Potestas

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Potestas is a Latin word meaning power or

faculty. It is an important concept in Roman
Law.

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.

Potestas strongly contrasts with the power of

the Senate and the prudentes, a common way
to refer to Roman jurists. While the magistrates
had potestas, the prudentes exercised
auctoritas. It is 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.

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. In a letter, Duo Sunt, Pope Gelasius I
argued that Christendom was ruled, in theory,
by the priests and princes. The former had the
spiritual authority, which was identified with
auctoritas, while the latter had temporal power,
identified with potestas.[1]At first, the Pope
crowned secular rulers after Pope Stephen II
crowned the Frankish king Pepin the Short in
January 754, and secular rulers often appointed
local bishops and abbots, but after the
Investiture Controversy the Pope was instead
chosen by the College of Cardinals and, at least
in theory, approved episcopal nominations.[2]

As the effective power of the Holy Roman

Empire declined, kingdoms asserted their own
independence.[citation needed] 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 assumed the attributes of
potestas.[citation needed]

Podestà

References

See also

Last edited 17 days ago by Jim1138

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