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Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected Roman magistrate (magistrate), assigned to discharge various duties. The functions of the magistracy, the praetura (praetorship), are described by the adjective itself: the praetoria potestas (praetorian power), the praetorium imperium (praetorian authority), and the praetorium ius (praetorian law), the legal precedents established by the praetores (praetors). Praetorium, as a substantive, denoted the location from which the praetor exercised his authority, either the headquarters of his castra, the courthouse (tribunal) 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 Roman Empire.
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 (to proceed) or praeesse (to be preeminent). 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 representing 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 this 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 rogations as establishing a college of three (and only 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 doing 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.Livy, Ab urbe condita .
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 (eventually) 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 (or inferior to consular imperium) until the very end of the republic.. See also et seq discussion of Livy and Festus' use of vis imperii as referring to social, rather than legal, hierarchy.
Starting in 241 BC, praetors started to be prorogued, allowing former praetors to act in the place of a praetor (ie Propraetor) with power only "to conduct war in his assigned provincia with 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 ( provincia).. Note that a provincia is not synonymous with a "province", a provincia could refer to a task, here usually a war, to be conducted or a place in which a task, here governance, was to occur. The latter meaning flows to "province". 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.
The potestas and imperium (power and authority) of the consuls and the praetors under the Roman 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 (domestic or foreign), 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: De minimis, that is, the details do not need to be legislated, they can be left up to the courts.
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 (Trust law), 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 (treasury) and individuals. Marcus AureliusCapitolinus, Vita Marci Antonini Chapter 10. appointed a Praetor for matters relating to tutela (Legal guardian).
During the time of the Roman Republic, the Urban Praetor allegedly issued an annual edict, usually on the advice of (since the Praetor himself was not necessarily educated in the law), setting out the circumstances under which he would grant remedies. The legal provisions arising from the Praetor's Edict were known as ius honorarium; in theory the Praetor did not have power to alter the law, but in practice the Edict altered the rights and duties of individuals and was effectively a legislative document. In the reign of Hadrian, however, the terms of the Edict were made permanent and the Praetor's de facto legislative role was abolished.
These quaestiones looked into crimina publica, "crimes against the public", such as were worthy of the attention of a Praetor. The penalty on conviction was usually death, but sometimes other severe penalties were used. In the late Republic, the public crimes were:
The last three were added by the Dictator Sulla in the early 1st century BC.
Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) undertook a major administrative reform beginning in 535, which involved the reunification of civil and military authority in the hands of the governor in certain provinces, and the abolition of the Roman diocese. The Diocese of Thrace had already been abolished by the end of the 5th century by Anastasius, and its vicarius became the new praetor Justinianus of Thrace, with authority over all the former Thracian provinces except for Lower Moesia and Scythia Minor, which became part of the quaestura exercitus. Similarly, the governors of Pisidia and Lycaonia, as well as Paphlagonia (enlarged by merging it with Honorias) were upgraded to praetores Justiniani, and received the rank of vir spectabilis. In addition, in Constantinople he replaced the praefectus vigilum, who was hitherto responsible for security, by a praetor populi (in Greek πραίτωρ τῶν δήμων, praitōr tōn dēmōn), with wide-ranging police powers.
In the early 9th century, the praitōr was a junior administrative official in the themata, subordinate to the governing strategos. Gradually however, the civil functionaries assumed greater power, and by the late 10th century, the praitores (or kritai, "judges") were placed at the head of the civil administration of a thema. This division of civil and military duties was often abandoned in the 12th century, when the posts of civil praitōr and military dux were frequently held in tandem. The provincial post fell out of use after the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
According to Helene Ahrweiler, Emperor Nikephoros II (r. 963–969) reinstituted a praetor in Constantinople, as a high-ranking judge. He is possibly identical to the Palaiologan era post of the praitōr tou demōu, whose holders are attested until 1355. According to the Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos, compiled around the same time, the praitōr tou demōu occupied the 38th place in the imperial hierarchy, between the megas tzaousios and the logothetēs tōn oikeiakōn, but held no official function. His court uniform consisted of a gold-brocaded hat ( skiadion), a plain silk kabbadion tunic, and a plain, smooth wooden staff ( dikanikion).
In Italy, until 1998, Praetor was a magistrate with particular duty (especially in civil branch).
The Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino has pretori (singular: pretore) which is the chief magistrate (civil branch) of a district, heading a pretura (a court). Repubblica e Cantone Ticino (in Italian) The pretori are appointed by the canton's parliament. Constitution of Ticino Article 36 (in Italian)
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