Inner Workings Of The Senate

[Guest spartacus]

As with other site users I read and study Roman ways and their culture but to be honest I have not yet got around to delving into the inner workings of the Senate

 

I know I should, and I hope to get some reading material on the subject in time for my summer holidays,so for the time being I thought it might be fun for any fellow site users to input their knowledge of this topic on this post

 

Firstly, how did Senatorial Procedures relate to our way of government? For instance here in Britain a proposed Bill is put forward in the House of Commons, it is then debated, then voted on, if it is passed the Bill then goes for a final Debate and Vote in the House of Lords, all this can take a considerable amount of time!

Was the Roman procedure quicker?

 

Is the system in the U.S. simular to the Roman way?

 

These are just some ideas to start with on what I presume is a vast subject, if you know more on this subject please post?

[P.Clodius]

It was the Concilium Plebis that proposed and ratified laws. The Senate was little more than an advisary body.

[Primus Pilus]

Except, of course, for those few in the late Republic who turned that boy upside down. Then again, by that point it was only a shell of what it was originally intended to be.

[Komet]

The senate was never intended to be a binding, legislative body. Even in the days of the Tarquins, the senate existed, but only as an ad hoc advisory body to the kings. They could issue decrees, but had no power to enforce them.