iurists, that the Roman upon the emperors to the com HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHAPTER IV ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES IN nearly all the Greek city-states the form of government passed through four stages: monarchy, oligarchy, tyranny, and democracy. Sparta was the chief exception to this rule. In the other Greek cities the tyrants had been expelled and republics established before the Persian wars. Rome, too, was a republic from 509 B.C. to 31 B.C. In both Greece and Rome, government was originally theocratic in its nature. The rulers were regarded as a sacerdotal class. Magistrates exercised religious functions. The laws were religious traditions. Custom, sanctioned by religion, reigned supreme. With the progress of civilization custom gradually lost its hold and was supplanted by reason. Laws were no longer regarded as being externally imposed by the gods or some great lawgiver, but as the creation of the popular consciousness. The rulers were now no longer regarded as priests, but as magistrates. When Demos 1 'Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City, Am. ed., pp. 411, 426 et seq., Madvig, Verfass. u. Verw, des röm. Staats, I. p. 213. e people became the source of ne majority its foundation. Public ne principle of government. The suf 2 frage of the people, by creating both law and magistrates, was regarded as the true sovereign. "What the votes of the people have ordained," the Twelve Tables say, "in the last instance is the law."1 "No one has power," says Cicero, "except from the people." The people made the laws and decided concerning peace and war. "This is the condition of a free people," Cicero affirms in another oration, "and especially of this chief people, the lord and conqueror of all nations, to be able to give or to take away by their votes whatever they see fit." Even Augustus issued the laws in the name of the people. The doctrine of the sovereignty of the people was put forth by jurists during the time of Hadrian. Ulpian, as late as the time of the Emperor Severus, declared the validity of the imperial constitutions to derive from the fact that the people had delegated their sovereign power to the emperor. The autocratic Emperor Justinian declares "that to be a law which the Roman people constituted so.' "But likewise that which pleases the ruler has the force of law," he says, "because the people have, by the Lex regia, conceded to him their imperium and power." 6 1 Livy, VII. 17; IX. 33, 34; Hildenbrand, Rechts- und Staatsphilos., I.pp. 23-25; Fustel de Coulanges, Ancient City (Am. ed.), pp. 411, 426, 428, 429. 2 Cic., De Lege Agr., II. 11. Polyb., VI. 14. Pro Plancio, IV. 6 Bruns, in Holtzendorff, Encykl. der Rechtswiss., p. 103. Justinian's Institutes, I. 2, §§ 4, 6. The theory of the Roman jurists, that the Roman people conferred their sovereignty upon the emperors by means of the Lex regia, gave rise to the compact theory of government which plays so important a part in the political philosophy of medieval and modern times. The idea of a compact, however, was already familiar to the Sophists and to Aristotle.1 With the appearance of Christianity and of the Germans on the scene of history, ancient history closes and a new period begins. These two factors produced an entirely new civilization. Both favored individualism and democracy. Christianity taught that God is no respecter of persons; that in His sight all men are equal; that every individual is accountable to a personal God for all his actions; that there is no human mediator between God and man. Christ is the Saviour of mankind, not of any particular race or people. The God of Christianity does not prefer particular places or peoples. Christianity tore down the barriers between Greeks, Romans, and barbarians, and created a feeling of human brotherhood which supplanted and exceeded in strength the patriotism of the old nations. Christ aimed to break down the barriers not only between the nations, but also between the classes, by endeavoring to elevate the lower classes and so obviate the inequality which ages had hallowed. Christianity contained the germs of a new social and political order. Whenever there is a revival of primitive Christianity, a renewal of the democratic spirit is observable." 1 The individualistic and democratic spirit is also a 1 Aristotle, Rhetoric, I. 13; Plato, Republic, II. 'Laurent, Études sur l'histoire de l'humanité, IV. Ch. 3; Ritter, Geschichte der christl. Philosophie, I. pp. 7, 8. |