The Principate

This was the first period of the Roman Empire, from the beginning of the reign of Augustus to Diocletian (27 bce-284 ce). During the Principate, the powers of the emperors increased gradually as they made efforts to preserve the old republican institutions and aspirations.

The name “Principate” comes from the title of princeps, which means the preeminence of the first citizen. This title was first assumed unofficially by

Constitutional background of Roman law 37 Octavian (63 bce-14 ce) in 27 bce. In a solemn meeting of the Senate on January 13 of that year, the constitutional powers of the new princeps were regulated after Augustus laid down all his powers as a triumvir and trans­ferred control of the state to the Senate and the people of Rome (Res gestae 34.1). Augustus accepted no magistracy for himself that ran against the tra­ditional republican constitution. However, he accepted proconsular power for ten years, and he received the tribunician power for life. He also retained consulship until 23 bce. The proconsular imperium involved control of the imperial provinces (Spain, Gaul, and Syria) and authority over the promagi­strate of public or senatorial provinces. As a tribune of the plebs (a title con­ferred on him in 36 bce), Augustus retained the right of inviolability and veto power, the authority to convene the Senate, and the right to bring bills before the plebeian assemblies.

Augustus preserved the old constitutional organs (magistracies, the popular assemblies, and the Senate) while he secured supreme power. It was by virtue of his personal prestige (auctoritas Principis) based on tradition and mos maiorum that Augustus claimed supremacy and preeminence for himself over the Senate and the people.

Augustus reorganized the equestrian order. Lower in rank than the senatorial class, the equites (originally cavalrymen) had become a distinct and wealthy social class. They had obtained their wealth from commerce (forbidden to senators) and farm taxes. Gradually, during the Principate, the most important positions in the administration of the emperor were occupied by persons of the equestrian rank. After the important reforms of Hadrian, the leadership and reputation of the equestrian order grew still more. The golden ring, a distinction worn during the Republic by both the senators and the equites, became an exclusive distinction of the equestrian order.

During the Principate, the consulship remained but increasingly became a merely honorary function. From time to time, the emperors themselves took on the consulship. The praetors, however, retained the same civil and criminal jurisdiction they had enjoyed in the late Republic. The popular assemblies were not abolished but gradually stopped functioning. By contrast, the Senate considerably extended its powers, and senatorial legislation replaced popular legislation. Even the Senate, however, was losing supreme control of political activities to the emperor, who belonged to the Senate as its senior member (princeps senatus). The senatorial decrees became a simple expression of the imperial will - so much so that the speeches of the emperor to the Senate were called senatus consulta. While the emperor rarely attended the meetings of the Senate, an imperial magistrate read the messages of the emperor, which

were approved by praise, rounds of applause, and flatteries.

The primary legal activity of the emperor was judicial. Suetonius (Augustus 33.1) wrote that Augustus spent many hours on the tribunal, often well into the night. Tiberius also sat as judge. With their councilors, the emperors heard appeals to assure some degree of uniformity in the administration of justice. As a judge, for instance, Emperor Claudius was accused of arbitrary behavior (Suetonius, Claudius 15). On the other hand, Hadrian was so interested in legal matters that he preferred to cross-examine witnesses personally (Historia Augusta. Hadrian 16.8; 20.3; 21.1). Caracalla, by contrast, according to Cassius Dio, seldom sat in court (Cassius Dio 77.17.3).

During the Principate, the old republican state treasury was replaced by a new financial administration of the imperial treasury (fiscus Caesaris). The revenues of the treasury came basically from the rental or sale of public land in the provinces; from periodic payments from the imperial provinces and, to some extent, public or senatorial provinces, pastures, woods, mines, custom duties, and other indirect taxes; and from legacies left to the emperor.

The most fragile aspect of the Principate was the question of the succession of the princeps. Since the constitutional position of the princeps was grounded in political ideology and not in the old principles of the republican constitution, the death of each emperor was a critical moment for internal stability. The political struggles after the deaths of Nero and Commodus were paradig­matic. Since the end of the first century, the practice was that the princeps adopted one of his collaborators and then designated him as a successor. That happened with some salient emperors such as Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, among others.