Editing Praetor (section)

==History of the title==
The status of the ''praetor'' in the early republic is unclear. The traditional account from Livy claims that the praetorship was created by the [[Sextian-Licinian Rogations]] in 367&nbsp;BC, but it was well known both to Livy and other Romans in the late republic that the chief magistrates were first called ''praetor''.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=15}} For example, Festus "refers to 'the praetors, who are now consuls'".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=15}}

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.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=18}} In the earliest periods of the republic, ''praetor'' "may not have meant anything more than leader in the most basic sense",{{sfn|Drogula|2015|pp=18-9}} deriving from ''praeire'' (to proceed) or ''praeesse'' (to be preeminent).{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=19}} These early praetors may have simply been clan leaders leading "military forces privately and free from state control"{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=20}} with a multitude of private leaders leading private armies.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=23}}

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".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=33}} The effect to make it more difficult for private individuals to start wars against Rome's neighbours.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=33}} Reforms in 449&nbsp;BC also may have required "for the first time that all military commanders be confirmed by a popular assembly [representing] the Roman people".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=36}}

The emergence of the classical praetorship was a long process that had been underway by 367&nbsp;BC. This was when the [[Sextian-Licinian Rogations]] were passed,{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=37}} giving the Roman people substantially more power over the selection of their military commanders.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=37}} While Livy claims that the rogations created the praetorship in 367&nbsp;BC to relieve the consuls of their judicial responsibilities, "few modern historians would accept [this] account as written".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=184}} 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".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=184}} 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".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=185}}

"Scholars increasingly view the [rogations] as establishing a college of three (and only three) praetors, two of whom eventually developed into the historical consuls".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=41}} 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 so] was simply a method of holding ''imperium'' for a second year".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|pp=186-7}}

Livy reports that until 337&nbsp;BC the praetor was chosen only from among the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]]. In that year, eligibility for the ''praetura'' was opened to the [[Plebeians|plebeians]], and one of them, Quintus Publilius Philo, won the office.<ref>Livy, ''[[Ab urbe condita libri (Livy)|Ab urbe condita]]'' [[wikisource:From the Founding of the City/Book 8#15|8.15]].</ref>

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".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=188}} 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.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|pp=188-9}} Only in 180&nbsp;BC with the passage of the ''lex Villia annalis'' was holding the praetorship after the consulship prohibited.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=186}} 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Drogula|2015|p=192}}. See also et seq discussion of Livy and Festus' use of ''vis imperii'' as referring to social, rather than legal, hierarchy.</ref>

Starting in 241&nbsp;BC, praetors started to be prorogued, allowing former praetors to act in the place of a praetor (ie ''[[Propraetor|pro praetore]]'') with power only "to conduct war in his assigned ''provincia'' [with] no other concerns or duties".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=212}} 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'').<ref>{{harvnb|Drogula|2015|p=214}}. 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".</ref> 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''.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=214}}