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 Severus. The judicial aspect of the office was now paramount. The praefect has become the highest criminal judge in Italy outside the hundredth mile-stone; he is the court of appeal in criminal cases from all provincial governors, and judges in those cases which the provincial governor was not competent to decide. He is also the court of appeal from provincial governors in civil cases. This extensive jurisdiction was a result of the centralisation of judicial power in the Emperor, which we have already traced. It had to be delegated, and no fitter delegate could be found than the praefect. Convenience also dictated that the delegation should be final, and the principle was finally arrived at that there should be no appeal from the praefect to the Emperor. This did not mean that the Emperor ceased to judge; for at any moment he might displace his praefect and hear the case himself. As the praefect judged vice principis, it is natural to suppose that he presided over the imperial consilium, which attained a definite organisation in the reign of Hadrian; and this probability is scarcely shaken by the fact that we find special consiliarii nominated for the praefect, for he exercised a varied jurisdiction and might be holding a court at the same time as the Emperor. Apart from jurisdiction, his general mandates and ordinances had legal force,, 13.]