The Government Of Aragon: The Roman Republic

The government of Aragon was in many ways modeled after the system of government found in the Roman Republic. It consisted of a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. A balanced, constitutional government consists of legislative, executive, and judicial functions. In a monarchy, all of these would be included under the king. He decided how the kingdom would use its money, how that money would be raised, what the laws were, how they would be executed, and oversaw that they were executed correctly. This much power was a lot for one man to possess. With this sole form of government there is no check or balance on the king’s power; he answers to himself alone. It is for these reasons that a monarchy is not always the best form …show more content…
The Cortes, a consulting body of representatives, governed this branch. This body of representatives was developed due to the many city-states that composed the kingdom of Aragon. Much like the Greek city-states, the Spanish city states each had their own customs and way of living. In order to preserve this diversity without conflict, each city-state elected a representative for the Cortes. The Cortes was composed of four estates, religious, nobles, knights, and townspeople; each allotted a certain number of seats. Each estate had a different way of electing representatives. The representatives for the religious estate were either appointed by their superiors or elected into their position. The nobles and knights gathered in a council and appointed, by common assent, men they thought were worthy or fit to serve on the Cortes. The townspeople used a voting system much like the one used in the Roman Republic. Each area would cast a vote using either a black or white marble in favor or against a candidate. Once elected the candidates would run against other candidates until only one remained. This person would then go and serve on the Cortes as a representative for that area. The Legislative branch possessed the power to make laws, issue taxes, and allocate the money as they saw fit. Since they controlled the money, the Cortes was in fact the primary ruler over the Aragon kingdom. Despite …show more content…
His role in the government was to execute the laws created by the legislative branch and to convene the Cortes. In addition, he also decided the agenda for each meeting with the Cortes. Typically the king, being the oldest son, inherited the throne from his father. This was the case in most situations. However, on some occasions kings were logically appointed according to their worthiness of the position. The decision was based on their education, experience, political stature, and noble character. It was the job of the religious estate of the Cortes to confirm the king. Therefore, primogeniture was not always the dominant means of succession. Although not as powerful, the executive branch checked the legislative branch and provided consistency to the