prae·tor

also pre·tor (prē′tər)

An annually elected magistrate of the ancient Roman Republic, ranking below but having approximately the same functions as a consul.

[Middle English pretor, from Old French, from Latin praetor, perhaps from praeīre, to go before : prae-, pre- + īre, to go; see ei- in Indo-European roots.]

prae·to′ri·al (prē-tôr′ē-əl) adj.

prae′tor·ship′ n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

praetorial - of or relating to a Roman praetor; "praetorial powers"

praetorian, pretorial, pretorian

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References in periodicals archive

Park negotiated directly with business leaders while creating a praetorial guard of military and security officers to secure his power and carry out his will; the bureaucracy and the technocrats were clearly subordinate to him and were, in effect, his servants.

The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea

bureaucrats and scholars who organized the edictum perpetuum on the basis of the accumulated records of praetorial decisions.

La Codification des lois dans l'antiquite: Actes du Colloque de Strasbourg, 27-29 Novembre 1997

As they included cases outside the domain of the ius civile proper, later referred to as causes in equity, these edicts in some measure became annual declarations of natural law.(50) According to Sir Henry Sumner Maine, a widespread enthusiasm for natural law discourse in the late Republic further resulted in a perception of praetorial edicts as instruments for restoring the natural law.(51) To some degree, therefore, each praetor was able to enact his own version of the natural law and, if his ideas were well received, to leave a permanent mark on Roman doctrine.

Promises past: Marcus Atilius Regulus and the dialogue of natural law

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