Praetor
Praetor, also pretor, was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, and as an elected magistratus, assigned to discharge various duties. The functions of the magistracy, the praetura, are described by the adjective itself: the praetoria potestas, the praetorium imperium, and the praetorium ius, the legal precedents established by the praetores. Praetorium, as a substantive, denoted the location from which the praetor exercised his authority, either the headquarters of his castra, the courthouse of his judiciary, or the city hall of his provincial governorship. The minimum age for holding the praetorship was 39 during the Roman Republic, but it was later changed to 30 in the early Empire.
History of the title
The status of the praetor in the early republic is unclear. The traditional account from Livy claims that the praetorship was created by the Sextian-Licinian Rogations in 367 BC, but it was well known both to Livy and other Romans in the late republic that the chief magistrates were first called praetor. For example, Festus "refers to 'the praetors, who are now consuls'".The form of the republic changed substantially over its history and the accounts of the republic's development in the early imperial period are marred with anachronisms projecting then-current practices into the past. In the earliest periods of the republic, praetor "may not have meant anything more than leader in the most basic sense", deriving from praeire or praeesse. These early praetors may have simply been clan leaders leading "military forces privately and free from state control" with a multitude of private leaders leading private armies.
These early military leaders were eventually institutionalised into fixed magistrate bodies elected by the people with clear state control over military activities. This was also probably assisted by "the use of recuperatores to mediate disputes and fetial priests to control the declaration of war". The effect to make it more difficult for private individuals to start wars against Rome's neighbours. Reforms in 449 BC also may have required "for the first time that all military commanders be confirmed by a popular assembly the Roman people".
The emergence of the classical praetorship was a long process that had been underway by 367 BC. This was when the Sextian-Licinian Rogations were passed, giving the Roman people substantially more power over the selection of their military commanders. While Livy claims that the rogations created the praetorship in 367 BC to relieve the consuls of their judicial responsibilities, "few modern historians would accept account as written". Beyond the ancient knowledge that a title of praetor dated to the beginning of the republic, what became the classical praetorship was initially a military office with imperium and "virtually identical in authority and capacity to the consulship". Furthermore, a fully-formed praetorship without colleague, as Livy's account implies, would be a "tremendous violation of Roman practice in which all regular magistracies were created in colleges consisting of at least two".
"Scholars increasingly view the as establishing a college of three praetors, two of whom eventually developed into the historical consuls". What became the classical praetorship in its early years also was not viewed as being less than the consuls, as "it was common practice for men to hold the praetorship after a consulship... since was simply a method of holding imperium for a second year".
Livy reports that until 337 BC the praetor was chosen only from among the patricians. In that year, eligibility for the praetura was opened to the plebeians, and one of them, Quintus Publilius Philo, won the office.
Only in the 125 years after the election of three military leaders did a clear distinction emerge between what became the consuls and what became the praetors due to the "normal Roman practice to reserve one commander in or near the city for purposes of defence and for civilian administration". The glory and prestige won by the praetors fighting foreign wars, then still in Italy, is what led to the higher prestige of the consulship. Only in 180 BC with the passage of the lex Villia annalis was holding the praetorship after the consulship prohibited. Even after the consulship emerged from the praetorship with higher prestige and desirability, praetorian imperium was still not legally distinct until the very end of the republic.
Starting in 241 BC, praetors started to be prorogued, allowing former praetors to act in the place of a praetor with power only "to conduct war in his assigned provincia no other concerns or duties". Prorogation, in effect, granted private individuals a legally fictitious power to act in the place of the normal magistrates, allowing them to continue to act within their assigned task. Prorogation allowed a magistrate, whose imperium did not expire with his term until crossing the pomerium or being stripped by the people, to continue in his assigned task or provincia.
Praetura
The elected praetor was a curule magistrate, exercised imperium, and consequently was one of the magistratus majores. He had the right to sit in the sella curulis and wear the toga praetexta. He was attended by six lictors. A praetor was a magistrate with imperium within his own sphere, subject only to the veto of the consuls.The potestas and imperium of the consuls and the praetors under the Republic should not be exaggerated. They did not use independent judgment in resolving matters of state. Unlike today's executive branches, they were assigned high-level tasks directly by senatorial decree under the authority of the SPQR.
Livy describes the assignments given to either consuls or praetors in some detail. As magistrates, they had standing duties to perform, especially of a religious nature. However, a consul or praetor could be taken away from his current duties at any time to head a task force, and there were many, especially military. Livy mentions that, among other tasks, these executive officers were told to lead troops against perceived threats, investigate possible subversion, raise troops, conduct special sacrifices, distribute windfall money, appoint commissioners and even exterminate locusts. Praetors could delegate at will. The one principle that limited what could be assigned to them was that their duties must not concern them with minima, "little things". They were by definition doers of maxima. This principle of Roman law became a principle of later European law: Non curat minima praetor, that is, the details do not need to be legislated, they can be left up to the courts.
Praetors and their duties
Republican
A second praetorship was created around 241 BC, more clearly separating this office from that of the consulship. There were two reasons for this: to relieve the weight of judicial business and to give the Republic a magistrate with imperium who could field an army in an emergency when both consuls were fighting a far-off war.''Praetor peregrinus''
By the end of the First Punic War, a fourth magistrate entitled to hold imperium appears, the praetor qui inter peregrinos ius dicit. Although in the later Empire the office was titled praetor inter cives et peregrinos, by the time of the 3rd century BC, Rome's territorial annexations and foreign populations were unlikely to require a new office dedicated solely to this task. T. Corey Brennan, in his two-volume study of the praetorship, argues that during the military crisis of the 240s the second praetorship was created to make another holder of imperium available for command and provincial administration inter peregrinos. During the Hannibalic War, the praetor peregrinus was frequently absent from Rome on special missions. The urban praetor more often remained in the city to administer the judicial system.''Praetor urbanus''
The praetor urbanus presided in civil cases between citizens. The Senate required that some senior officer remain in Rome at all times. This duty now fell to the praetor urbanus. In the absence of the consuls, he was the senior magistrate of the city, with the power to summon the Senate and to organize the defense of the city in the event of an attack. He was not allowed to leave the city for more than ten days at a time. He was therefore given appropriate duties in Rome. He superintended the Ludi Apollinares and was also the chief magistrate for the administration of justice and promulgated the Praetor's Edict. These Edicts were statements of praetor's policy as to judicial decisions to be made during his term of office. The praetor had substantial discretion regarding his Edict, but could not legislate. In a sense the continuing Edicts came to form a corpus of precedents. The development and improvement of Roman Law owes much to the wise use of this praetorial discretion.Additional praetors
The expansion of Roman authority over other lands required the addition of praetors. Two were created in 227 BC, for the administration of Sicily and Sardinia, and two more when the two Hispanic provinces were formed in 197 BC. The dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla transferred administration of the provinces to former consuls and praetors, simultaneously increasing the number of praetors elected each year to eight, as part of his constitutional reforms. Julius Caesar raised the number to ten, then fourteen, and finally to sixteen.Imperial
made changes that were designed to reduce the Praetor to being an imperial administrator rather than a magistrate. The electoral body was changed to the Senate, which was now an instrument of imperial ratification. To take a very simplistic view, the establishment of the principate can be seen as the restoration of monarchy under another name. The Emperor therefore assumed the powers once held by the kings, but he used the apparatus of the republic to exercise them. For example, the emperor presided over the highest courts of appeal.The need for administrators remained just as acute. After several changes, Augustus fixed the number at twelve. Under Tiberius, there were sixteen. As imperial administrators, their duties extended to matters that the republic would have considered minima. Two praetors were appointed by Claudius for matters relating to Fideicommissa, when the business in that department of the law had become considerable, but Titus reduced the number to one; and Nerva added a Praetor for the decision of matters between the fiscus and individuals. Marcus Aurelius appointed a Praetor for matters relating to tutela.