I SEN'ATE, an assembly or council of senators : that is, a body of the principal inhabitants of a state, invested with a share in the government. The senate of ancient Rome was, of all others, the most celebrated : it appointed judges, either from among the senators or knights, to determine processes ; it also appointed governors of provinces, and disposed of the revenues of the commonwealth, &e. Yet the whole sovereign power did not reside in the senate, since it could not elect magistrates, make laws, or decide on war and peace ; in all which cases the senate was obliged to consult the people. One of the qualifications of a senator was the possession of property to the amount of 80,000 sesterees, about 70001.—In many republican constitutions of modern times, the upper house of the national as sembly has been so called. The senate of the United States is composed of two members for each state of the Union. The senators are chosen by the state for six years. The American senate, besides its legislative functions, is also a species of executive council, assisting the presi dent; its consent being necessary for the ratification of treaties, appointment of ambassadors, judges of the supreme court, heads of departments in the administra tion, &c. It is also the high court of im
peachment for public functionaries.—Sen ute-house, a-building in which the senate insets, or a place of public council.—:Sen ate, in the university of Cambridge, is equivalent to the convocation at Oxford, and consists of all toasters of arts, and higher graduates, being masters of arts, who have each a voice in every public measure, in granting degrees, in electing members of parliament, a chancellor, am. SENA"TUS AUCTOR'ITAS, a vote of the Roman senate, drawn up in the same form as a decree, but without its force, as having been prevented from passing into a decree by sonic of the tribunes of the people.