Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/24

10 seems probable that originally they were employed also for administrative purposes, — for example, in the case of assessments and of military levies.

II. The Assembly of Curies.

Membership of the Assembly. — Three organs of the Roman government — the popular assembly, the senate, and the king — were to a certain extent coördinate, and in general constituted the sovereign power of the state.

The citizens, or patricians, alone were properly members of the popular assembly. The clients were passive in political affairs, though perhaps any one, citizen, resident foreigner, or slave, was permitted to attend the informal meetings of citizens.

Procedure of the Assembly. — The assembly could legally be summoned only by the king or a regent {interrex), and might meet either in an informal way, in a crowd (contio), to hear announcements and receive official communications, or in a formal way, each citizen in his own division (curia), to take legal action. The place of meeting was perhaps the open space in front of the curia Calabra on the Capitol. The official who had called the meeting presided. He alone had the right to address it, but he might allow others to speak either for or against his proposition. In the case of a formal meeting (comitia) he put the question (rogatio); and the people had no opportunity to offer amendments, but could simply vote for or against the measure. In the earliest times there was no formal voting, but later one curia (principium) was chosen by lot to cast its vote first. The result was announced, and then the other curies voted. The majority of the members decided the vote of each curia, and the majority of the curies decided the question.

A law (lex) passed in this way, and ratified by the senate,