THE SLAVE STATE CONSTITUTION and FEUDAL STATE CONSTITUTION

Jaba Shadrack, Assistant Lecturer, UDSM – School of Law, Department of Public Law
jaba@udsm.ac.tz or jabashadrack@gmail.com

THE SLAVE STATE CONSTITUTION

Introduction:

Emergence of Slave State

Raise of slave states was highly contributed by the improvement of technology which in turn allowed generation of surplus products, permanent settlement and increased of population. At this epoch, major means of production were transformed from being communal to private ones. Gradually, the accumulation of properties by few members of the society led to the emergence of two major classes i.e. 'haves' and 'have not'. Since the class of the haves had access to better weapons, they subjugated and conquered less developed peoples (the have not). The conquered class were either enslaved (turned into instruments of labour) or integrated into standing tribal military/army. Therefore, the tendency of expansionism accompanied by plundering, conquering of territories and capturing of slaves transformed tribal societies into the slave system (slavery). The good examples of slave states are the ancient Greece and Rome societies, for instance, two-third of the residents of Athens were slaves and one-third were freemen and foreigners.

The Social Class Structure of Slave State: A Case Study of the Roman Kingdom

The social set up of slave state was based on classes

i.e. slave masters, freemen, and slaves.

• Slave Masters/Patricians (the Noble)
  

These were the class of aristocrat (and rulers) which owned land and bought or captured slaves to till the land.

• Freemen/Plebeians (Plebs)
  

These were the class of ordinary or common members of the society who had little means of livelihood (i.e. the class of Ingenui, Liberti, and Libertini). It was made up by the proletariat class, foreign petty traders (clientes), Knights (equites) and warriors.

• Slaves/Spartans
  

A slave is/was an individual deprived of his liberty and forced to submit to an owner who may buy, sell, or lease him or her like any other chattel or given away as a gift. These were, in most cases, captives of war distributed among war commanders/generals, the ruling class and the rich. Sometimes, criminals, and freemen who failed to pay their debts were turned into slaves. Essentially, there were two types of slaves, i.e. private slaves (owned by private individuals) and public slaves/servus publicus (owned by the general public; worked in temples and other public buildings).

Generally, slaves were considered as sub-humans (chattel) exchanged like any other commodities with no legal or civic rights. In some areas, slaves were not even allowed to reproduce. In Roman societies, a slave was taken as a mere speaking instrument for production i.e.
instrumentum vocale as opposed to animals which were considered as instrumentum semi-vocale.

Organs of the Slave State:

The exercise of power in slave state was vest in two major organs, namely the State assembly/ the Senate and the City state popular assembly/Curiate assembly.

• The State Assembly/ the Roman Senate/ Council of Elders:
  

Largely, it was made up by aristocracy which served as advisory council to the King (rex). This was a supreme body headed by the first senator/consul assisted by other senators (minimum of 300 members). The first senator (popular in military expedition) was elected by Popular Assembly through acclamation. The state assembly was vested with power to make laws through popular direct democracy in which every freeman participated.

• City State Popular Assembly/Curiate Assembly/ Comitia curiata:
  

These were assemblies in vassal city states which paid tributes, and provided soldiers and logical support to the first senator during wars. It was a forum through which people could hear announcements, express their opinion, also served as a trial court for civil and criminal cases. For example, the Greece slave state was made up by city states such Athens, Ithaca, and Sparta.

Note: other organs included, the Century/Military Assembly, Executive Magistrates (all bureaucrats involved in state administration such as consuls, tax collectors, judges, censors and etc).

Watch: the Troy (trojan horse), and "the Spartacus".

Features of the Slave State Constitution:

• The economy was predominantly agrarian which depended on slave labour (i.e. slaves were major means of production.
  
• Creation of standing army that was always in pursuit of slaves and expansion of the territories, e.g. Roman slave kingdom.
  
• Conquest and creation of vassal territories led by appointed vassal chiefs having allegiance to the emperor.
  
• Development of various apparatus with institutions of government such as Courts, Army, Police and Prisons.
  
• Creation of class-laws which protected existing relation of production and class structure [jus civile
  i.e. private law, and jus publicum
  i.e. public law].

Decline of the slave state constitution:

• Class discontent (slave reaction/revolt against slave masters)/ breakdown in the labour force.
  
• Limited ways of getting slaves (war captives, criminals, indebted people), thus proved to be costly and unproductive.
  
• Collapse of the Roman Empire in Europe, and emergence of feudal system which depended on serfdom.
  FEUDAL STATE CONSTITUTION

The demise of slave state and of course the decline of Roman Empire in 5^th Century paved a way to the raise of European feudal state constitution. Feudal state was built on the same class superstructure as the slave state. Principally, the slave masters became feudal landlords (nobles), the slave class transformed into serfs/peasants and class of freemen emerged as businessmen and craftsmen. Unlike slaves, the serfs rented land from feudal lords, thus occupied and worked upon it for the consideration of rent, tribute or tillage. In feudal state, the major means of production was land, and communities were mainly agriculturalists. Essentially, the King granted land (i.e. fief) to the nobles (vassals/royal supporters) who would swear oath of loyalty and pay homage to the king, and promise to offer military services to him.

In England, feudal state existed between 407 and 597AD (Medieval Europe) after the destruction of the tribal constitution of the Anglo-Saxon societies by the German, French, and Roman rule which brought Christianity. At the apex of feudalism in England, 70% of the population were serfs, 12% freemen, 9% slaves, and 9% nobles.

The Socio-political Class Structure of Feudal State: A Case Study of England Societies

Societies in feudal epoch were structured on pyramid shaped hierarchy i.e. the Pope, The King, the Nobles (Barons, royal court, and bishops), Knights, merchants, yeomen (servants in royal household i.e. bailiff, reeves, cottagers) and serf/peasant/villein/tenant/town workers.

• The Pope/the Church:
  

The pope was believed to be God's representative (vicar) on earth. He had the right to intervene, impose sanctions, depose or excommunicate a King. Sometimes, the church amassed forces and dethroned the Kings, e.g. in Germany, Henry IV was defeated by the papal forces at Canossa in 1077. The church occupied large tracks of land, administered canon law and claimed supernatural power to nominate and coronate the King as an elect of God.

• The King/Emperor:
  

The king owned all the land and believed to rule by divine right. He granted the land to noblemen or vassals/puppets who vowed allegiance to him. In 1069, all of England was conquered by the Norman and thus placed under King William I, who in turn rewarded lands to his Norman vassals.

• Barons, and Bishops:
  

Barons (lords of the manor/ liege lord/ freemen/ a warrior chief/ tenant-in-chief to the king) leased land (the manor/ demesne/ domain/ knight fees) approximately 1200-1800 acres from the King in return for military services and loyalty. The barons paid rents and supplied the king with soldiers or knights at time of war. Barons were extremely rich, powerful, controlled the land on behalf of the king and maintained private standing armies.

• Knights:
  

Knights were given land by barons in exchange for military service to the King. They were duty bound to protect the manor including barons and their families. Knights kept the land for own use and subleased certain piece of land to the serfs.

• Serfs:
  

Serfs formed a class of marginalised group of land tillers (tenants). Primarily, serfs were either slaves or freemen who slandered to feudal lords for protection. Knights gave lands to serfs in return for free labour, rents (money) or produce. Unlike slaves, serfs were allowed to marry and reproduce.

Organs of the Feudal State:

The most notable organ with executive powers in feudal system was the King's Council or Curia Regis. The King's Council carried out its function through two other small organs, i.e.

• The exchequer: King's office in charge of revenues/royal treasury.
  
• Privy Council: An inner circle of the King's council which acted as a cabinet/sovereign's private councillors.
  

Features of the Feudal State Constitution:

• Establishment of Kingdom/chiefdom with professional standing armies. However, barons were not allowed to surpass the King in terms of wealthy and military powers.
  
• The law was class-based. Thus, the law of the strong was the supreme law of the land (i.e. king's proclamation became the law). The King was not subjected to any positive law (rex non potest peccare), but divine law. The law protected the existing social classes, thus acted as a tool of oppression and exploitation.
• It was based on land confiscation and creation of new land tenure among the nobility. Feudal lords owned land for life (life tenancies) or forever (fee simple) in return for allegiance to the King.
• Establishment of adversarial dispute resolution court system. At the beginning courts were presided over by the King, e.g. King Henry II of England (1133-1189) and King Louis IX of France (1214-1270) respectively listened to court sessions in person. Later judges emerged to administer King's law (the common law) through the King's Bench. Other courts emerged such as ecclesiastic court and the Court of Equity. It was through the royal courts that the monarchies organised grand banquets and ceremonies, settled disputes, made laws and collected taxes.
• It was characterized by the pyramid of power i.e. from top to bottom rule of mighty.
  
• The government was a personal possession of the King (absolute monarchy/ shared power with no one).
  
• Agriculture was a dominant economic activity in feudal society. The land was owned by the King's vassals who rented the same to tenants.
  

The Decline of Feudal State Constitution:

• Intensive power/class struggle within Feudalism: the first conflict, the King and the Church (pope). In England, the King forced the church to accept his power of appointing bishops, on the other hand, the church wanted to try its own believers under canon law in the ecclesiastic courts. However, in the Treaty of Westphalia (signed
  between May and October 1648), the Pope and kings of Europe agreed on separation of religion from politics (non-interference between the church and the state/ detach of the church from feudal system). The second conflict, Barons and the King. The barons wanted to control their commercial interest without the King's interference. In 1215, the Barons defeated the King, thus signed the Magna Carta (15/06/1215) which inter alia limited the King's absolutism and subjected his decisions to the consent by a committee of 24 barons. The third conflict, serfs' revolts against the King's vassals. The serfs demanded changes and moved into emerging towns.
  

Other factors: Emergence of towns and city states, scientific discoveries, commercial revolution (international primitive accumulation of capital/ mercantilism), Industrial revolution (raise of proletariat and bourgeoisie classes), Agrarian Revolution (enclosure system restricted manor to parcel land), Glorious Revolution and etc.

References:

Adams, G.B. (1908) The Origin of the English Constitution. The American Historical Review, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Jan., 1908), pp. 229-245.

Fischer, Markus (1992) Feudal Europe, 800-1300: Communal Discourse and Conflictual Practices. International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Spring, 1992), pp. 427-466.

Hilton, Rodney (1979) Towns in English Feudal Society. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), Vol. 3, No. 1 (Summer, 1979), pp. 3-20.

Hollister, Warren (1968) 1066: The "Feudal Revolution".
The American Historical Review, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Feb., 1968), pp. 708-723.

Milonakis, Dimitris (1993/1994) Prelude to the Genesis of Capitalism: The Dynamics of the Feudal Mode of Production.
Science and Society, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Winter, 1993/1994), pp. 390-419.

Mvungi, E.S.A (2007) Constitutional Law in Context: A Book on General Principles of Constitutional Law, Vol. I. (unpublished).

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