praetor
/ˈpriːtə
/ /ˈpriːtɔː /(US also pretor)
noun Roman History
Each of two ancient Roman magistrates ranking below consul.Quaestors, praetors, and consuls were often employed after their year of office at Rome as ‘pro-magistrates’ to administer the provinces of the Roman empire....
- Recall that legal procedures of the chthonic tradition were essentially open ones; there were no barriers such as the praetor of roman law or the chancellor (keeper of the writs) of the common law.
- Once again, elections were held for aedile, praetor, quaestor and the other traditional offices of the Republic.
Derivatives
praetorial
praetorship
- After his praetorship he defeated Spartacus, but Pompey, after crucifying many fugitives, claimed credit for the victory, deeply offending Crassus.
- As an individual aged he could expect to hold increasingly senior posts: the quaestorship at twenty-seven, praetorship in his late thirties and the consulship at forty-two.
- Other magistracies, the aedileship and the tribunate of the plebs, might be held between quaestorship and praetorship, but were not obligatory.
Origin
Latin, perhaps from prae 'before' + it- 'gone' (from the verb ire).