Constitutional reforms of Augustus

The Constitutional reforms of Augustus were a series of laws that were enacted by the Roman Emperor Augustus between 30 BC and 2 BC, which transformed the Constitution of the Roman Republic into the Constitution of the Roman Empire. The era that began when Augustus (then named Imp. Caesar Divi Filius, but often called Octavian by historians) defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the final war of the Roman Republic in 30 BC, and ended when the Roman Senate granted Augustus the title "Pater Patriae" in 2 BC.

The constitution of the Roman Republic was a mostly unwritten constitution which developed organically from the Republic's founding in 509 BC. Significant emphasis was placed on custom, the mos maiorum ("ways of the elders"), in managing of Rome's affairs. The most important institutions within the Republican framework were the Consuls, the Tribunes, the Provincial Governors, and the Senate.

In 82 BC, the general Lucius Cornelius Sulla marched on Rome and assumed control over the Republic's government. Sulla was appointed "Dictator for Writing the Constitution and Laws of the Republic" (dictator legibus faciendis et rei publicae constituendae causa) by the Senate, an emergency official dating from the early years of the Republic. As Dictator, Sulla was the Republic's supreme military and civil official. In particular, the Senate granted Sulla the power reorganize the Republic's constitution. Unlike the traditional dictatoral office which held office for six months, Sulla's term was for an unlimited term.

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