The emperor
As has been noted, under the Augustan constitution the powers of the emperor were those exercised by the higher magistrates of the Republic, now combined and concentrated in one person.
In the course of the Principate the powers and responsibilities of the emperor were gradually extended, although their legal basis remained largely unchanged. A great deal of the emperor's power hinged upon his tribunicia potestas, which gave him the right to veto actions of other state organs {intercessio) and the right to summon and submit proposals to the senate and the assembly of the people. The imperium proconsulare maius gave the emperor supreme power in all the provinces and made him commander-in-chief of the armies of the state. As head of the state's administrative apparatus, the emperor appointed the members of the imperial civil service and nominated delegates who carried out various governmental tasks in his name. He also directed foreign policy and decided on matters of war and peace, subject only to formal ratification by the senate.During the earliest period of the Principate the emperor does not appear to have had direct legislative power. His legislative proposals acquired the force of law only after they had received the formal approval of the senate. In the course of time, however, as the senate fell under the complete control of the emperor, its approval became a mere formality and the emperor's proposals came to be regarded as rules of law in their own
The Principate 243 right.” Not only did the emperor legislate through controlled decrees of the senate, but he acquired independent legislative authority and directly created new rules of law in a number of ways. Of general character were the edicta, issued by the emperor in exercise of his ius edicendi and containing rules laid down for both private citizens and state officials, and the mandata, instructions addressed by the emperor to officials subject to his orders.
Moreover, the emperor issued judicial decisions (decreta) in exercise of his jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, and responses (rescripta) to petitions of his subordinates or persons under his authority. All the above forms of imperial enactments, collectively referred to as constitutiones principis, were regarded as establishing rules of law and remained in force in perpetuity unless revoked by subsequent legislation. According to Gaius and Ulpian, the constitutiones principis derived their binding force from the sovereign power {imperium) conferred upon the emperor by the people and the senate through the lex de imperio.n The custom of granting the emperor the power of imperium by statute had its origins in the lex curiata de imperio by which the higher magistrates of the Republic received their imperium. However, with the decline and eventual disappearance of the popular assemblies and the further strengthening of imperial authority in the second century AD the notion that the emperor's imperium stemmed from the will of the people became devoid of all substance.[816] [817] [818]
More on the topic The emperor:
- Court of the emperor
- The emperor
- Emperor Justinian
- The Emperor as a Law-Maker
- CHAPTER XI The Emperor and Constitutiones
- A. THE EMPEROR, HIS ADVISORS AND CHANCELLERY
- The major reform on intestacy of Emperor Justinian
- The most important legal undertaking of Antiquity was the compilation of what was later called Corpus luris Civilis promulgated by Emperor Justinian.
- Legal scholars use the term ‘civil law systems’ to describe the legal systems of all those nations predominantly within the historical tradition derived from Roman law as transmitted to Continental Europe through the Corpus Iuris Civilis of Emperor Justinian.[834]
- APPLIED CIVIL LAW: LEGISLATIVE POWER
- B. CONSTITUTIONES