{"id":2994,"date":"2023-03-19T22:08:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T21:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learnancientrome.com\/?p=2994"},"modified":"2023-03-19T22:08:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T21:08:21","slug":"did-ancient-rome-over-legislate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnancientrome.com\/did-ancient-rome-over-legislate\/","title":{"rendered":"Did ancient rome over legislate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When looking at the Roman Republic, one of the first things that stand out is the large amount of legislation that was enacted during this time. This begs the question, did ancient Rome over legislate? To answer this, we must first understand what exactly legislation is and its purpose. In short, legislation is a rule or set of rules created by a governing body, in this case the Roman Senate, in order to regulate society. The reason for why Rome may have seemed to over legislate is because the Senate was constantly trying to find new ways to solve the problems that arose in society. While this is not a bad thing in and of itself, it does give the impression that Rome was constantly creating new laws instead of solving problems in other ways.<\/p>\n

The simple answer is yes, Rome over-legislated. And the result was often disastrous.<\/p>\n

There was too much legislation and too little implementation. Laws were passed that were impossible to implement or enforcing. Many laws were contradictory. And the result was a society that was increasingly regulation-bound and law-abiding, but also increasingly corrupt and dysfunctional.<\/p>\n

Was the Roman emperor above the law? <\/h2>\n

His writings formed the basis for the view that the emperor was above the law, but that his word was law. The emperor was, however, obligated by virtue of his position to be both approachable and benevolent to all people, including those of lower status such as women and slaves. This meant that the emperor could not simply ignore the plight of those beneath him and had to take their needs into consideration when making decisions.<\/p>\n