Ⅰ Introduction 1
Sources of Legal Authority 3
Ⅱ A Roman Political Year 9
Ⅲ Polybius and the Constitution 16
Ⅳ The Story of the Origin of the Constitution 27
Ⅴ The Assemblies 40
Comitia， Contio， and Concilium 42
Assembly Procedure 43
The Organization of the Different Assemblies 49
Obstruction， Abrogation， Annulment 61
The Nature of Roman Legislation 63
Ⅵ The Senate 65
Membership of the Senate 68
The Place and Time of Meetings 72
Procedure 75
The Authority of the Senate 86
Appendix — The So-Called Last Decree 89
Ⅶ The Higher Magistrates and the Pro-Magistrates 94
The Nature of the Magistrate’s Power 94
The Functions of Magistrates 104
Ⅷ Tribunes， Aediles， and Minor Magistrates 121
Tribunis Plebis 121
Aedilis 129
Quaestor 133
Minor Magistrates 137
The Cursus Honorum 144
Ⅸ Criminal Justice 147
The Early Republican Background 149
The Development of the Law in the Later Republic 157
Ⅹ The Influence of Society and Religion 163
Aristocratic Families and their Values 164
Plebeian Connections and Dependence 176
Religion 182
Ⅺ The Balance of the Constitution 191
The Magistrates 192
The Senate and the Aristocracy 196
The Power of the People 199
Changes in the Balance 208
Ⅻ The Mixed Constitution and Republican Ideology 214
The Mixed Constitution in Classical Greece and inPolybius 214
Cicero’s De Re Publica 220
Cicero’s De Legibus 225
ⅩⅢ The Republic Remembered 233
The Middle Ages 235
Machiavelli 236
The Antiquarians 244
The Roman Republic and the English Revolution 247
Montesquieu and the Founding Fathers 251
Bibliography 256
Index of Ancient Sources Cited 269
General Index 293