comitia

comitia Assemblies of Roman citizens meeting for elections or legislation. The oldest assembly, the “Curiata”, consisted of representatives of religious groups based on kinship: it survived later as a body which sanctioned adoptions and ratified wills. The creation of the “Centuriata” as the assembly of the people in arms was attributed to King Servius Tullius. It originally elected magistrates and legislated. The citizens were organized in “centuries” according to census rating and military equipment and function, and voting power was weighted in favour of wealth and age. It remained the electoral assembly for consuls and praetors.

The “Tributa” was the meeting of the people in the 35 tribes, based on domicile, in which votes were equal, irrespective of property, but it was the tribal and not the individual vote that counted. Like the “Centuriata” it was convened by consuls or praetors and became the main legislative body and elected most of the lower magistrates. It was perhaps modelled on the “Concilium Plebis”, under the presidency of the tribunes of the PLEBS. This was established early in the conflict between patricians and plebeians. It consisted of plebeians only and was convened by the tribunes. Bills carried here were “plebiscita”; but after 287 BC “plebiscita” were accorded the same form as laws of the whole Roman people, and were generally also called “leges”.