed, because, for example, in connection with the reform attempts of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 133 BC. Chr. Showed, it was almost always possible to bring at least one other tribune against his colleague. The fact that people's tribunes previously only held the bursaries and that their actual Senate career was still ahead of them also ensured that their behavior could be monitored. A tribune who behaved inappropriately during his year in office accepted the end of his career. It was only during the civil war at the end of the republic that the tribunate played an important role in view of the disagreement among the nobility and was used in particular by popular politicians to achieve their goals.

The tribunicia potestas consisted of so-called "negating rights", as they - with the exception of the motions in the popular assembly and the convening of the Senate - could only prevent actions. It lacked an executive and legislative character. The indirect exception was the right to draft laws with the help of the concilium plebis . However, this option was not used consistently, but only by individual incumbents (see also the list of tribunes of the Roman Republic ).

Imperial times

In the course of the establishment of the principate by the first Roman emperor Augustus , there was a separation of office and official authority of the tribunes. The award of the tribunicia potestas to Augustus is unclear and controversial due to the sources. 36 BC In BC he received tribunician power, such as the sacrosanctitas , the ius subselli and the ius auxilii . 30 BC The latter was extended over the urban area of ​​Rome to the first milestone. From 23 BC The princeps was able to dispose of the tribunicia potestas annua et perpetua and thus continuously exercise it throughout the entire territory of the Roman Empire. Since then, the official authority of the tribunes was part of the imperial power, which was also shown by the counting of the imperial years according to the tribunicia potestas . The patrician Augustus did not take over the office and the title, as did his successors. The princeps enjoyed the rights of the tribune without being subject to the duties and restrictions of the office.

For Augustus' successor, too, the tribunicia potestas belonged to the core area of ​​their imperial power for centuries. The tribunician authority formally endowed them with the means to control Roman domestic politics apparently in accordance with the law. In order to preserve the fiction of the annuity , the power of attorney was renewed annually (albeit automatically) - often as with the regular tribunate on December 10th - so that the information TRI POT , TR P or similar can be found on coins and in inscriptions for dating can use. In the course of the 4th century, the emperors stopped referring to the tribunicia potestas , as the connection to the rules of the old res publica had generally lost importance in late antiquity .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Livy 2:33 , 1-2 .
  2. ↑ Jochen Bleicken : The Roman people's tribunate. Attempt to analyze its political function in Republican times. In: Chiron . Vol. 11, 1981, pp. 87-108, here p. 93.
  3. ↑ Lukas Thommen : The people's tribunate of the late Roman Republic (= Historia. Individual writings . Vol. 59). Steiner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-515-05187-2 , pp. 126-139, (also: Basel, Universität, Dissertation, 1987).
  4. ↑ Cassius Dio 49, 15, 5 f. calls inviolability and the right to sit as honorary rights, while Appian , Civil Wars 5, 132 and, based on this, Orosius 6, 18, 4 speak of a granting of full rights by the Senate.
  5. ↑ Ernst Hohl : Did Caesar have tribune power? In: Klio. Vol. 32, No. 32, 1939, pp. 61-75, here p. 64 f. and 68, doi : 10.1524 / klio.1939.32.32.61 (currently unavailable) .