Expert: Maria - 8/3/2005

Question
In the event that a consul died in office in the Roman Republic, was there any kind of tradition forbidding the Senate from conducting its business until a replacement was elected?  

Answer
Hello,

When one of the consuls had died, the rule was, that if either of the consuls died in the year of his office, or abdicated before its expiration, the other was obliged to convene the comitia for the purpose of electing a successor (subrogare or sufficere collegam) who was called Consul Suffectus ( suffect consul).

In the meantime the Senate was forbidden from conducting its business.
It was  in fact  up to the consuls  to convene the senate, and as presidents to conducte the business; 'they had to carry into effect the decrees of the senate, and sometimes on urgent emergencies they might even act on their own authority and responsibility. They were the medium through which foreign affairs were brought before the senate; all despatches and reports were placed in their hands, before they were laid before the senate; by them foreign ambassadors were introduced into the senate, and they alone carried on the negotiations between the senate and foreign states'.

Best regards
Maria