Roman assemblies
Roman comitia or Roman assemblies were a group of essential institutions in the government of Ancient Rome and, together with the Roman Senate, were the main representative bodies politics of the populus romanus ('Roman people'). Unlike modern legislative chambers, these representative bodies combined legislative, judicial, and executive powers and functions along with elected offices: the Roman magistracies (whereas initially—during the Roman monarchy—the Senate was a chamber deliberative, and did not possess legislative or legal powers, over time —in the Roman Republic— it became the center of political power). Although there was no separation of powers, the intricate constitutional balance was remarkably elaborate. The elections or assemblies had very broad powers, including making retroactive laws (ex post facto).
Types
Two types of assembly were distinguished: the comitia or comitiatus (etymologically "go together") and the contio or conventio ('to come together' –see also conventus–). The word comitia (the plural of comitium, a term that identifies a specially built meeting place –like the Germanic hall–) was used to designate the assembly convened in an appropriate place to make a substantive decision (legislative, judicial or the election of public offices). The word contio was perhaps occasionally used to designate such meetings at the end of the Republic, but normally it designated meetings that simply collected the voice of the people (vox populi) through the applause and jeers, without such a thing resolving any issue or making a decision with legal value, although they did have a political value (the pulse of public opinion); these assemblies met to hear public pronouncements (such as magistrates' edicts) or witness a trial or execution, with little or no restrictions and without the solemnities of procedure (inauguratio, templum, iure) of the comitia. For its part, the word concilium was a general term applied to any political meeting, and was frequently used to denominate in Latin those of non-Roman peoples; it was also associated with Roman deliberative assemblies, probably due to its phonetic proximity to the word consilium ("council"). Concilium was the common term to designate the meetings of the Roman plebs, although it was also sometimes used to refer to the assemblies of the entire populus. It was rarely used as a technical term, but to put emphasis on identifying who the members of the assembly were (for example, a concilium of the plebs or of the Latins) and not on its formal structure. (in which case the word comitia was used, as for example in the comitia quaestoria, which elected the quaestors, or the comitia consularia which they chose the consuls). i>praeco), in what was called advocare or convocare ad concionem. In those conciones only the convening magistrate could speak or those to whom he gave the word xit in concionem). The expressions to designate the fact of convoking concionem, comitia, inlicium or conventionem were in practice interchangeable (Inlicium vocare, In concionem vocare, Ad Comitia vocare, Ad Conventionem vocare).
In theory the different comitia ('comitia') were assemblies that operated on the basis of direct democracy, in which all Roman citizens were, and not their representatives elected, who directly exercised their right to vote; although not individually, but grouped into different social categories (in a similar way to the vote by arms of the parliaments of the Old Regime –although in these the representation was by estates and not by wealth–).
History
Legendarily, at the founding of Rome (753 BC) the Senate and the Comitia Calata were created, whose functions passed to the Comitia Curiata (& #34;curiados elections") with the reforms of Servio Tulio (578-534 BC). The new king (the Roman was an elective monarchy), also had rudimentary legislative powers. Shortly after the expulsion of the last king and the founding of the Republic (509 BC –Lex Valeria de provocatione–), the main legislative powers were transferred to two new assemblies: the Comitia Tributa ("tribunate elections", in which the people were organized according to their belonging to each of the tribes) and the Comitia Centuriata ("centuries elections", in which the people were organized according to their belonging to each of the centuries). Later, in the context of the struggles between patricians and plebeians, since only the patricians had access to the Senate, a new assembly was founded that only brought together the plebeians: the Concilium Plebis ("Council of the Plebs"), which was endowed with extensive powers. The order of creation of the different assemblies, and their respective subdivisions, is not perfectly established. It is stated in some source that the Comitia Populi Tributa were founded around the year 357 B.C. C. in imitation of the Comitia Plebis Tributa, so that the entire populus (patricians and plebeians) and not only the plebeians, would participate in this form of representation by tribes, and In this way, minor magistrates (curule aediles, quaestors and military tribunes) were elected, minor judicial processes and other functions were held.
The crisis of the Republic led to the breakdown of the balance between the assemblies, the Senate and the magistracies, and led to the transformation of the political system, which became a Roman Empire with the Principality of Augustus (27 BC) under the In the high-imperial system, the powers of the assemblies were exercised in fact by the Senate (which the emperor managed at will as princeps), although the formal calls for the constitution of the different comitias continued and the citizens to exercise their vote. In addition, the various assemblies continued to serve organizational purposes. With the passage of time and the transformation of the political system into the low imperial system (Dominated), the elections or assemblies were no longer called.
... If you vote for classes, the elections are Curiata, by curia; if voted according to census and age are Centuriata, by centuries: finally, they are called Tribute, by tribes, when voted according to the domicile...Aulo Gelio: Attic nightsXV-27
Location: Comitium
The comitia a cum eundo (sic) were called the meetings or general assemblies of the Roman people in which the most important issues of the Republic were dealt with and decided by plurality of votes. The name of Comitium was that part of the great square (the Forum romanum) that was between the Capitol and the Palatine Hill and at whose entrance the Emperor Augustus had that famous column placed called Milliarium aureum, from which the miles of all Roman roads began to be counted. Surrounded by temples, the side of the Forum where the Comitium was located was covered (In another source it is indicated that it was a long room -hall- that was left uncovered, so that the assemblies were dissolved if it began to rain) and there was a kind of platform called the Tribune of faces (sic see Rostra) or of harangues, from where laws were proposed to the people and everything that was convenient was communicated to him. In the Comitium the people elected many of their magistrates and suitors commonly went there to win the affection and votes of the people with a thousand means. These assemblies were called and presided over by a Roman magistrate who was sometimes drawn by lot. At first the kings presided over them, and after the regifugio, the first magistrates. It is believed that when the assembly met for the election of the flamines, the pontifex presided.
In the first years of the founding of Rome, the Roman people met only by curiae and these assemblies, the oldest and the only ones that it had for a long time, were called in Latin comitia curiata, that is, meetings of the Roman people by curias or barracks because only the inhabitants of the city attended them. The other kind of assemblies with which the people met later, made up of all the rural and urban tribes, was called comitia tributa, in which, in addition to the inhabitants of Rome, all those from the other cities of Italy that enjoyed the right of Roman citizens. These were collected by the tribunes.
The most solemn assemblies were called in Latin comitia centuriata, in which the people met by centuries and those that could only be called by consuls, praetors, censors, dictators and decemviros, preceding before a decree of the Senate.
The elections by curiae met every day in the Comitium in the great square. Those of the tribes met in the Field of Mars, when they had to proceed to the election of consuls, censors and tribunes and in the Comitium or the Capitol when it was a question of making any law or judging any. cause. The censors for the prescription of the people gathered it in the Campo de Marte but their ordinary assemblies were held in the Temple of Liberty (Libertas).
Curiata Committee, elections or assembly by curiae
The comitia by curiae was the newest Roman assembly after the Comitia Calata. Each of the three ancient tribes had ten curiae, and these in turn had one hundred men. In total there were then three thousand people who constituted the curia together. This body, at first, elected the highest magistrates, but later it only confirmed and inaugurated the elections of the assembly by centuries.
Centuriata Committee, elections or assembly by centuries
The election by centuries included patricians and plebeians organized into five economic classes (although the socioeconomic structure, beyond political representation, actually had a peak formed by the senatorial class and the equestrian class) and distributed among divisions internal calls centuries. Assembly membership required a certain economic status and power, which mainly fell to members of the first and second classes. The assembly met annually to elect the consuls and praetors, and every five years to elect the censors. Also to treat cases of perduellio ("high treason"), although this last function fell into disuse after Lucio Apuleyo Saturnino introduced a more feasible format: the maiestas minuta ("little betrayal").
The creation of the centuries-old comitia, attributed to King Servius Tullius, made the comitia curiata lose part of their powers, which only kept minor acts and protocols, such as receiving the oath of the consuls. They slowly disappeared, and by the end of the 3rd century B.C. C. no longer constituted any power. The centuries-old elections acquired the functions of the curiados. They elected consuls, censors and praetors, decided on war and peace, legislated and decided on appeals. The rise of the tribunal elections made them lose part of their power, preserving the election of magistrates. At first their decisions had to be endorsed by the Senate, but by the end of the III century a. C. that procedure was no longer necessary.
The vote was not exercised individually, but each one was counted within their century and determined the final vote of each one of them. Initially, the total number of centuries was 193 (which, if each one consisted of one hundred men, would mean a total of 19,300 citizens with political rights, a figure compatible with the census of the first year of the Republic, which according to Dionisio de Halicarnaso, counted 130,000 inhabitants, but which historical demography studies consider excessive). According to their wealth (measured first in agricultural area and then monetarily in ases – although at first the "great as" pattern should have been used), 1/ 5 in money, referred to the type called "little ones", 1.10 in money-) the citizens were part of one century or another. The correspondence with the century, a military unit, was based on the fact that citizens should arm themselves according to their economic possibilities, and thus serve in the army (classis) or not (infra classem). From the law of Appius Claudius (312 B.C.), the possibility was opened for people without land, who had become rich through trade, such as certain commoners, to access to the highest centuries, increasing their social and legislative importance. Because only the first 18 centuries (reserved for the patrician class) along with the next 80 (reserved for those with wealth greater than 100,000 aces) reached an absolute majority, the other centuries, no matter how much they represented to the majority of the population, they did not have any significance in the final result of the voting. Later (241 BC, with the censors Marco Fabio Buteón and Cayo Aurelio Cota) modifications were introduced in the structure and number of the centuries, considering in each of the 35 tribes two different age groups (senior –between 17 and 46 years old– and junior –over 46, which according to Cicero was done to give as much weight to the numerous and inexperienced young people as to the less numerous, but more experienced of older, presumably with more to lose) and five social classes, so there were ten centuries per tribe (350) to which were added the 18 centuries of those who served in cavalry (equites, with six centuries reserved only for patricians -sex suffragia–) and 5 centuries for the poorest citizens (capiti censi or proletarii), for what the total reached 373 centuries. The vote was won when the number of 187 votes in favor was reached, for which the centuries of the first three classes were usually enough, and at that moment voting was stopped, so the last centuries (which in fact represented the majority of the population and, with Mario's reforms –107 BC–, even the majority of the army) in practice did not even count for the final result. During the dictatorship of Sulla (82-80 BC), Mario's main adversary, he turned to the "Servian organization"; and a few years after the death of Sulla, Pompey and Crassus (consuls of the year 70 BC) undid the dictator's constitutional reforms and returned to the organization of the centuries of Fabio and Aurelio. The centurial organization was not altered again; although, in any case, the political organization of the imperial era emptied the comitia of power and functions.
Monarchy
The division takes into account territorial wealth:
- First-class citizens. More than 5 hectares. It's 80 centuries.
- Second-rate citizens. Between 5-3.75 hectares. It's 20 centuries.
- Third category citizens. Between 3.75-2.5 hectares. It's 20 centuries.
- 4th grade citizens. Between 2.5-1.75 hectares. It's 20 centuries.
- Fifth-grade citizens. Between 1.75-0.5 hectares. It's 30 centuries.
- Sixth grade citizens. They're the kind that make up the capite censiI mean, those who don't collect within the census. It's 5 centuries.
- Seventh-rate citizens. Group of gentlemen. It's 18 centuries.
In the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus, each citizen would have been granted two yugs of land. That would be the dimension required to belong to the fifth class, while for the successive ones four, eight, twelve and sixteen yugadas (equivalent to about four hectares) were required.
Republic
Reform of 312 B.C. C. Use the monetary amount as a standard of wealth:
- First-class citizens. More than 100,000 aces. It's 80 centuries.
- Second-rate citizens. Between 100,000-75 000 aces. It's 20 centuries.
- Third category citizens. Between 75 000-50 000 aces. It's 20 centuries.
- 4th grade citizens. Between 50 000-25 000 aces. It's 20 centuries.
- Fifth-grade citizens. Between 25 000-11 000 aces. It's 30 centuries.
- Sixth grade citizens. They're the kind that make up the capite censiI mean, those who don't collect within the census. It's 1 centuria.
- Seventh-rate citizens. Group of gentlemen. It's 18 centuries.
Reformation between the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. C. Multiply the pattern of wealth by 10:
- First-class citizens. More than 1 000 000 aces. It's 70 centuries.
- Second-rate citizens. Between 1 000 000-750 000 aces. It's 70 centuries.
- Third category citizens. Between 750 000-500 000 aces. It's 70 centuries.
- 4th grade citizens. Between 500 000-250 000 aces. It's 70 centuries.
- Fifth-grade citizens. Between 250 000-110 000 aces. It's 5 centuries.
- Sixth grade citizens. They're the kind that make up the capite censiI mean, those who don't collect within the census. It's 5 centuries.
- Seventh-rate citizens. Group of gentlemen. It's 18 centuries.
The gentlemen lost the right to vote first, which went to one of the first three classes to be determined by lottery. The emancipated obtained the right to vote, but as they were too numerous and flocked from very different places, they later lost it.
Each class had the same number of votes, with which the last of each class descended to the next one, or the first ones promoted to the previous one in order to equalize them. For this reason, after the vote of the third class, the majority was determined.
In fact, the vote in first place went to the first class, which logically had a quarter of the votes, keeping the class of gentlemen separate.
Comitia Tributa, elections or assembly by tribes
Tribal elections, tribunal elections, tribute elections or tribal elections (comitia tributa) were the assembly of citizens gathered by tribes, which constituted the voting unit. They had electoral powers, such as the election of minor magistrates (quaestors, aediles, and military tribunes), plebeian aediles and tribunes, and extraordinary magistrates, such as triumvirs. Its judicial powers were limited to crimes punishable by a fine. Its main powers were legislative; from 287 BC C., with the Lex Hortensia, they voted for most of the laws that were later ratified by the Senate. The voting of the laws, the elections of minor magistrates, criminal accusations and other issues previously the responsibility of the centuriate elections, had been passing to these tribute elections, leaving the centuriates the election of the major magistrates (censors, consuls and praetors). The election of the tribunes of the plebs did not correspond to the entire tribal assembly, but only to the plebeians in the assembly of the plebs (concilium plebis), to which the patricians had no access. Most of the judicial powers of the comitia tributa were eliminated with the establishment of the quaestiones during the dictatorship of Lucio Cornelio Sulla.
The comitia tributa were summoned and directed by the aediles and tribunes of the common people. In the elections by tribes, all Roman citizens considered ingenui (free men born free) and domiciled voted, while those not domiciled and emancipated, included in four tribes (out of a total of 35). They did not count in the deliberations. All Roman citizens, both patricians and plebeians, were distributed among 35 tribes for administrative and electoral purposes. The majority of the urban population of Rome was distributed among four urban tribes, which meant that, although individually their votes were many more, in the computation the population of the 31 rural tribes had much more weight. As in the assembly by centuries, in the assembly by tribes the vote was grouped: one for each tribe.
The meeting place was the Roman Forum.
The tribunal elections arose as meetings of the common people (divided into four tribes or districts, later increased to 21, and later to 53) without decision-making power. But over time their agreements became laws and their decisions superseded those of other elections. First he turned his votes into laws; obtained the appointment of some magistrates; Later he was able to grant honors, annul decisions of the Senate, and even assumed jurisdiction over peace and alliance treaties. But by the end of the III century a. C. the Senate, formally subject to the tribunal elections, had acquired control of these.
The magistrates were elected in the corresponding elections by citizens with the right to vote. Each magistrate who sought to be elected presented some government proposals or intentions with which he assured that he would hold office, a kind of electoral program, then called an edict.
Concilium Plebis, council or assembly of the people
It met summoned by the tribunes of the common people, who in turn were elected by this assembly. Their meeting place was the Aventine, outside the Pomerium, the sacred precinct of the city. Some sources collect that for legal and administrative issues it also met in the Forum and in the Capitol. The Campo de Marte was used for elections in the final centuries of the Republic. They also collect some sources that he celebrated in "the well of the Comitia", and that some senators observed the plebeian meetings from the steps of the Curia Hostilia (the building where the Senate met) to, from there, interfere in them.
Loss of importance of the elections
The extension of Roman citizenship did not imply the extension of the constituencies by tribes, but rather the new citizens were included in the already existing ones, with which the Comitia lost their effectiveness as it was impossible to gather all the citizens with the right to vote, scattered throughout Italy.
Since then, all the assemblies or elections have always voted affirmatively to the proposals of the convener, except in some local or exceptional matter, always being an ephemeral opposition.
The assemblies or elections were also dominated by the clients of the aristocracy. These clients, made up mostly of descendants of former slaves or poor people who had placed themselves under the protection of a patron, were bound by existing submissive relationships with the person who exercised the patronage, who also accompanied them to the assembly; they made the counterweight of the middle classes not subject to clientele.
The liberation of slaves on the occasion of the Second Punic War led to a notable increase in the number of clients who attended the elections (they were called the populace of Rome).
Current use of the term
The word 'elections' It is currently used as a synonym for an electoral act, be it elections or a plebiscite (a concept derived from the Roman plebiscita).
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