Potestas is a Latin word meaning power or faculty. It is an important concept in Roman Law. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome. ...

Origin of the concept

The idea of potestas originally referred to the power, through coercion, of a Roman magistrate to promulgate edicts, give action to litigants, etc. This power, in Roman political and legal theory, is considered analogous in kind though lesser in degree to military power. The most important magistrates (such as consuls and praetors) are said to have imperium, which is the ultimate form of potestas, and refers indeed to military power. Coercion is the practice of compelling a person to act by employing threat of harm (usually physical force, sometimes other forms of harm). ... Magistratus ordinarii (ordinary magistrates) and Magistratus extraordinarii (extraordinary magistrates) were two categories of officials who held political, military, and, in some cases, religious power in the Roman Republic. ... Consul (abbrev. ... // Definition According to Cicero, Praetor was a title which designated the consuls as the leaders of the armies of the state. ... Imperium can, in a broad sense, be translated as power. ...

Potestas strongly contrasts with the power of the Senate and the prudents, a common way to refer to Roman jurists. While the magistrates had potestas, they had auctoritas. It's said that auctoritas is a manifestation of socially recognized knowledge, while potestas is a manifestation of socially recognized power. In Roman political theory, both were necessary to guide the res publica and they had to inform each other. The Roman Senate (Latin, Senatus) was a deliberative body which was important in the government of both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. ... A jurist is a professional who studies, develops, applies or otherwise deals with the law. ... Auctoritas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Res publica is a Latin phrase, made of res + publica, literally meaning public thing. It is the origin of the word Republic. // Etymology The word publica is the feminine singular of the 1st and 2nd declension adjective publicus, publica, publicum, which is itself derived from an earlier form, poplicus—relating...

Evolution of the concept in the Middle Ages

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, most institutions of Roman public law fell into disuse, but much of Roman political theory remained. During the early Middle Ages the Christian world was ruled in theory by the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. The former had the spiritual power, which was identified with auctoritas, while the latter had temporal power, identified with potestas. At first, the Pope crowned the Emperor and the Emperor appointed the Pope, so they were in a situation of balance, but after the Investiture Controversy the Pope was instead chosen by the College of Cardinals. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ... The Investiture Controversy was the most significant conflict between secular and religious powers in medieval Europe. ...

As the effective power of the Holy Roman Empire declined, kingdoms asserted their own independence. One way to do this was to claim that the king had, in his kingdom, the same power as the emperor in the empire, and so the king asumed the attributes of potestas. The Holy Roman Empire and from the 16th century on also The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a political conglomeration of lands in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ...

See also

• Jurisprudence
• edict
• tribune