Century Assembly

The Roman Republic ( res publica ) distributed the governance formally on three separate meetings, the Comitia Centuriata, the Comitia Populi tributa and the Concilium Plebis. In contrast to modern Parliaments, these corporations knew no separation of powers, but combined legislative, judicial and electoral law functions. They had the ability to change laws retroactively (ex post facto). The Roman Senate, however, was formally an advisory chamber and had ( at least theoretically) no legislative or judicial power.

The Comitia Centuriata included patricians and plebeians, who were organized into five classes. ( Knights and senators formed the first class) which were distributed to departments, called Centuries. The breakdown by Centuries comes from the military system, the Comitia Centuriata ie a measure of the assembly of the Roman people as a military assembly. According to their assets and the contribution they could afford on the basis of which the army, were the Centuries into five classes for foot soldiers, besides divided into departments for riders, artisans, musicians and all others. In classical times, the division into classes Centuries and saw probably as follows:

The Comitia Centuriata came together every year to select the consuls and praetors of next year, and to determine generally every five years the censors. Moreover, it dealt with cases of high treason ( perduellio ), although this function fell into disuse after Lucius Saturninus Appuleius had introduced an amendment here ( maiestas ).

The voice of the citizen was not released directly into the Comitia Centuriata, but within the Centurie and contributed to the voting behavior of Centurie at. In the vote each centuria had one vote. Since the upper Centuries for rich citizens had far fewer members than the lower for poorer citizens, possessed the members of this Centuries - ie the wealthy knights and senators - a disproportionate influence on the election results. The Centuries were sequentially interviewed so that the voting behavior of Reitercenturie could influence the decision of the following classes. If the Reitercenturie and the first class were in agreement, the majority was thus reached, the vote was finished, without consulting the other classes. This appeared, therefore, often not even to the meeting, as well as the non- resident in Rome or near the rural population. Since the Comitia Centuriata were originally a military meeting, they had outside the city limits of Rome ( pomerium ) will be held in the Campus Martius. This made them cumbersome to convene and conduct.

During his consulship in 88 BC, and especially as Dictator (81 /80) Sulla enacted many laws ( leges Corneliae ), which changed the political structure of the Republic radically. His third law forbade the Concilium Plebis and the Comitia Populi tributa to discuss laws that were not introduced by decree of the senate ( senatus consultum ). His fourth law structured the Comitia Centuriata so that the first class, the senators and the most powerful knights had almost half of the votes. His fifth law undressed both tribal gatherings, Concilium Plebis and Comitia Populi tributa, their legislative functions, so that all the legislation in the Comitia Centuriata was. The tribal meetings were thus limited to the election of certain magistrates and the direction of negotiations - but which could not be taken without authorization by a senatus consultum.

These reforms were undone by the populares, led by Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna, introduced by Sulla during his dictatorship rei publicae constituendae ( " the restoration of the State" ) and again expanded and soon exposed again after his death. They represent one of the most far-reaching intervention in the constitution of the Roman state, both in the Republic and in the Principate dar.

In the year 14 AD Emperor Tiberius then withdrew the Assembly the right to elect consuls and praetors; so they sank into insignificance factual.