The Ancient Roman’s feared politicians might become too powerful. To
ease these fears, they allowed people with high authority to have
limited terms. An example of this would be limiting consuls to only
hold office for one year. This put limitations on their leaders and
permitted others to hold office. They also kept balance giving
government officials the ability to restrict powers of other
officials. This was carried out by one official stalling or vetoing
the actions of the other.
In Ancient Rome, laws were proposed by the Senate and approved by
the magistrates. Once a law was approved by the magistrates it had
to be approved by the assemblies. This provided checks and balances
throughout the empire as the Romans were constantly struggling with
corruption. This also helped to equalize the three sections of
government but was not completely reliable. It was said the
government was efficient when every part was in agreement, but
problematic when government branches disagreed.