Prætor

Prætor was, among the ancient Romans, the title given to the consuls as leaders of the armies of the state; but it was specially employed to designate a magistrate whose powers were scarcely inferior to those of a consul. The prætorship, in this specific sense of the term, was first instituted in 366 B.C., as a compensation to the patricians for being obliged to share with the plebeians the honours of consulship. It was virtually a third consulship; the prætor was entitled collega consulis; he was elected by the same auspices and at the same comitia. For nearly thirty years patricians alone were eligible for the office; but in 337 B.C. the plebeians made good their right to it also. The prætor's functions were chiefly judicial. Though he sometimes commanded armies, and, in the absence of the consuls, exercised consular authority within the city, yet his principal business was the administration of justice both in matters civil and criminal; and to the edicts of successive prætors the Roman law owes much of its development and improvement. Originally there was only one prætor; but as the city and state increased, and their relations with other nations became more complicated, others were added. In 246 B.C. a second prætor was appointed, to settle disputes that might arise between Romans and foreigners temporarily resident at Rome, for trading or other purposes, hence called prætor peregrinus ('foreign prætor'), to distinguish him from the original prætor urbanus ('city prætor'). In 227 two new prætors were appointed, to administer affairs in Sicily and Sardinia; and in 197 two more for the Spanish provinces, or six in all. Sulla increased the number to eight, and Julius Cæsar to sixteen. Augustus reduced the number to twelve; but at a later period we read of eighteen, if not more. The city prætorship was reckoned the highest; and after a person had filled this office he sometimes received the administration of a province with the title of proprætor or proconsul.