A Study On The Origins Of The Praetors In The Roman Republic

In the political construction of the Roman Republic,the praetor is one of the triple high-level officials who has imperium.Many scholars think this official was only to execute the power of law,he has “iurisdictio”.However,the fact is that he has the most important power in the whole period of the Roman Republic,which is imperium,and he has more responsibilities than jurisdiction.Livy's source is very precise about the creation of the praetorship.In 367 BC,the Licinian-Sextian legislation added a praetor as third colleague to the two consuls,and one consulship should be a plebeian and the praetor be a patrician,this was a compromise.Many people followed Livy's opinion that the origin of praetorship was based on intense political conflicts between the plebeian and patrician,the common people wanted to join the top magistrates,and the nobility delayed and denied the proposition for a long time,in the end,the contest between them exploded,the solution was a compromise.The praetor was born to have jurisdiction,to handle the law business.Some scholars,such as F.De Martino and Mommsen even developed a view that at the time of the creation of the praetorship in 367 the consuls were legally prohibited from the civil law.But there maybe another hypothesis which other scholars had is that the creation of the praetorship was not only the result of political conflicts,the war happened inside and outside of Rome that time,especially The Gallic threat,also played an incredible role in it.I think the military reasons of the creation of the praetorship is more plausible than just political situation and law business.In this essay,I am going to discuss this hypothesis at two aspects: one is the tense political and military environment in Rome that time,the other is the praetorship's jurisdiction power had not been executed until second century BC.When the praetorship was made,it has varied authorities,not merely jurisdiction.Here I classified the authorities into two groups,one is external function which includes military and diplomacy.the other is internal function which includes administration and religion.Military: In the early Roman Republic,all praetors needed to defend Rome,guard against external aggression.With the development of war,the urban praetor was responsible of Italy area,only been sent out when necessary.Praetor inter peregrinos was out of city to fight.Diplomacy: Praetors could appoint an envoy to be responsible of special affairs.In the Senate,the praetor would deal with legati and foreign ambassadors,send communities letters to maintain relationship with others.The praetor,when acting as president of the Senate,received the communications of commanders in the field,and read their letters to the Senate,then he also needed to transmit the Senate's orders which he helped to formulate to commanders.Administration: The urban praetor and praetor inter peregrinos both could convene and preside the Senate,normally it was the urban praetor who was the president when a dictator or consuls were absent,he had the authorities to preside the Electoral Comitia too.In the Senate,the praetor had absolute power to frame the formal setting out of the subject for debate,moderated senatorial debate,and after a sufficient discussion,put them to a vote.In the Electoral Comitia,the urban praetor had full competence to hold elections for minor magistrates and members of special commissions.He even could levy for Rome.Religion: the urban praetor could make vows on behalf of the state,declare supplicationes,and the like.Moreover,only he had the power to preside Ludi Apollinares.So,as we discussed above,we can infer that the praetor was not only a official possessed the power of law,but much more,it was a totally imperium within magistrate.Simply put,the praetorship was the “workhorse” of the Roman Republic,the magistracy expected to cope most readily with developments in the Roman attitude toward administration,warfare,law,and even empire.It was also soon the highest most people who embarked on an official career could hope to reach.