Magistrates who Made and Applied the Law

Abstract

During most of the Roman Republican era—traditionally dated from 509 to 27 BC—the magistrates of the people and the plebs demonstrably played an essential role in both the production and the application of Roman law, especially in terms of statute laws and edicts. Although the senate had a tremendous voice, no legislation would have been possible without the proactive involvement of a series of key magistrates of people and plebs. When it comes to the application of the law under the Roman Republic, there was much scope for the so-called minor magistracies, whose involvement in the routine application of the law was probably disproportionate to their attestation in the sources. Importantly, this survey of magistrates who made and applied the law in the Roman Republic never loses sight of the overall socio-institutional background and key historical developments and changes.

Suvremena recepcija Ciceronove prirodnopravne postavke o vrhovnosti dobrobiti i spasa naroda u kontekstu izvanrednih stanja aktualiziranih pandemijom COVID-19

“…8 U vrijeme Republike uspostavljena je tzv. magistratura koja se odnosila na osobe (magistrate) koji obavljaju određenu javnu službu: diktatori, konzuli, pretori, cenzori (više magistrature) te kurulski edili, kvestori i vigintisexviri (više u Pina Polo, 2016;Vervaet, 2016). U Zakonima Ciceron raspravlja na koji način treba pravilno urediti magistraturu koju smatra svojevrsnim "razumom" države i prava: "Vidite dakle da je magistratova moć biti pretpostavljen i propisivati ono što je pravilno, korisno i u skladu sa zakonima.…”