Editing Praetor (section)

==Praetors and their duties==
===Republican===
A second praetorship was created around 241&nbsp;BC,{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=187}} more clearly separating this office from that of the consulship.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=188}} There were two reasons for this: to relieve the weight of judicial business and to give the Republic a [[Magistratus|magistrate]] with ''[[imperium]]'' who could field an army in an emergency when both [[Roman consul|consul]]s were fighting a far-off war.

====''Praetor peregrinus''====
By the end of the [[First Punic War]], a fourth magistrate entitled to hold ''[[imperium]]'' appears, the ''praetor qui inter peregrinos ius dicit'' ("the praetor who administers justice among foreigners"). Although in the later Empire the office was titled ''praetor inter cives et peregrinos'' ("among citizens and foreigners", that is, having jurisdiction in disputes between citizens and noncitizens), by the time of the 3rd century BC, Rome's territorial annexations and foreign populations were unlikely to require a new office dedicated solely to this task. [[T. Corey Brennan]], in his two-volume study of the praetorship, argues that during the military crisis of the 240s the second praetorship was created to make another holder of ''imperium'' available for command and provincial administration ''inter peregrinos''. During the [[Hannibalic War]], the ''praetor peregrinus'' was frequently absent from Rome on special missions. The urban praetor more often remained in the city to administer the judicial system.{{sfn|Brennan|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=eIzxygbg8DkC&pg=PA604 604]}}

====''Praetor urbanus''====
The ''praetor urbanus'' presided in civil cases between citizens. The Senate required that some senior officer remain in Rome at all times. This duty now fell to the ''praetor urbanus''. In the absence of the consuls, he was the senior magistrate of the city, with the power to summon the Senate and to organize the defense of the city in the event of an attack.{{sfn|McCullough|1990|p=1014}} He was not allowed to leave the city for more than ten days at a time. He was therefore given appropriate duties in Rome. He superintended the [[Ludi Apollinares]] and was also the chief magistrate for the administration of justice and promulgated the [[Praetor's Edict]]. These Edicts were statements of praetor's policy as to judicial decisions to be made during his term of office. The praetor had substantial discretion regarding his Edict, but could not legislate. In a sense the continuing Edicts came to form a corpus of precedents. The development and improvement of [[Roman Law]] owes much to the wise use of this praetorial discretion.{{sfn|Watson|1974|pp=31–62}}

====Additional praetors====
{{See also|Prorogatio}}
The expansion of Roman authority over other lands required the addition of praetors. Two were created in 227 BC, for the administration of [[Sicily]] and [[Sardinia]], and two more when the two [[Hispania|Hispanic]] provinces were formed in 197 BC. The dictator [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]] transferred administration of the provinces to [[promagistrate|former consuls and praetors]], simultaneously increasing the number of praetors elected each year to eight, as part of his [[Sulla's constitutional reforms|constitutional reforms]]. [[Julius Caesar]] raised the number to ten, then fourteen, and finally to sixteen.{{efn|In the late Republic the census was discovering a population of the city of Rome numbering in the millions.}}

===Imperial===
[[Augustus]] made changes that were designed to reduce the Praetor to being an imperial administrator rather than a magistrate. The electoral body was changed to the Senate, which was now an instrument of imperial ratification. To take a very simplistic view, the establishment of the principate can be seen as the restoration of monarchy under another name. The Emperor therefore assumed the powers once held by the kings, but he used the apparatus of the republic to exercise them. For example, the emperor presided over the highest courts of appeal.

The need for administrators remained just as acute. After several changes, Augustus fixed the number at twelve. Under [[Tiberius]], there were sixteen. As imperial administrators, their duties extended to matters that the republic would have considered ''minima''. Two praetors were appointed by [[Claudius]] for matters relating to ''[[Fideicommissa]]'' ([[Trust law|trusts]]), when the business in that department of the law had become considerable, but [[Titus]] reduced the number to one; and [[Nerva]] added a Praetor for the decision of matters between the ''[[fiscus]]'' ([[treasury]]) and individuals. [[Marcus Aurelius]]<ref>Capitolinus, ''Vita Marci Antonini'' Chapter 10.</ref> appointed a Praetor for matters relating to ''tutela'' ([[Legal guardian|guardianship]]).