I have always thought the office of Dictator in the Roman Republic was one of the shrewdest creations of political thought: you maintain the stability and check

I have always thought the office of Dictator in the Roman Republic was one of the shrewdest creations of political thought: you maintain the stability and checks and balances of a Republic governed by the Senate but the flexibility to allow one man to act with complete authority in a crisis/emergency situation. After the six month term of the Dictator was up (unless it was renewed by the Senate) the Dictator (and his second in command, the "Master of the Horse") either resigned or became the object of assassination (by law any citizen was compelled to kill a Dictator who didn't resign; if he had opportunity and didn't he similarly fell under the death penalty). During his term the Dictator could rule by edit, abolish old laws, create new ones, etc. Once the Senate resumed control they would get the rare opportunity to keep the changes the Dictator made (or roll them back) without any one Senator bearing the onus for being the one to abolish old laws or create new ones. Overall... it worked until it didn't, that is, until the rise of the Caesars.