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 Chap, xlivj OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 539 majority of judges, who, with some truth and more prejudice, have been compared to the English juries. 207 To discharge this select important though burthensome office, an annual list of ancient and respectable citizens was formed by the praetor. After many constitutional struggles, they were chosen in equal numbers from the senate, the equestrian order, and the people ; 208 four hundred and fifty were appointed for single questions ; and the various rolls or decuries of judges must have contained the names of some thousand Romans, who represented the judicial authority of the state. In each particular cause, a sufficient number was drawn from the urn ; their integrity was guarded by an oath ; the mode of ballot secured their independence ; the suspicion of partiality was removed by the mutual challenges of the accuser and de- fendant ; and the judges of Milo, by the retrenchment of fifteen on each side, were reduced to fifty-one voices or tablets, of acquittal, of condemnation, or of favourable doubt. 209 3. In his civil jurisdiction, the praetor of the city was truly a judge, and almost a legislator ; but, as soon as he had prescribed the action of law, he often referred to a delegate the determination of the fact. With the increase of legal proceedings, the tribunal of the centumvirs, in which he presided, acquired more weight and reputation. But, whether he acted alone or with the advice of his council, the most absolute powers might be trusted to a magistrate who was annually chosen by the votes of the people. The rules and precautions of freedom have required some ex- planation ; the order of despotism is simple and inanimate. Be- fore the age of Justinian, or perhaps of Diocletian, the decuries of Roman judges had sunk to an empty title : the humble advice of the assessors might be accepted or despised ; and in each tribunal Assessors the civil and criminal jurisdiction was administered by a single magistrate, who was raised and disgraced by the will of the emperor. 207 The office, both at Rome and in England, must be considered as an occa- sional duty, and not a magistracy or profession. But the obligation of an unani- mous verdict is peculiar to our laws, which condemn the jurymen to undergo the torture from whence they have exempted the criminal. 208 rgy the Lex Aurelia iudiciaria of b.c. 69, the judges were chosen in equal numbers from the senate, knights, and tribuni aerarii. The last belonged to the plebs, but had the census of knights (though not the horse), and are sometimes loosely included among the knights. See Mommsen, Staatsrecht, 3, p. 193.] 209 We are indebted for this interesting fact to a fragment of Asconius Pedianus, who flourished under the reign of Tiberius. The loss of his Commentaries on the Orations of Cioero has deprived us of a valuable fund of historical and legal know- ledge.