Senate procedures
IN·MEMORIAM·A·TVLLIAE·SCHOLASTICAE·AVGVSTAE·PRINCIPIS·SENATVS·CENSORIS·IIII·CONSVLIS·II·PRAETRICIS
Home| Latíné | Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Magyar | Português | Română | Русский | English
This is a summary of the procedures followed in the ancient senate in the time of the free republic.
Contents |
Convening the senate
Who might convene the senate
The senate could be convened (i.e. ordered to meet) by any magistrate with the ius agendi cum senatu (the power to consult the senate, also known as the ius agendi cum patribus). The magistrates with the ius agendi cum senatu were, in order of precedence:
Only one magistrate could convene the senate at any given time. If more than one magistrate with the ius agendi wished to convene the senate at the same time, it would be convened by the magistrate who was highest in the order of precedence listed above. However, once the senate was convened it was possible for other magistrates with the ius agendi to consult it (see below).
How the senate was convened
The convening magistrate would announce the date and time when the senate was to meet, and the place where it was to meet. The announcement was made either on the day or in advance.
If the announcement was made on the day of the meeting, the convening magistrate would simply send a herald to the forum to announce the location of the meeting and to summon the senatores to come to that location immediately. This procedure was quite common.
If the convening magistrate thought it necessary to give advance notice of the meeting, he would arrange for notices to be posted in various public locations, stating the time and place of the meeting.
Obstruction
There was a very strong custom, observed throughout the republican period, that a magistrate with the ius agendi cum senatu could not be prevented from convening the senate, whether by the use of intercessio or by any other means.
Date, time and location of meetings
Date of meetings
Unlike the comitia, the senate was not restricted to particular types of day for its meetings, and it is known to have met on dies fasti, nefasti, nefasti publici, comitiales, and endotercisi, and on both dies relisiosi and even dies atri.
By custom the senate did not meet during meetings of the comitia, but there were occasional exceptions.
There were some days on which the senate normally met. In particular, the senate normally met on the day when the consules entered office.
Time of meetings
Meetings of the senate generally began early in the morning, often at sunrise. This was to allow the longest possible time for the meeting itself.
Duration of meetings
No matter when the meeting began, the senate could not conclude any valid business after sunset. Any vote taken after sunset was invalid. Informal discussion could, however, continue after sunset.
For this reason, it was customary not to begin discussion on any new relatio after the tenth hour of the day. This ensured that any relatio would be guaranteed at least two hours for discussion.
A meeting which ran out of time could not strictly be adjourned for continuation on a subsequent day. If a magistrate with the ius agendi felt that matters had been left unresolved, he would of course be able to convene a new meeting on a later day; this, however, would not be a continuation of the previous meeting and so the discussion would need to begin again from the beginning.
Location of meetings
It was up to the convening magistrate to choose the location of the meeting.
The only technical requirements were that the meeting must be within one mile of the city of Rome (though it could be, and often was, outside the pomerium) and that it must take place within a templum. Any vote taken in a place which did not meet these two requirements was invalid.
Beyond these technical requirements, practical considerations meant that meetings had to take place in locations where at least 100 people could comfortably sit and move around. Meetings were normally indoors, but this was purely a practical matter, and meetings could and did occur at outdoor templa: in particular, it was customary for the senate to meet in the open air to hear reports of speaking cattle (see prodigia).
The most common meeting-place was the curia Hostilia. Other common locations inside the city were the temples of Iuppiter Capitolinus, of Castor, of Concordia, of Fides, or Honor & Virtus, of Iuppiter Stator, of Tellus, and of Quirinus, and in the atrium Vestae. Common meeting-places outside the city were the temples of Apollo and of Bellona.
