Praetor

Praetor, also pretor, title of magistrate of the ancient Romans. The title was first applied to consuls. In 366 bc, when the Licinian-Sextian laws provided that the supreme authority should be in the hands of the two consuls, one of whom had to be of the common people, or plebeians, the praetorship was created as a separate office to provide for the jurisdiction of civil suits, and it seems at first to have been open only to patricians. The praetor, known as the urban praetor, was actually a third consul and was accompanied by six lictors. In 337 bc the praetorship was opened to plebeian men and became the first steps towards gaining a consulship. The urban praetor presided over all litigation between citizens in the city of Rome proper.

A second praetor, known as the peregrine praetor, was appointed in 242 bc to conduct lawsuits in which one or both of the litigants were foreigners. More praetors were added for the administration of newly acquired provinces, until the number of praetors reached a total of 16. Of this group the urban praetor ranked first and, in the absence of the consuls from Rome, had the power to convoke meetings of the Senate. The praetorship was ordinarily of annual tenure, and the age requirement was 30 years. Magistrates of praetorian rank presided over the special courts of law established at Rome to deal with such crimes as extortion, bribery, treason, and murder.

The praetors, like the consuls, were elected by the Roman people assembled in the comitia, and as in the case of consuls, they possessed military power, and went forth as propraetors, or military governors of the provinces, upon the expiration of their terms of office. Upon the reorganization of the provinces under the Roman Empire, all governors of the imperial provinces, being under the proconsular authority of the emperor, were designated as propraetors. They were so termed whether they were of consular or praetorian rank.