The Roman Republic did in fact have a constitution. When they overthrew the Etruscan kings and established the Republic the laws were kept secret and not revealed to the plebeians - the ordinary free people. The laws worked very much in favour of the patricians. However, there were periodic uprisings and desertions by the plebians and, of course, Rome relied on them for the military. So a set of laws called the Twelve Tables were written down and made public, and Roman citizens had full recourse to them. Slaves did not. Of course, it wasn't a democracy in the way that we would understand the term, but our own understanding has developed over centuries, as did that of the Romans.
The American political system was strongly influenced by the Roman Republic, as I'm sure you know. -- Cheers, Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: P. J. Alling [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 20 October 2005 23:26 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: OT: Res publica > > Misuse of the word constitution, scholars should know better. > > Bob W wrote: > > >>>That's quite funny pissing contest :) US were a republic > as much as > >>>the old Rome was. Id est only small part of the population had any > >>>constitutional rights. > >>> > >>> > >>I'm not very familiar with the early Roman Republic. In > fact, I wasn't > >>aware that they were a constitutional republic. > >> > >> > > > >Well, since we're still in Texas, let's see what their > University has > >to say about the constitution of the Roman Republic: > >http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/RepGov.html > > > >Bob > > > > > > > > > > > -- > When you're worried or in doubt, > Run in circles, (scream and shout). > > > >
