Riot police at Poland's top court
A judge suspended the president of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal, riot police were posted outside, and President Nawrocki and Prime Minister Tusk traded accusations. The fight over the court's legitimacy goes back to 2015. Read at Euronews →
The struggle over Rome's jury courts
What happened then
Control of the juries in Rome's standing criminal courts, starting with the court for extortion by provincial governors, passed back and forth between rival classes for half a century.
What caused it
Juries drawn from senators kept acquitting fellow senators accused of plundering the provinces. Reformers wanted judges from outside the Senate, and the Senate wanted its courts back.
How it was resolved
Gaius Gracchus moved the juries to the equestrian class in 122 BC. Sulla returned them to the Senate in 81 BC. The Lex Aurelia of 70 BC finally split the jury seats among senators, equestrians and a third group of well-off citizens.
How it turned out
The 70 BC compromise lasted, but by then decades of fighting over the courts had taught every faction to treat justice as a political weapon. That was one strain among many in a Republic that collapsed within a generation.
Sources: Wikipedia: Quaestio perpetua · Wikipedia: Lex Aurelia iudiciaria
Further reading: The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan