The Legacy of The Roman Constitution
The Roman constitution was one of the few constitutions to exist before the 18th century. None of the others are as well known to us today. And none of the others governed such a vast empire for so long. Therefore, the Roman constitution was used as a template, often the only one, when the first constitutions of the modern era were being drafted. And because of this, many modern constitutions share a similar, even identical, superstructure (such as a separation of powers and checks and balances) as did the Roman constitution.
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