What are two kinds of Roman magistrates and the jobs they did?

Answer 1

During there were two higher magistrates, the consuls and the praetors.

The two annually elected consuls were the heads of the city and the army.

The praetors were like chief justices and also, like the consuls, held imperium, which mean they could command the armies, which they did when more generals were needed. The praetor urbanus (urban praetor) presided over civil cases between Roman citizens and the administration of justice. They also issued the Praetor's Edict, which stated the praetor's policy on judicial matters for his term of office. Praetors endorsed much of the content of previous edicts, thus ensuring continuity. Although praetors could not introduce new laws, they could make amendments. These introduced needed innovations. Therefore, the development an improvement of Roman law owed a lot to the praetors. Since the praetors were politicians, not lawyers, they often submitted consulta (written questions) to jurists (legal experts) and their replies were often used for the compilation of the edicts.

Another type of praetor was the praetor peregrinus, which roughly means chief justice for foreigners. He presided over civil cases between Roman citizens and non-Romans. Non- Romans were given the protection of Roman law under the principles of the ius gentium (law of nations). Nation was the Latin term for ethic groups. The concept of this law was that justice comes from the human mind, rather than from ethnicity. Therefore, the non-Romans of the empire were entitled the protection of Roman law in disputes with Romans.