DANCEST 805 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Roman Kingdom, Natural Disaster, Glossary Of Ancient Roman Religion
Document Summary
The imperium was just conferred upon the highest charge, the king, who remained in office for life- time. The laws in force belonged to the archaic roman customary law. Anyway, new legal rules could be introduced by the king. Senate, made up of patricians (upper class), which was an advisory body. The imperium was conferred upon two consuls (one-year mandate and immunity during office), who had equal power. So, for each decision the agreement between them was central. Due to the plebeians" protests, the major part of customary law was codified in the law of twelve. One century later plebeians obtained another great result: one of the consuls had to be one of them (367 bc). In 242 bc, a second praetor (peregrinus) for non-roman citizens was created to better administrate the justice. The imperium was detained by the emperor, who could directly legislate via constitutiones. Senate acted in base of the emperor"s oratio.
