The status of the praetor in the early republic is unclear. The traditional account from Livy claims that the praetorship was … See more

The elected praetor was a curule magistrate, exercised imperium, and consequently was one of the magistratus majores. He had the right to sit in the sella curulis and wear the toga praetexta. He was attended by six lictors. … See more

A second praetorship was created around 241 BC, more clearly separating this office from that of the consulship. There were two reasons for this: to relieve the weight of judicial business and to give the Republic a magistrate… See more

Roman court cases fell into the two broad categories of civil or criminal trials. The involvement of a Praetor in either was as follows.
In an actio, which was civil, the Praetor could eithe… See more

When the Praetor administered justice in a tribunal, he sat on a sella curulis, which was that part of the court reserved for the Praetor and his assessors and friends, as opposed to the subsellia, the part occupied by the iudic… See more

By 395 AD, the praetors' responsibilities had been reduced to a purely municipal role. Their sole duty was to manage the spending of money on the exhibition of games or on public works. However, with the decline … See more

Like many other Roman institutions, the praetor (Greek: πραίτωρ, praitōr) survived in the Eastern Roman Empire.
Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) undertook a major administrative reform beginning in 535, which … See more