How were laws enforced in ancient Rome?

Answer 1

Laws under the Roman Republic actually came from several sources:

1. Statutes (which were the supreme law) were proposed by the magistrates and approved by the citizens in an assembly. These laws were called either "leges" or "plebescita," depending on how the assembly was organized.

2. The magistrates (specifically, the praetors, who often sat as judges) issued binding edicts, which over time developed into a sort of common law governing many private and commercial transactions.

3. The Senate issued decrees ("senatus consulta") that were, in theory, merely advice to the magistrates, but in practice were generally given binding force.

Roman law was also greatly influenced by religious rules, that blended into traditional customs ("mos"). These were not exactly binding laws, but were more like generally understood ground rules for political activities.

Answer 2

It depends on the decision. If it were a family matter, the paterfamilia, the head male of the family made them. If it were a legal matter, depending on the severity of the issue, a tribune or praetor could make a decision. If it were a serious national matter such as treason, the senate would hear the case and decide guilt or innocence. During the principate, the ultimate national decisions were made by the emperor.

Answer 3

Technically, the Roman people were responsible for passing laws in the Roman republic, but the senate could propose laws and pass them as resolutions which had the same force as a law. In emergencies or in serious circumstances, the senate had to power to act and pass legislation.

Answer 4

In the Roman republic the laws were proposed in the senate but voted upon and either passed or rejected by the various assemblies.

The senate did not propose laws. The enormous power it acquired in the mid-Republic was due to its taking charge of the administration of Rome's expansionism. However, its original role as an advisory body was not changed. Therefore, it did not propose laws. Its advice in the drafting of bills could be sought, but it did not propose legislation. What it issued was senatorial decrees (senatum consultum) which were advice on laws. The senate also had auctoritas patrum (authorisation of the fathers) which was not a power to veto laws. It must have been a statement that a law was technically acceptable and that it did not have religious flaws.

A lex comitalis was a law that was to be voted on by the comitia (the assemblies). These laws were proposed by the consuls.

By the mid-Republic the plebeian tribunes became the main proposers of laws, despite the fact that they proposed laws to the plebeian councils and that the plebiscites (this council's resolutions) were not recognised as being binding on all citizens (including the patricians) at first. This change and the later prominence of the tribunes in legislation were due to two facts. 1) The plebeian movement was very keen on rule by law, which they saw as a protection from the arbitrary rule which sparked the first plebeian rebellion (495-94 BC). They were the driving force behind the establishment of a written and published code of law (which became the Law of the Twelve Tables). They had demanded and obtained the right be given care of senatorial decrees and keep a written record of them at the plebeian temple. They deemed this necessary because the meetings of the senate were held behind closed doors, their proceedings were not made public and consuls had been in the habit of suppressing or altering them. Thus the plebeian tribunes and aediles ensured 'transparency,' became upholder of the rule of law, and in the process gained great legal expertise. The tribunes became the main promoters of legislative reform. 2) The principle that plebiscites should have the force of law binding on all citizens became established in three stages a) the Lex Valeria-Horatia (449 BC) ruled that plebiscites were laws for all, but allowed the auctoritas patrum to overturn a law on technicalities; b) the Lex Publilia Philonis (339 BC) ruled that auctoritas patrum was to be given before the vote on a bill, thus reducing it to a mere formality; a popular enactment could no longer be overturned on a technicality; c) the Lex Hortensia (287 BC) did away with the auctoritas patrum altogether.

Answer 5

Senates did, however, Tribunes made hard to make laws because it was tribunes responsebilities to protect making laws.

Answer 6

the quaestors(the tax collecters) checked every once in a while and if they found you guilty you were punished physically from the army

Answer 7

the senate would make them