Page:A history and description of Roman political institutions (IA historyanddescri00abbo).pdf/31

Rh '''22. The Comitia Curiata.' Only the king or interrex had the right to call together the people and lay matters before them for consideration (agere cum populo''). The usual place of meeting was the comitium. In all probability the will of the people could ordinarily be indicated well enough by informal signs of approval or disapproval on the part of the multitude, but the systematic division of the people indicates that from the outset, on certain matters at least, a definite system of voting was adopted, perhaps by acclamation, within the separate curiae. A majority of the curiae determined the vote of the whole assembly. Stated meetings of the comitia curiata were held on the Kalends and Nones of the month to hear announcements with reference to the calendar, and on two fixed dates in the spring, primarily to witness wills. Other meetings were held as occasion might require. The matters which came before this assembly may be roughly classified under four heads. The people might be called together to elect a king, to hear an appeal, to listen to announcements, or to vote on rogationes or propositions. The first two points have been discussed elsewhere (pp. 14, 16). The announcements which the people were called together to hear were those made at the stated meetings mentioned above. It would be anachronism to speak of the legislation of the period, but in matters of great importance the king asked for the approval of the people assembled in the comitia, and on occasion of assuming the imperium (see pp. 14 f.) or declaring an offensive war the consent of the people was necessary. Questions concerning the gentes were those most frequently brought before the comitia curiata. These were mainly: adlectio, the admission of a new gens into a curia; restitutio, the restoration of citizenship; adrogatio, the reduction of a pater familias to a dependent position in another