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The constitution of the Roman Republic consisted of a set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent.〔Byrd, 161〕 The constitution was largely unwritten and uncodified, and evolved over time. Rather than creating a government that was primarily a democracy (as in ancient Athens), an aristocracy (as in ancient Sparta), or a monarchy (as in the Roman state before and, in many respects, after the Republic), the Roman constitution mixed these three elements, setting up three separate branches of government:〔Holland, 24〕 * The democratic element took the form of the legislative assemblies. * The aristocratic element took the form of the Senate * The monarchical element took the form of the term-limited consuls.〔Polybius〕 The ultimate source of sovereignty in this ancient republic, as in modern republics, was the ''demos'' (people; ).〔Holland, 25〕 The people of Rome gathered into legislative assemblies to pass laws and to elect executive magistrates.〔Lintott, 40〕 Election to a magisterial office resulted in automatic membership in the Senate (for life, unless impeached).〔Abbott, 46〕 The Senate managed the day-to-day affairs in Rome, while senators presided over the courts.〔Lintott, 65〕 Executive magistrates enforced the law and presided over the Senate and over the legislative assemblies.〔Byrd, 179〕 A complex set of checks and balances developed between these three branches, so as to minimize the risk of tyranny and corruption, and to maximize the likelihood of good government. However, the separation of powers between these three branches of government was not absolute; and moreover, several constitutional devices that were out of harmony with the Roman constitution were used frequently.〔Abbott, 44〕 A constitutional crisis began in 133 BC as a result of the struggles between the aristocracy and the common people.〔Abbott, 96〕 This crisis ultimately led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and its eventual subversion into a much more autocratic form of government, the Roman Empire.〔Abbott, 133〕 ==Constitutional history (509–133 BC)== At one time, Rome had been ruled by a succession of kings.〔Holland, 1〕 The Romans believed that this era, that of the Roman Kingdom, began in 753 BC, and ended in 510 BC. After the overthrow of the monarchy, and the establishment of the Roman Republic, the people of Rome began electing two Roman consuls each year.〔Holland, 2〕 In 501 BC, the office of "Roman Dictator" was created. In the year 494 BC, the plebeians (commoners) seceded to the Mons Sacer, and demanded of the patricians (the aristocrats) the right to elect their own officials.〔Abbott, 28〕〔Holland, 22〕 The Patricians agreed, and the plebeians ended their secession. The plebeians called these new officials "Plebeian Tribunes", and gave these tribunes two assistants, called "Plebeian Aediles".〔Holland, 5〕 In 449 BC, the Senate promulgated the Twelve Tables as the centerpiece of the Roman Constitution. In 443 BC, the office of "Roman Censor" was created,〔Abbott, 37〕 and in 367 BC, plebeians were allowed to stand for the Consulship. The opening of the Consulship to the plebeian class implicitly opened both the Censorship as well as the Dictatorship to plebeians.〔Abbott, 42〕 In 366 BC, in an effort by the patricians to reassert their influence over the magisterial offices, two new offices were created. While these two offices, the Praetorship and the Curule Aedileship, were at first open only to patricians, within a generation, they were open to plebeians as well.〔 Beginning around the year 350 BC, the senators and the Plebeian Tribunes began to grow closer.〔 The senate began giving tribunes more power, and, unsurprisingly, the tribunes began to feel indebted to the senate.〔 As the tribunes and the senators grew closer, plebeian senators began to routinely secure the office of tribune for members of their own families.〔Abbott, 45〕 Also around the year 350 BC, the Plebeian Council (popular assembly) enacted a significant law (the "Ovinian Law")〔 which transferred, from the consuls to the Censors, the power to appoint new senators. This law also required the Censors to appoint any newly elected magistrate to the senate,〔 which probably resulted in a significant increase in the number of plebeian senators.〔Abbott, 47〕 This, along with the closeness between the Plebeian Tribunes and the senate, helped to facilitate the creation of a new plebeian aristocracy.〔 This new Plebeian aristocracy soon merged with the old patrician aristocracy, creating a combined "patricio-plebeian" aristocracy.〔Holland, 27〕 The old aristocracy existed through the force of law, because only patricians had been allowed to stand for high office. Now, however, the new aristocracy existed due to the organization of society, and as such, this order could only be overthrown through a revolution.〔Abbott, 48〕 In 287 BC, the plebeians seceded to the Janiculum hill. To end the secession, a law (the "Hortensian Law") was passed, which ended the requirement that the patrician senators consent before a bill could be brought before the Plebeian Council for a vote.〔Abbott, 52〕 This was not the first law to require that an act of the Plebeian Council have the full force of law (over both plebeians ''and'' patricians),〔Abbott, 51〕 since the Plebeian Council had acquired this power in 449 BC.〔 The ultimate significance of this law was in the fact that it robbed the patricians of their final weapon over the plebeians. The result was that the ultimate control over the state fell, not onto the shoulders of democracy, but onto the shoulders of the new patricio-plebeian aristocracy.〔Abbott, 53〕 The Hortensian Law resolved the last great political question of the earlier era, and as such, no important political changes occurred over the next 150 years (between 287 BC and 133 BC).〔Abbott, 63〕 The critical laws of this era were still enacted by the senate.〔Abbott, 66〕 In effect, the democracy was satisfied with the possession of power, but did not care to actually use it.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Constitution of the Roman Republic」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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