Decretum pontificum de comitiis curiatis (Nova Roma)

I. Competencies of the Comitia Curiata

A. By the enactment of the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda, the people of the curiae have renounced from personal participation in the decision making procedure of the Comitia Curiata, and they have entrusted the lictores curiati to represent their will in the Comitia Curiata. Originally, the ancient lictores curiati of each curia were heralds who called the citizens of their curia to attend the session of the Cutiata, and according to ancient custom, the people renounced from personal attendance, because they exercised their decision making rights through the other comitia. Thereby the lictores curiati became the representatives and messenger heralds of the curiae who communicate the wish of the curiae, pre-determined by other comitia or by other lawful authorities. The vote statement presented by a lictor curiatus is therefore always considered the will and vote of the curia which the lictor curiatus represents.

B. The lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda, the lex Arria de veteribus tribubus et curiis and the Edictum censorim de curiis et gentibus defined the occasions when the Comitia Curiata shall be convened, to which the current decretum adds that the Comitia Curiata shall be also convened in order to confirm, without the right of refusal, any lex or any other law that affects the curiae and the powers, rights, duties and functioning of the Comitia Curiata. Said law may take force only after the ceremonial confirmation by the Comitia Curiata. Authorities that have the power to make such decisions may establish other occasions when the Comitia Curiata shall be convened, and until there is no other regulation, those occasions of the Comitia Curiata shall be conducted according to one of the models described in this present decree.

II. Presiding officer of the Comitia Curiata

A. According to the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda, the Comitia Curiata shall be convened by the consuls or praetors when investing the magistrates, governors or other promagistrates with imperium. When the Comitia Curiata shall confirm a law affecting their powers, rights, duties and functioning, they also shall be convened by a consul or praetor, typically by the same magistrate among these which created the law affecting the curiae or the Comitia Curiata.

B. In place of the consuls or praetors, an interrex or dictator may convene the Comitia Curiata, or any magistrate specially empowered by appropriate laws who has the right to convene the Comitia Centuriata, which follows from the logical interpretation of the lex Cornelia Domitia and ancient Roman legal practice.

C. Although the lex Arria de veteribus tribubus et curiis seemingly entitles the curio maximus to convene the Comitia Curiata in place of the pontifex maximus without restriction, the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda makes it clear that in certain defined cases only the pontifex maximus or a pontifex may convene it. However, in the case of the confirmation of the election of the curio maximus and the tribuni of the Ramnes, Tities and Lures, or in case of the approval of the inclusion of a gens into a curia, the Comitia Curiata can be convened by the curio maximus, or by one of the three tribuni if the curio maximus is unavailable. If none of these is availabe, it remains the duty of the pontifex maximus or of any pontifex to convene them.

III. Presiding officer of the Comitia Curiata as Comitia Calata

According to the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda, the Comitia Curiata shall be convened by the pontifex maximus or any pontifex when witnessing the appointment of priests, the recording of wills, adoptions, the transition of citizens or families between genera gentilicia. In such cases, the Comitia Curiata are also referred to as Comitia Calata.

IV. Convening the Comitia Curiata

A. The presiding officer shall publicly announce the Call to Convene in the official Forum Novum Romanum, which shall be entitled as “Comitia Curiata Convocata,”and the text of the announcement must include:

(1) the reporting of the favorable auspices obtained for the holding of the comitia;

(2) the reporting of the opening ritual, who performed it and when it was performed;

(3) the dates and time when the comitia shall begin and when the voting shall end, and any additional special instructions necessary that pertain to the mechanics of the vote;

(4) the agenda and the items to vote on;

(5) the voting formulas for the lictores curiati.

V. Procedures of the session

A. Both the session and the voting period (which have always identical starting time in the Comitia Curiata) start in the moment of the posting of the Call to Convene, unless there is a specific date declared in the Call to Convene for the start of the session, in which case the session and the voting period automatically starts at that moment of the specified date and hour. The opening ritual shall already be performed by the date of the start of the session.

B. The lictores curiati shall post their vote statements in the “Curiae” Discord server forum of Nova Roma, in a specific Comitia Curiata channel. The channel and the session process shall be visible to all citizens subscribed to the forum of the Curiae. The votes statement formulae and the rules regarding their use are listed in Section VII.

C. In case of sessions when the outcome of the voting ceremony can be only affirmative, the curio maximus or one of the tribuni tribuum, whoever notices the first voting statement or is available sooner, upon seeing the first voting statement submitted to the forum of the Comitia Curiata, shall post to the following formula to the official Forum of Nova Roma:

Post title: Lex curiata sancta

Post content: “Quod bonum faustum felix fortunatum sit populo Novo Romano renascentique populo Romano Quiritibus: I, (Name), the curio maximus / the tribunus of the tribus (Name), in lieu of the curio maximus, do solemnly proclaim that the lex curiata has been hereby passed by the Comitia Curiata and is in force now. Ceremonial statements by the lictores curiati, which shall serve as further blessings on the enacted decree, may continue until the official closing of the session.”

D. In case of sessions when the lictores curiati may decide between affirmative and negative votes, only the final report of the session shall be posted to the presiding officer by the curio maximus (or tribuni).

E. Standing in for the missing (the term for “not existing” in this decretum henceforth) or absent (the term for “existing, but not participating” in this decree henceforth) lictores curiati:

1. In the name of curia which does not have a lictor curiatus, its curio has to post the vote statement. For the purpose of the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda, such curiones are acting lictores curiati with standing approval by this decretum pontificum.

2. In the name of those curiae which do not have curiones, the tribune of the tribe in which the curiae are located has to post their vote statement, submitted as one vote in the name of one or multiple curiae that do not have a lictor curiatus. For the purpose of the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda, such tribunes are acting lictores curiati with standing approval by this decretum pontificum.

3. In the name of those lictores curiati who are absent from the session, the curio maximus has to post their vote statement, submitted as one vote in the name of all the absent curiae. For the purpose of the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda, the curo maximus is an acting lictor curiatus with standing approval by this decretum pontificum.

VI. Closing of the Comitia Curiata

A. After the time allotted for posting the vote statements has expired, the curio maximus and the tribuni tribuum, as agreed between each other, shall collect all vote statements and formulate a Report of the Session, containing all vote statements. They shall send this Report of the Session to the presiding officer no later than 24 hours after the end of the voting.

B. The presiding officer shall perform the closing ceremony and announce the result, including all vote statements, in the reporting announcement of the Comitia Curiata to the official Forum of Nova Roma no later than within a nundinum (8 days, 192 hours, henceforth “nundinum”) after the start of the session. The closing ritual shall already be perfomed by the date of the closing of the session. The end of the session is the time when the report of the session is posted by the presiding officer.

C. A session of the Comitia Curiata shall be no shorter than one day (24 hours) and shall be no longer than a a nundinum When the lictores curiati may decide between affirmative and negative votes, the session shall be no shorter than three days. The presiding office may abruptly cancel or close the session, but the results of such a shortened session is subject to collegial or tribunician veto according to the normal rules of veto, and subject to augural supervision of irregular timing, as described by the lex Tullia de comitiis habendis.

VII. Vote statements formulae for the lictores curiati

The part marked as “(Presiding officer’s title)” shall be filled in with the title of the presiding officer, exactly, with these words, in these exact forms: consul, praetor, interrex, dictator, pontifex maximus, pontifex, curio maximus, tribunus tribus Ramnesis, tribunus tribus Titiensis, tribunus tribus Lucerensis, or other officers entitled to convene the comitia. It is possible to vote about more topics in a session and to use more than one formula in the same session. The presiding officer shall, in the Call to Convene, provide the lictores curiati with the complete, filled out, edited formulae for the voting, and the lictores curiati shall only supply the name of their curiae in the formula.

A. Exordium of the forumae

The exordium of the formula is determined by office of the lictor curiatus or acting lictor curiatus. The tribune of a tribe standing in for the missing lictores curiati of his or her tribe shall list list all the curiae of his tribe with missing lictor curiatus:

1. A lictor curiatus proper, or a curio standing in for the missing lictor curiatus of his or her curia, shall use the following exordium:

(Presiding officer’s title), it not being convenient for the citizens of the curia (Name) personally to be present here this day, they have commanded me to declare and notify their Assent to these acts of the Comitia Curiata with full power and authority in their name to…

2. A tribunus of a Romulean tribe standing in for the missing lictores curiati of his or her tribe shall use the following exordium:

(Presiding officer’s title), it not being convenient for the citizens of the curia (Name-A, curia Name-B, curia Name-C-D-ETC) personally to be present here this day, they have commanded me to declare and notify their Assent to these acts of the Comitia Curiata with full power and authority in their name to…

3. The curio maximus standing in for all the absent lictores curiati shall use the following exordium:

(Presiding officer’s title), it not being convenient for the citizens of every curia personally to be present here this day, the curiae which could not attend have commanded me to declare and notify their Assent to these acts of the Comitia Curiata with full power and authority in their name to…

B. Exitium of the formulae that are only approving

The exitium (closing half) of the formula is determined by the topic of the session, and whether the lictor curiatus has the right to vote in the negative. When more than one officers are invested with imperium or confirmed in their office or priesthood, or more than one adoptions or wills are witnessed, the part listing their office and name shall be repeated as many times as are people to be approved. The following are the closing parts of the formulae that are only approving, according to topic:

1. Investing magistrates, promagistrates and governors with imperium:

…to confer imperium and auspices, just as it was had by Romulus and all the good and lawful Kings of Rome, upon the (office with imperium) (Name), which shall be good, propitious, happy and fortunate to the Nova Roman People, the Quirites. My curia votes as you requested, and we wish (him) good fortune in (his) office and in (his) work under the auspices of the religio Romana.

2. Witnessing the appointment of priests:

…to confirm the installation of (Name) as (priesthood), which shall be good, propitious, auspicious and fortunate to the Nova Roman People, the Quirites. My curia votes as you requested, and we wish (him) good fortune in (his) priesthood and in (his) work under the auspices of the religio Romana.

3. Confirming the election of curiones and tribuni tribuum:

…to confirm the election of (Name) as (curiate office), which shall be good, propitious, auspicious and fortunate to the Nova Roman People, the Quirites. My curia votes as you requested, and we wish (him) good fortune in (his) office and in (his) work under the auspices of the religio Romana.

4. Confirming laws that affect the Comitia Curiata:

…to confirm the (Name of the law) affecting the old and sacred ceremonial tribes and curiae of the Nova Roman People, the Quirities, which shall be good, propitious, happy and fortunate to the Nova Roman People, the Quirites. My curia votes as you requested, and we wish them a long and happy life.

5. Approving the addition of a gens to a curia

…to approve the addition of the gens (Name) to the curia (Name), which shall be good, propitious, happy and fortunate to the Nova Roman People, the Quirites. My curia votes as you requested, and we wish them a long and happy life.

6. Witnessing adoptions that do not cause change in the genus gentilicium:

…to witness the adoption of (Name) by (Name) as (his) (son), and that the (father) gave (his) (son) the name (Name), which makes (him) the true and lawful (son) of (Name). My curia votes as you requested, and we wish them a most blessed and happy family life.

7. Witnessing of the recording of wills:

…to witness the recording of the will of (Name). My curia votes as you requested, and we wish him a long and happy life.

C. Exitium of the formulae that are either approving on rejecting

The exitium (closing half) of the formula is determined by the topic of the session, and whether the lictor curiatus has the right to vote in the negative. The following are the closing parts of the formulae that are either approving or rejecting, as decided by the lictor curiatus, according to topic:

1. Approving or rejecting the elevation of a stirps (dynasty, gens-branch) to the the patrician genus gentilicium:

…to approve or reject the elevation of the stirps (Name) to the patriciatus, which shall be good, propitious, happy and fortunate to the Nova Roman People, the Quirites.

[APPROVAL:] My curia votes as you requested, and we wish them a long and happy life.

[REJECTION:] My curia wants the things to stay as they are.

2. Approving or rejecting the lowering of a citizen to the plebeian genus gentilicium:

…to approve or reject the transition of (Name) to the plebs, which shall be good, propitious, happy and fortunate to the Nova Roman People, the Quirites.

[APPROVAL:] My curia votes as you requested, and we wish (him) a long and happy life.

[REJECTION:] My curia wants the things to stay as they are.

3. Approving or rejecting an adoption which changes the genus gentilicium of a citizen and his descendants:

…to approve or reject the adoption of (Name) by (Name) as as (his) (son), and that the (father) gave (his) (son) the name (Name), which makes (him) the true and lawful (son) of (Name), and thereby transfering (him) to the patriciatus/plebs, which shall be good, propitious, happy and fortunate to the Nova Roman People, the Quirites.

[APPROVAL:] My curia votes as you requested, and we wish them a most blessed and happy family life.

[REJECTION:] My curia wants the things to stay as they are.

D. If the need arises, the Collegium Pontificum may issue additional formulae for various purposes.

E. Latin versions shall be prepared for all of these formulae by pontifex Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, and shall be used alongside the English ones when they will be ready. The Latin versions shall be approved and published in a praetorian edict.

VIII. Religious checks and intercessiones

The same rules of religious scruples apply to the Comitia Curiata as to the Comitia Centuriata, whichever laws govern and regulate the religious checks of that comitia in any moment: currently these are contained in the lex Tullia de comitiis habendis, mostly in Section V. Intercessiones during the comitial procedures shall be exercised the same way as they can be exercised during the Comitia Centuriata, currently regulated by the lex Tullia de comitiis habendis, mostly in Section VI.

IX. Closing instructions

A. Unless otherwise stated in this decree, the decisions enacted by the Comitia Cutiata take force according to the regulations related to the Comitia Centuriata, currently contained in the lex Tullia de comitiis habendis, mostly in Section IX.

B. The previous Decretum pontificum de ratione comitiorum curiatorum is hereby repealed.