Steve Jackson Games Forums - Roman revivalists... in [Space]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pomphis (Post 967270)

Which raises the question of whether there should be a independent judiciary outside the cursus honorum, or whether judgeships are part of it, and whether supreme judicial power rests with the senate or an independent court.

IMO "no independent judiciary" means that legal guarantees are more conventions than really binding. OTOH having an independent judiciary changes the republic massively, IMO too much. Maybe no independent judiciary in general, but some sort of constitutional council made up of all former consuls and censors with the power to veto convictions ?

I agree. The situation with the Gracchi escallated because there was no neutral mechanism to decide some messy constitutional questions. And Caesar's revolt began partially because he was worried that if he gave up his offices (and immunity to prosecution) he would be charged and face trial by his enemies. He had some war crimes in Hispania and Germania to answer for, as well as the usual corruption. The lack of a force to enforce the laws, and acceptance of the use of violence to settle civil quarrels, were also dangerous.

I'd say the main flaw of the Republican constitution was that it depended on frequent war, and it got too succesful at it. The huge amounts of wealth pouring in from overseas, and the huge sacrifice of work and blood which was expected of citizens, led to quarreling over the spoils. It also helped break down the traditional limits on competition among the officeholding class. The quarrel between the cives and the socii was part of this: the allies wanted citizenship for their pains, but many citizens didn't want to have to share the spoils.

From our modern perspective, the fact that only people living near Rome could participate in national politics regularly was also a problem. But there isn't a lot of evidence that this bothered actual Romans. I'd suggest including some way to participate in debates and votes from outside the capital, but cheap transport will help a lot too.