Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/45

Rh were to be made. Outside the mile limit, martial law prevailed, the will of the magistrate was supreme, and there was no appeal. The space outside the city wall and inside the mile limit formed border territory, so to speak, where the civil authority (imperium domi) was usually exercised, but where a consul, on duly leaving the city in time of war, possessed the full military authority (imperium militiae).

Civil Jurisdiction of the Consuls. — In the civil jurisdiction, which at that time extended also over most of the crimes committed against citizens, the consul laid down the legal principles applicable to each case, and appointed a judge, to whom he was probably required by law to leave the decision of the case. This division of the legal procedure contributed largely to the logical clearness and precision of the later private law.

Consular Power of Appointment. — When conducting the election of his successors, a consul had the power to reject such candidates as he did not consider qualified, and he could refuse to announce, and thereby cancel, the election of a candidate.

Whenever it was necessary or expedient, the consuls appointed senators, a city prefect, and commissioners of high treason (duoviri perduellionis). On entering office, they chose two assistants (quaestores) to serve for one year.

The Quaestors. — The quaestors resembled the consuls in their collegiate and annual tenure, and to some extent in the diversity of their functions. They had the immediate charge of the public treasury and archives. They tracked murderers (hence the term quaestores parricidii) and other criminals, and prosecuted them before the people.

The Chief Pontiff and the King of Sacrifices. — The colleges of priests in general filled vacancies in their own ranks