Praetor (/ˈpriːtər/PREE-tər,Classical Latin:[ˈprae̯tɔr]), alsopretor, was thetitle granted by the government ofancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of anarmy, and (ii) as an electedmagistratus (magistrate), assigned to discharge various duties. The functions of the magistracy, thepraetura (praetorship), are described by the adjective itself:[a] thepraetoria potestas (praetorian power), thepraetorium imperium (praetorian authority), and thepraetorium ius (praetorian law), the legal precedents established by thepraetores (praetors).Praetorium, as asubstantive, denoted the location from which the praetor exercised his authority, either the headquarters of hiscastra, the courthouse (tribunal) of his judiciary, or the city hall of his provincial governorship.[b] The minimum age for holding the praetorship was 39 during theRoman Republic, but it was later changed to 30 in the earlyEmpire.[1]
The status of thepraetor in the early republic is unclear. The traditional account from Livy claims that the praetorship was created by theSextian-Licinian Rogations in 367 BC, but it was well known both to Livy and other Romans in the late republic that the chief magistrates were first calledpraetor.[2] For example, Festus "refers to 'the praetors, who are now consuls'".[2]
The form of the republic changed substantially over its history and the accounts of the republic's development in the early imperial period are marred with anachronisms projecting then-current practices into the past.[3] In the earliest periods of the republic,praetor "may not have meant anything more than leader in the most basic sense",[4] deriving frompraeire (to proceed) orpraeesse (to be preeminent).[5] These early praetors may have simply been clan leaders leading "military forces privately and free from state control"[6] with a multitude of private leaders leading private armies.[7]
These early military leaders were eventually institutionalised into fixed magistrate bodies elected by the people with clear state control over military activities. This was also probably assisted by "the use ofrecuperatores to mediate disputes and fetial priests to control the declaration of war".[8] The effect to make it more difficult for private individuals to start wars against Rome's neighbours.[8] Reforms in 449 BC also may have required "for the first time that all military commanders be confirmed by a popular assembly [representing] the Roman people".[9]
The emergence of the classical praetorship was a long process that had been underway by 367 BC. This was when theSextian-Licinian Rogations were passed,[10] giving the Roman people substantially more power over the selection of their military commanders.[10] While Livy claims that the rogations created the praetorship in 367 BC to relieve the consuls of their judicial responsibilities, "few modern historians would accept [this] account as written".[11] Beyond the ancient knowledge that a title of praetor dated to the beginning of the republic, what became the classical praetorship was initially a military office withimperium and "virtually identical in authority and capacity to the consulship".[11] Furthermore, a fully-formed praetorship without colleague, as Livy's account implies, would be a "tremendous violation of Roman practice in which all regular magistracies were created in colleges consisting of at least two".[12]
"Scholars increasingly view the [rogations] as establishing a college of three (and only three) praetors, two of whom eventually developed into the historical consuls".[13] What became the classical praetorship in its early years also was not viewed as being less than the consuls, as "it was common practice for men to hold the praetorship after a consulship... since [doing so] was simply a method of holdingimperium for a second year".[14]
Livy reports that until 337 BC the praetor was chosen only from among thepatricians. In that year, eligibility for thepraetura was opened to theplebeians, and one of them, Quintus Publilius Philo, won the office.[15]
Only in the 125 years after the election of three military leaders did a clear distinction emerge between what became the consuls and what became the praetors due to the "normal Roman practice to reserve one commander in or near the city for purposes of defence and (eventually) for civilian administration".[16] The glory and prestige won by the praetors fighting foreign wars, then still in Italy, is what led to the higher prestige of the consulship.[17] Only in 180 BC with the passage of thelex Villia annalis was holding the praetorship after the consulship prohibited.[18] Even after the consulship emerged from the praetorship with higher prestige and desirability, praetorianimperium was still not legally distinct (or inferior to consularimperium) until the very end of the republic.[19]
Starting in 241 BC, praetors started to be prorogued, allowing former praetors to act in the place of a praetor (iepro praetore) with power only "to conduct war in his assignedprovincia [with] no other concerns or duties".[20] Prorogation, in effect, granted private individuals a legally fictitious power to act in the place of the normal magistrates, allowing them to continue to act within their assigned task (provincia).[21] Prorogation allowed a magistrate, whoseimperium did not expire with his term until crossing the pomerium or being stripped by the people, to continue in his assigned task orprovincia.[22]
Thepotestas andimperium (power and authority) of the consuls and the praetors under theRepublic should not be exaggerated. They did not use independent judgment in resolving matters of state. Unlike today's executive branches, they were assigned high-level tasks directly by senatorial decree under the authority of theSPQR.
Livy describes the assignments given to either consuls or praetors in some detail. As magistrates, they had standing duties to perform, especially of a religious nature. However, a consul or praetor could be taken away from his current duties at any time to head a task force, and there were many, especially military. Livy mentions that, among other tasks, these executive officers were told to lead troops against perceived threats (domestic or foreign), investigate possible subversion, raise troops, conduct special sacrifices, distribute windfall money, appoint commissioners and even exterminate locusts. Praetors could delegate at will. The one principle that limited what could be assigned to them was that their duties must not concern them withminima, "little things". They were by definition doers ofmaxima. This principle of Roman law became a principle of later European law:Non curat minima praetor, that is, the details do not need to be legislated, they can be left up to the courts.
A second praetorship was created around 241 BC,[25] more clearly separating this office from that of the consulship.[16] There were two reasons for this: to relieve the weight of judicial business and to give the Republic amagistrate withimperium who could field an army in an emergency when bothconsuls were fighting a far-off war.
By the end of theFirst Punic War, a fourth magistrate entitled to holdimperium appears, thepraetor qui inter peregrinos ius dicit ("the praetor who administers justice among foreigners"). Although in the later Empire the office was titledpraetor inter cives et peregrinos ("among citizens and foreigners", that is, having jurisdiction in disputes between citizens and noncitizens), by the time of the 3rd century BC, Rome's territorial annexations and foreign populations were unlikely to require a new office dedicated solely to this task.T. Corey Brennan, in his two-volume study of the praetorship, argues that during the military crisis of the 240s the second praetorship was created to make another holder ofimperium available for command and provincial administrationinter peregrinos. During theHannibalic War, thepraetor peregrinus was frequently absent from Rome on special missions. The urban praetor more often remained in the city to administer the judicial system.[26]
Thepraetor urbanus presided in civil cases between citizens. The Senate required that some senior officer remain in Rome at all times. This duty now fell to thepraetor urbanus. In the absence of the consuls, he was the senior magistrate of the city, with the power to summon the Senate and to organize the defense of the city in the event of an attack.[27] He was not allowed to leave the city for more than ten days at a time. He was therefore given appropriate duties in Rome. He superintended theLudi Apollinares and was also the chief magistrate for the administration of justice and promulgated thePraetor's Edict. These Edicts were statements of praetor's policy as to judicial decisions to be made during his term of office. The praetor had substantial discretion regarding his Edict, but could not legislate. In a sense the continuing Edicts came to form a corpus of precedents. The development and improvement ofRoman Law owes much to the wise use of this praetorial discretion.[28]
The expansion of Roman authority over other lands required the addition of praetors. Two were created in 227 BC, for the administration ofSicily andSardinia, and two more when the twoHispanic provinces were formed in 197 BC. The dictatorLucius Cornelius Sulla transferred administration of the provinces toformer consuls and praetors, simultaneously increasing the number of praetors elected each year to eight, as part of hisconstitutional reforms.Julius Caesar raised the number to ten, then fourteen, and finally to sixteen.[c]
Augustus made changes that were designed to reduce the Praetor to being an imperial administrator rather than a magistrate. The electoral body was changed to the Senate, which was now an instrument of imperial ratification. To take a very simplistic view, the establishment of the principate can be seen as the restoration of monarchy under another name. The Emperor therefore assumed the powers once held by the kings, but he used the apparatus of the republic to exercise them. For example, the emperor presided over the highest courts of appeal.
The need for administrators remained just as acute. After several changes, Augustus fixed the number at twelve. UnderTiberius, there were sixteen. As imperial administrators, their duties extended to matters that the republic would have consideredminima. Two praetors were appointed byClaudius for matters relating toFideicommissa (trusts), when the business in that department of the law had become considerable, butTitus reduced the number to one; andNerva added a Praetor for the decision of matters between thefiscus (treasury) and individuals.Marcus Aurelius[29] appointed a Praetor for matters relating totutela (guardianship).
In anactio, which was civil, the Praetor could either issue aninterdictum (interdict) forbidding some circumstance or appoint aiudex (judge). Proceedings before the praetor were technically said to bein iure. At this stage, the Praetor would establish aformula directing theiudex as to the remedy to be given if he found that certain circumstances were satisfied; for instance, "Let X beiudex. If it appears that the defendant ought to pay 10,000 sesterces to the plaintiff, let theiudex condemn the defendant to pay 10,000 sesterces to the plaintiff. If it does not so appear, let the plaintiff absolve him."[30] After they were handed over to theiudex, they were no longerin iure before the Praetor, butapud iudicem. Theiudicium of theiudex was binding. By the time ofDiocletian, however, this two-stage process had largely disappeared, and the Praetor would either hear the whole case in person or appoint a delegate (aiudex pedaneus), taking steps for the enforcement of the decision; theformula was replaced by an informal system ofpleadings.[31]
During the time of theRoman Republic, the Urban Praetor allegedly issued an annualedict, usually on the advice ofjurists (since the Praetor himself was not necessarily educated in the law), setting out the circumstances under which he would grant remedies. The legal provisions arising from the Praetor's Edict were known asius honorarium; in theory the Praetor did not have power to alter the law, but in practice the Edict altered the rights and duties of individuals and was effectively a legislative document. In the reign ofHadrian, however, the terms of the Edict were made permanent and the Praetor'sde facto legislative role was abolished.[32]
The Praetors also presided at thequaestiones perpetuae (which were criminal proceedings), so-called because they were of certain types, with a Praetor being assigned to one type on a permanent basis. The Praetors appointed judges who acted as jurors in voting for guilt or innocence. The verdict was either acquittal or condemnation.
These quaestiones looked intocrimina publica, "crimes against the public", such as were worthy of the attention of a Praetor. The penalty on conviction was usually death, but sometimes other severe penalties were used. In the late Republic, the public crimes were:
When the Praetor administered justice in atribunal, he sat on asella curulis, which was that part of the court reserved for the Praetor and his assessors and friends, as opposed to thesubsellia, the part occupied by theiudices (judges) and others who were present. In court, the Praetor was referred to as actinge tribunali orex superiore loco (lit. from a raised platform or from a higher place) but he could also perform ministerial acts out of court, in which case he was said to be actinge plano orex aequo loco (lit. from the flat ground or from an equal or level place). For instance, he could in certain cases give validity to the act of manumission when he was out-of-doors, such as on his way to the bath or to the theatre.
By 395 AD, the praetors' responsibilities had been reduced to a purely municipal role.[33] Their sole duty was to manage the spending of money on the exhibition of games or on public works. However, with the decline of the other traditional Roman offices such as that oftribune, the praetorship remained an important portal through which aristocrats could gain access to either theWestern orEastern senates. The praetorship was a costly position to hold as praetors were expected to possess a treasury from which they could draw funds for their municipal duties.
Like many other Roman institutions, the praetor (Greek:πραίτωρ,praitōr) survived in theEastern Roman Empire.
EmperorJustinian I (r. 527–565) undertook a major administrative reform beginning in 535, which involved the reunification of civil and military authority in the hands of the governor in certain provinces, and the abolition of thedioceses. TheDiocese of Thrace had already been abolished by the end of the 5th century by Anastasius, and itsvicarius became the newpraetor Justinianus of Thrace, with authority over all the former Thracian provinces except forLower Moesia andScythia Minor, which became part of thequaestura exercitus. Similarly, the governors ofPisidia andLycaonia, as well asPaphlagonia (enlarged by merging it withHonorias) were upgraded topraetores Justiniani, and received the rank ofvir spectabilis.[34][35] In addition, inConstantinople he replaced thepraefectus vigilum, who was hitherto responsible for security, by apraetor populi (in Greek πραίτωρ [τῶν] δήμων,praitōr [tōn] dēmōn), with wide-ranging police powers.[34][36]
In the early 9th century, thepraitōr was a junior administrative official in thethemata, subordinate to the governingstratēgos. Gradually however, the civil functionaries assumed greater power, and by the late 10th century, thepraitores (orkritai, "judges") were placed at the head of the civil administration of athema.[37] This division of civil and military duties was often abandoned in the 12th century, when the posts of civilpraitōr and militarydoux were frequently held in tandem. The provincial post fell out of use after thecollapse of the Empire in 1204.[37]
According toHelene Ahrweiler, EmperorNikephoros II (r. 963–969) reinstituted a praetor in Constantinople, as a high-ranking judge. He is possibly identical to thePalaiologan-era post of thepraitōr tou demōu, whose holders are attested until 1355.[37] According to theBook of Offices ofpseudo-Kodinos, compiled around the same time, thepraitōr tou demōu occupied the 38th place in the imperial hierarchy, between themegas tzaousios and thelogothetēs tōn oikeiakōn,[38] but held no official function.[39] His court uniform consisted of a gold-brocaded hat (skiadion), a plain silkkabbadion tunic, and a plain, smooth wooden staff (dikanikion).[40]
Classical Latin Praetor became medieval Latin Pretor; Praetura, Pretura, etc. During theinterwar period the 71counties ofRomania were divided into a various numbers ofplăși (singular:plasă), headed by aPretor, appointed by thePrefect. The institution headed by the Pretor was calledPretură. Currently, this office has survived only in theRepublic of Moldova, where praetors are the heads ofChişinău's five sectors.
In Italy, until 1998, Praetor was a magistrate with particular duty (especially in civil branch).
The Italian-speaking Swisscanton of Ticino haspretori (singular:pretore) which is the chief magistrate (civil branch) of a district, heading apretura (a court).[41] Thepretori are appointed by thecanton's parliament.[42]
^In theLatin language, the ending of the adjective agrees with the case, gender, and number, of the noun, which is why the ending ofpraetori- varies in the phrases given.
^Most moderate-size Latin dictionaries list the praetorial nouns and adjectives, and uses and major sources.
^In the late Republic the census was discovering a population of the city of Rome numbering in the millions.
^Approximately "remedy", the seeking of restitution of property taken illegally by a magistrate and conviction of the perpetrator. Example: an illegal confiscation.
^"Canvassing", an attempt to influence voters illegally. Example: buying votes.
^Against the "majesty" of the people; that is, treason. Example: plotting the murder of a magistrate.
^"Embezzlement", the theft of public property. Example: the misappropriation of public money.
^Drogula 2015, p. 214. Note that aprovincia is not synonymous with a "province", aprovincia could refer to a task, here usually a war, to be conducted or a place in which a task, here governance, was to occur. The latter meaning flows to "province".
