law making

[qselby]

I know the Senate wasn't a legislative body during the Republic, but I'm a little stymied by what assembly or comitia made the laws in Rome. Were several used at first?

 

I ask because of the following I found:

 

Initially the Plebeian Council had the power to pass laws (plebiscite) that were binding on all common people, though not on the entire Republic.

 

Then:

 

As such, it eventually became the favored legislature of the Republic, so much so that in 287 BC, plebiscites gained the full force of law and became binding on the entire Republic.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Well law making in ancient Rome was at first done by the kings and the centuries which met on the field of Mars. Then came the troubles between the common people ( plebs ) and the patrician which led the plebs to create it's own assembly which indeed could make laws valid only for it's members. Laws valid for the whole roman population were made through the centuries after senatorial review. Usually a law which was not accepted by the Senate was not presented to the assembly.

 

When the plebiscitum became valid for all citizens it became the prefered way to pass a law for various reasons including the fact that it was a bit more "democratic" without giving all the power to the common people, especially since only magistrates could organize a session and they went to the Senate before putting a bill to the vote. It only changed with the Gracchian brothers who went ahead with their laws despite senatorial opposition, the first of a serie of radical tribunes of the plebs which threatened the normal power base of the senatorial elite. Thus the attempt by Sulla to curtail their powers.

 

Finally under Caesar laws were almost never voted anymore, Caesar ruling by decree, before Augustus slowly killed the public voting procedure altogether safe for senatorial advices ( which went the way the Emperor whished ) and elections which were also largely pre-determinated by the Emperor.

[Primus Pilus]

I know the Senate wasn't a legislative body during the Republic, but I'm a little stymied by what assembly or comitia made the laws in Rome. Were several used at first?

 

I ask because of the following I found:

 

Initially the Plebeian Council had the power to pass laws (plebiscite) that were binding on all common people, though not on the entire Republic.

 

Then:

 

As such, it eventually became the favored legislature of the Republic, so much so that in 287 BC, plebiscites gained the full force of law and became binding on the entire Republic.

 

The Concilium plebis (Plebeian Council) only had the power to enact legislation for the Plebes and other lower classes (free, freed, slaves) prior to 287 BC. The passage of the Lex Hortensia in that year made "plebiscites" binding on Equites and Patricii as well as Plebes.

 

The Comitia Tributa or Tribal Assembly (of which the concilium plebis was a subset) became the major legislating force not only because it had the advantage of using "popular politics" but because it was easier to organize and vote based upon citizen membership in the 35 tribes. Using the Comitia Centuriata (Centuriate Assembly), which divided citizens into 193 centuries, was a far more difficult organization process. The Centuriate maintained some legislative power of course, but the Tributa was far easier to use.