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;[1] he is the court of appeal in criminal cases from all provincial governors,[2] and judges in those cases which the provincial governor was not competent to decide.[3] He is also the court of appeal from provincial governors in civil cases.[4] This extensive jurisdiction was a result of the centralisation of judicial power in the Emperor, which we have already traced.[5] 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.[6] 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,[7] which attained a definite organisation in the reign of Hadrian;[8] and this probability is scarcely shaken by the fact that we find special consiliarii nominated for the praefect,[9] 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.]
- ↑ Collatio 14, 3, 2. The right was given by constitutions ("jam eo perventum est constitutionibus"). The citation is from Ulpian, and this jurisdiction had doubtless been attained before the time of Caracalla. Cf. Vita Alex. 21.
- ↑ Cod. 9, 2, 6, 1 (Gordian, A.D. 243, with reference to appeal against a praeses provinciae on the ground of condemnation in absence) "praefectos praetorio adire cura."
- ↑ ib. 4, 65, 4, 1 (Alexander, A.D. 222) "si majorem animadversionem exigere rem deprehenderit (praeses provinciae), ad Domitium Ulpianum praefectum praetorio et parentem meum reos remittere curabit"; cf. 8, 40 [41
- ↑ Dig. 12, 1, 40 "Lecta est in auditorio Aemilii Papiniani praefecti praetorio juris consulti cautio hujusmodi"; cf. 22, 1, 3, 3.
- ↑ p. 386.
- ↑ Dig. 1, 11, 1, 1 (Arcadius in early part of fourth century A.D.) "praefectorum auctoritas . . . in tantum meruit augeri ut appellari a praefectis praetorio non possit. Nam cum antea quaesitum fuisset an liceret . . . et extarent exempla eorum qui provocaverint, postea publice sententia principali lecta appellandi facultas interdicta est;" Cod. 7, 62, 19 (Constantine, A.D. 331) "a praefectis autem praetorio provocare non sinimus."
- ↑ Cf. Vita Marci 11 "habuit secum praefectos, quorum et auctoritate et periculo semper jura dictavit."
- ↑ See below on the consilium.
- ↑ Karlowa Rechtsgesch. i. p. 549. A knight of the third century is appointed in consilium praef. praet. item urb(i) ex sacra jussione (Henzen 6519). Cf. Mommsen Staatsr. ii. p. 1122 n. 1.
