The People's Tribune. History of appearance and function

It is not a secret for anyone that the modern political and legal systems of many European countries are built according to the type of the Roman Empire. Roman law became the basis of the Roman legislative base - the so-called unprecedented law, which is used by a good half of modern powers, including Russia. This legal system has the following form: first a normative act, then a precedent. That is, an act not described in the legislative framework of the state is not a crime. And in general, Ancient Rome had a huge impact on our world. Take the same Latin, the actual variations of which are many Western European languages. However, today we will talk a little about another phenomenon, which has passed to us from Antiquity in a somewhat modified form. And his name is the people's tribune. Let's talk about this in more detail.

What is the people's tribune?

In spite of the fact that at first Rome was ruled by kings, then by consuls - actual dictators, and then the system was completely replaced by the imperial one, in the political system of Ancient Rome there was always an element of democracy.

The people's tribune is an elective post among the plebeians. He was engaged in the protection and protection of the humiliated and insulted. The Latin word, which the people's tribune called their power - sacrosancta potestas, which in translation means "power received by spiritual sanctification."

The history of the appearance of this post dates back to the most ancient conflict of the patricians - the descendants of the first Roman kings - and the plebeians, i.e. ordinary inhabitants of Rome. Initially, only patricians were represented in the Senate, the plebeians did not have the opportunity to be elected there and actually were in the position of the lower class. However, despite legal restrictions, some people from ordinary people could get rich enough to overshadow (as far as property) noble masters, thereby increasing their influence in aristocratic circles. Also, sometimes in Rome, plebeian riots erupted, which led not only to mass casualties, but also to temporary economic decline due to the devastation caused during the uprising.

How did the people's tribunes appear in Rome?

In order to prevent constant bloodshed, under the pressure of the plebeian community, the Senate was forced to establish the post of a people's tribune elected "plebeians from the plebeians". This had a huge impact on the whole system, on the whole of Ancient Rome. The people's tribune could veto the decisions of the Senate, which, in his opinion, infringed the plebeians, had the right to judge individuals who offend the honor and dignity of ordinary people, and also had personal immunity. Thus, after some time, through the efforts of the plebeian community through such statesmen in the Senate, a decision was made to balance the estates, but even after that the people's tribunes did not cease to exist. He began to deal with the affairs of ordinary citizens: poor, peasants, poor artisans, regardless of their origin. The Latin word, which the people's tribune was called among its clients - patronum, which means "defender". Elections for this post were carried out in two stages: first, each curriculum elected its candidate, and then the applicants were selected at the level of the tribute comitia.

Modern echoes of the Social Institute of People's Tribunes

The principles on which the people's tribunes worked, are now embodied in the civil institution of human rights. For example, in many countries, including Russia, there is an ombudsman in this field, whose duties include protecting and monitoring the observance of human rights by the state. Thus, he does what the people's tribune did at one time. However, the powers of the modern ombudsman are considerably curtailed in comparison with the ancient Roman figure: he can not veto, does not have inviolability and has no right to legislative initiative. Its only function is to control state bodies and, in case of non-observance of human rights, initiating a trial, that is, the so-called judicial initiative. By law, the ombudsman does not submit to any of the branches of government: neither legislative, nor executive, nor judicial.

We hope you learned a lot of new and interesting information, and this information was useful to you.