Roman assemblies
The
Roman assemblies were the
Comitia Calata, the
Comitia Curiata, the
Comitia Centuriata, and the
Comitia Tributa. They possessed ultimate
legislative and
judicial powers in the
Roman Republic and were also responsible for the election of
magistrates.
Unlike
legislatures in countries such as the
United States, the Roman assemblies were seen to embody the People of Rome, not merely being an appointed body of representatives, and thus possessed ultimate
legislative powers, including the ability to pass
ex post facto laws and
bills of attainder. They were also not
deliberative assemblies: normal citizens neither debated nor proposed legislation (only
magistrates could propose legislation). The assemblies also possessed
judicial powers, some of which were transferred to permanent courts later in the Republic. The absence of modern
separation of powers did not mean that checks and balances were absent from Roman government (they were in fact remarkably elaborate).
In the later Republic, a subset of the
Comitia Tributa, the
Concilium Plebis, gained the legislative powers of the assemblies and became the favored legislative mechanism.
The honoured expression
Senatus Populusque Romanus (abbreviated as SPQR), often used as an indication for the Roman state, clearly testifies to the general perception that Rome was legitimately ruled by the will of the people (in the assemblies) guided by the
Senate, and under their authority by the magistrates. Only when the
principate was established—within the republic, which was never abolished—did a single person, the
Roman emperor, start to embody the state politically and hence incarnate the
maiestas of Rome.
Comitia Calata
The
Comitia Calata was the most ancient and least-known of the
comitia. By the time accurate historical records began its significance and use had both greatly declined. The
Comitia Calata was different from the other assemblies because there was no voting or other active participation by the people. It was called for the people to hear announcement and witness certain acts.
The
Comitia Calata was held under the presidency of the
pontifex maximus. The meeting probably took place in the
Capitoline Hill in front of the
Curia Calabra. The
Comitia Calata and the
Comitia Curiata were the only assemblies recognised before the time of
Servius Tullius. The assembly consisted entirely of
patricians, organized into
curiae, and performed the following functions:
* Announcements of the
pontiffs concerning time keeping and nature of certain dates,
* Inauguration of
Flamines and the
Rex Sacrorum, and
* Witnessing
testaments of patricians in order to avoid any disputes following the death of the person in question.
Comitia Curiata
The
Comitia Curiata (Curiate Assembly) was the oldest Roman assembly after the
Comitia Calata. It consisted entirely of
patricians organized in 30
curiae, which were voting units that each cast one collective vote. This assembly originally was the only assembly which transacted business, electing all magistrates, granting their
imperium, and enacting laws. Later, though, it only retained the right to grant the
imperium through the
lex curiata de imperio, acting as a power to confirm those elected by the Centuriate Assembly. By the late
Republic, the Curiate Assembly was thought to be composed only of thirty
lictors, each representing one of the
curiae.
Comitia Centuriata
The
Comitia Centuriata (Centuriate Assembly) included both
patricians and
plebeians organized into five economic classes (
knights and
senators being the First Class) and distributed among internal divisions called
centuriae. Membership in the Centuriate Assembly required certain economic status, and power was heavily vested in the First and Second Classes. The Centuriate Assembly met annually to elect the next year's
consuls and
praetors, and
quinquennially (every 5 years) to elect the
censors. It also sat to try cases of high treason (
perduellio), although this latter function fell into disuse after
Lucius Appuleius Saturninus introduced a more workable format (
maiestas).
A citizen's vote did not count in the Centuriate Assembly. Rather, the individual's vote was counted within his century and determined the outcome of the century's vote. Because only the first eighteen (and richest) centuries were kept to the nominal size of 100 members, members of those centuries exerted a disproportionate influence over the outcome of votes. The Centuriate Assembly, originally a military assembly of knights, had to meet outside the
pomerium of
Rome on the
Campus Martius since no army was permitted inside the
pomerium. It also consisted of many people, which when combined with the meeting place made the assembly extremely clumsy to convoke and manage. Thus, although it had legislative powers, it was not normally used except to elect magistrates.
Comitia Tributa
The
Comitia Tributa (Tribal Assembly) included both patricians and plebeians distributed among the thirty-five tribes into which all Roman citizens were placed for administrative and electoral purposes. The vast majority of the urban population of Rome was distributed among the four urban tribes, which meant that their votes were individually insignificant. Like the Centuriate Assembly, voting was indirect, with one vote apportioned to each tribe. The voting was therefore heavily slanted in favor of the thirty-one rural tribes. The Tribal Assembly met in the well of the Comitia in the
Forum Romanum, and elected the
aediles curulis, the
quaestors, and the
military tribunes (
tribuni militum). It conducted most trials until the dictator
Lucius Cornelius Sulla established the standing courts (
quaestiones).
A subset of the Tribal Assembly, called the
Plebeian Council, legislated for the plebeians and lower classes and elected the plebeian
tribunes and
aediles. Their
plebiscites only had the force of law for the entire Republic after 287 BC.
Sulla's Changes
During his consulate in
88 BC,
Lucius Cornelius Sulla passed a series of three laws impeding the Tribal Assembly and the Plebeian Council from considering any law unless it was sent to them by
senatus consultum with a favorable "do pass" recommendation. His fourth law restructured the Centuriate Assembly such that the First Class — the senators and the most powerful knights — had nearly fifty percent of the voting power. His fifth law stripped both popular assemblies — the Tribal Assembly and the Plebeian Council — of their legislative functions, leaving all legislation in the hands of the restructured Centuriate Assembly. The tribal assemblies were left with the election of certain magistrates and the conduct of trials — but no trials could be held unless authorized by
senatus consultum.
These reforms were overturned by the
populares led by
Marius and
Lucius Cornelius Cinna, restored by Sulla during his
dictatorship rei publicae constituendae, and were again overturned after his death. They represent one of the most wide-ranging and direct shifts in the constitutions of the Roman state during both the Republic and the
Empire.
Under the Empire
Augustus maintained the forms of republican government while he and his successors concentrated more and more power in their own hands by having themselves elected to various magistracies for life. Augustus transferred the legislative functions of the popular assemblies to the Senate and the senators were appointed by the emperor.
Tiberius transferred the election of magistrates to the Senate as well. The assemblies, apart from the Senate, did not meet again after the reign of
Caligula. When
Constantine founded
Constantinople he established a Senate in the new city which existed, in vestigial form, until
1453.
*If any person in a comitia became
epileptic, the assembly was immediately dissolved: this being esteemed an evil omen. Thus, the ancient term for epilepsy was
morbus comitialis.
