Legislation as a Source of Law
(1) Republican Legislation
(a) Leges
In Chapter 1,[185] we met the Romans’ citizen assemblies. In these there met the adult, male citizens of Rome. These assemblies had various functions, such as the election of magistrates.
Another of their functions was the passing of laws known as leges (singular lex). The citizen assemblies had a relatively minor role in the development of private law, however. In most of the areas covered in this book, few reforms were introduced in this way, though there are exceptions. In any case, the impression of popular involvement in law-making, through the assemÂblies, is somewhat misleading. As we saw in Chapter 1,[186] the assemblies could only meet when summoned by the presiding magistrate and could only vote to accept or reject the proposal put in front of them. They could not, for example, make or amend legislative proposals.(b) Plebiscita
Plebiscita (singular plebiscitum) were legislation of the plebeian assembly, the conÂcilium plebis[187] Originally, they were binding only on plebeians.[188] However, after approximately 287 BC, they became generally binding, and in fact they became the normal means of legislating. As with legislation of the other assemblies, howÂever, plebiscita affecting private law were rare.
(c) Senatusconsulta
Senatusconsulta (singular senatusconsulta) were resolutions of the Senate. Strictly speaking, they were not a form of legislation in the Republic, as they had no directly binding force. In practice, however, legislative proposals often originated in the Senate. Equally, the political dominance of the Senate was such that a magistrate intending to put a legislative proposal before one of the assemblies would normally be expected to seek the Senate's approval first. The Senate's authority was thus mostly political rather than legal. It did, though, have the right to declare laws invalid or to suspend their operation.
D.