1 - Republican principles of policing

Summary

THE DISPLAY OF MAGISTERIAL AUTHORITY

In the political order of Republican Rome, the higher magistrates, because of their overall responsibility for the res publica, had at their disposal means of enforcement that were only to a limited extent available to the magistrates specifically entrusted with particular police duties. Furthermore, a fundamental principle of the Republican constitution was the distinction between the city and the world outside (Rüpke 1990: 29–51). The sacred boundary (pomerium) constituted the city of Rome (urbs) as a pacified sphere from which military power was excluded (Gell. Noctes Atticae 10.15.4; 15.27.5; Varro, De re rustica 3.2.4); the auspicia taken for the field became invalid once the returning magistrate had crossed the pomerium. Keeping the army out of the city was understood as an aspect of political freedom (Cic. Philippicae 5.21). Thus the higher magistrates, although possessing both civil and military responsibility, were not allowed to use military means to maintain law and order within the city. In this the Roman Republic was fundamentally different from many other pre-modern states, which, although lacking a police force in the strict sense, could still mobilize military force as a last resort (Finley 1983: 18–23).

Rome in fact had no standing army, only a militia that (probably until the mid-second century BC) was dissolved and newly recruited annually (Gschnitzer 1981).