Study On The Censorship In Roman Republic

The censor is an important part in the ancient Roman Republic system.Its creation and functions play a vital role in promoting construction of a clean and honest administration and improving ideological morality.After the censor is set,its functions and rights have taken great changes,ranging from census of citizens to supervising their morality,selecting senators,supervising financial activities and managing public projects.The expansion of its rights reflects its importance in Roman Republic.The setting of censors embodies the idea of power balance,which is the originality of Roman people.This thought is inherited and carried forward by the thinkers of modern western countries,forming the famous balance mechanism,which is the separation of three powers.This paper is supposed to talk about the background,the principle and conditions of setting the censor,and its functions.The main point is to analyze the role of censorship in Roman Republic constitution and explain its influence of check and balance on the supervision of later generations.In this way,we can have a deep understanding of Roman censorship in ancient times.The paper will include five parts apart from the introduction and conclusion.The first part deals with the background of censors from two points.On the one hand,the census has been stalled for several years,this work is very urgent;On the other hand,in the early years,the Republic of Rome is surrounded by enemies and the counsel has to devote himself to the war,so he has no time to do the job.The second part deals with the principles and conditions of setting censors.The principle includes democratic election,term of office and the system of agreement by colleagues.The conditions of election are the noble identity,the life experience of and noble virtues.The third part explains the specific powers of the censor.It mainly explains its functions from political,ideological and social perspectives.The censor has the wide rights including the citizen census,supervision of citizens' morality,selection of senates,participation and supervision of the state financial activities and management of public works.The fourth part deals with the importance of censorship in Roman Republic.It explains that the censorship plays a very important role in Roman Republic Political Institutions from political perspectives.First,the moral rights of censors helps to prevent official corruption.Second,the censor plays a coordinating role in the power of the consul,the wisdom of senate and the democratic freedom of citizens' assembly.The last part is the influence of power balances on the supervision system of modern western countries.Mainly from the checks and balances,it analyzes the influence of the thought on the modern western supervision system.