Page:Municipal Administration in the Roman Empire (1926, Abbot and Johnson, municipaladminis00abbo).pdf/26



HE writer of the lex de Gallia Cisalpina, in designating the communities in Cisalpine Gaul to which a certain provision is to apply, mentions oppidum municipium colonia praefectura forum vicus conciliabulum castellum territorium Oppidum is a generic word for an autonomous community, and territorium is used of the country district outside the limits of a settlement, but belonging to it. The other words in the list have more less definite technical meaning, and if to them we add the terms pagus, gens, canabae, and saltus, we shall probably have a complete catalogue of the names given in the West to the smaller administrative units. The first three of these terms, municipium, colonia, and praefectura, stand apart from the rest to indicate communities of a clearly marked, general type, and again the praefectura, which did not enjoy all the rights of self-government in local affairs, stands opposed to the more fortunate municipium and ''colonia. Praefectura,'' in fact, may be thought of as a generic term applicable to any community which lacked the full right of self-government. In this sense, as we shall see,