Centuriate assembly

Politics of the Roman Republic
509 – 27 BC
Constitution and development
Republican origins Sullan reforms Conflict of the Orders Augustan reforms
Magistrates and officials
Classical magistrates Censor Consul Praetor Aedile Plebeian tribune Quaestor Promagistrate Legate Extraordinary magistrates Interrex Dictator Magister equitum Triumvir Religious officials Rex sacrorum Pontifex maximus Flamines Pontifices Augures Epulones Quindecimviri Early magistrates Consular tribune Decemvir Junior positions Decemviri stlitibus judicandis Tresviri capitales Trimuviri monetales
Senate
Princeps senatus Senatus consultum Senatus consultum ultimum
Assemblies
Curiate Centuriate Tribal Plebeian Elections Contiones
Public law and norms
Courts Iudicium populi Quaestio perpetua Concepts Auctoritas Collegiality Cursus honorum Imperium Ius Mos maiorum Potestas Provocatio Provincial administration Governor Province
Other countries
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The centuriate assembly (Latin: comitia centuriata) was a popular assembly of ancient Rome. In the Roman Republic, its main function was electing the consuls, praetors, and censors. It was made up of 193 centuries (Latin: centuriae) which were apportioned to Roman citizens by wealth and age, hugely overweighting the old and wealthy.

The assembly, according to the ancient sources, dates to the regal period and initially closely resembled the Roman army of the period in form, with the equestrians serving as cavalry, the upper census classes serving as heavy infantry, and the lower classes serving as light infantry. Whether this was ever the case is unclear; regardless, by the third century BC the assembly did not closely resemble the Roman people under arms and it served a largely electoral purpose, as it was rarely called to vote on legislation or to decide – as was its theoretical legal right as place of final appeal – capital cases.

Assembly procedure was weighted towards the upper classes. Both before and after reforms some time between 241 and 216 BC, the first class and equestrians voted first. Their votes would be tallied and announced. Then the classes would vote in descending order of wealth. Once the requisite number of candidates received a majority of voting units, voting would end. Because the equestrians, first class, and second class made a clear majority of voting units, the lower census classes would never be called on if they were in agreement. There is scholarly disagreement as to the extent to which the comitia centuriata facilitated competitive elections, even within its de facto restrictive electorate. The traditional view is that Roman elections were largely unrepresentative of the population as a whole and dominated by the wealthy through social connections.

While the assembly continued to exist during the Roman Empire, it served largely to approve decisions made by the emperor and senate. It is last recorded in the third century AD.