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L’article entend montrer que les trois institutions archétypiques et originales dénotant les pouvoirs suprêmes qui forment le noyau de la constitution romaine – l’ imperium, la tribunicia potestas et la patria potestas – s’appuient sur la violence physique. De plus, ces formes de violence légitime se fondent sur le droit de vie et de mort sur leurs sujets. On examine par la suite les mécanismes par lesquels le droit romain a incorporé et institutionnalisé des actes de violence dans ces notions essentielles du pouvoir, ainsi que les formes sous lesquelles la décision de vie ou de mort est exprimée.

Violence and Power in Republican Rome: Imperium, Tribunicia Potestas, Patria PotestasThis paper argues that the three original and prototypical concepts that denote the supreme powers which form the core of the Roman constitution—the imperium, the tribunicia potestas and the patria potestas—are based on physical violence. Moreover, these forms of legitimate violence are founded on the right of their bearer to decide over the life or death of the persons subjected to them. The aim of this paper is to examine the mechanisms by which Roman law incorporated and institutionalized acts of violence in these essential notions of power, as well as the forms in which the decision over life or death is expressed.