See Rogation days

Rogation days

Rogation days are, in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy. They are April 25, the Major Rogation, coinciding with St...

 for usage pertaining to the Christian calendar of the Western Church.

In Roman constitutional law

Constitution of the Roman Republic

The Constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent. The constitution was largely unwritten, uncodified, and constantly evolving...

, rogatio is the term (from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

  rogo, "ask, place a question before") for a legislative bill

Bill (proposed law)

A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....

 placed before an Assembly of the People in ancient Rome. The rogatio procedure underscores the fact that the Roman senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 could issue decrees, but was not a legislative or parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

arian body. Only the People

SPQR

SPQR is an initialism from a Latin phrase, Senatus Populusque Romanus , referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic, and used as an official emblem of the modern day comune of Rome...

 could pass legislation.

A magistrate with the right to summon the assembly could propose a bill (rogatio legis); the proposed laws themselves were leges rogatae. A bill's proposer was its lator; a supporter was an auctor. Discussions in the senate would contribute to the drafting of a bill, which would be published (promulgare rogationem, that is, promulgatio

Promulgation

Promulgation is the act of formally proclaiming or declaring a new statutory or administrative law after its enactment. In some jurisdictions this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect....

) three weeks or more before it was formally submitted to the assembly. During this period, citizens could discuss the bill and propose changes, or more rarely ask for its withdrawal, at informal sessions (contiones). After the bill had been brought before the assembly for the vote, it could no longer be modified.

The legislator who introduced the bill asked Velitis iubeatis, Quirites? ("Citizens, are you going to approve and order?") and the people responded yea or nay without discussion. If a bill was withdrawn after the rogatio but before the vote was taken, it was usually because a tribune

Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...

 threatened to use his veto power against it, or less frequently because it proved unpopular among the plebs

Plebs

The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...

. If a bill was passed (rogatio lata est), it became a law (lex

Roman law

Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...

) after the presiding magistrate made a formal announcement (renuntiatio) of the assembly's decision.

In the Early Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

, the senate had to approve the constitutionality of a law before it was enacted; after the passage of the Lex Publilia Philonis in 339 BC, which required that at least one of the two censores be a plebeian, this approval (patrum auctoritas

Auctoritas

Auctoritas is a Latin word and is the origin of English "authority." While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the twentieth century expanded the use of the word.In ancient Rome, Auctoritas...

) was required before the bill was put to a vote in the assembly. With controversial popularist

Populares

Populares were aristocratic leaders in the late Roman Republic who relied on the people's assemblies and tribunate to acquire political power. They are regarded in modern scholarship as in opposition to the optimates, who are identified with the conservative interests of a senatorial elite...

 measures, however, the senate was sometimes bypassed.
If a bill was proposed for the purpose of declaring war, it had to be brought before the Centuriate Assembly.

A bill that became law was inscribed on copper or marble tablets and kept in the state treasury (aerarium

Aerarium

Aerarium was the name given in Ancient Rome to the public treasury, and in a secondary sense to the public finances....

 populi romani) under the supervision of the quaestor

Quaestor

A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....

s.

In 63 BC, Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

 managed to obstruct

Obstructionism

Obstructionism is the practice of deliberately delaying or preventing a process or change, especially in politics.-As workplace aggression:An obstructionist causes problems. Neuman and Baron identify obstructionism as one of the three dimensions that encompass the range of workplace aggression...

 a rogatio Servilia by making a speech before the people; this appears to be the only time in the Late Republic when oratory blocked a popular piece of legislation, which in this case had provided for the distribution of land to the poor. Or so Cicero claims; the bill's sponsor, the tribune Servilius Rullus

Servilius Rullus

Publius Servilius Rullus Roman tribune of the people in 63 BC, proposed one of the most far-reaching agrarian laws brought forward in Roman history....

, more likely withdrew it because of the threat of veto from one of his fellow tribunes, and it never reached the comitia.