tive freedom of the Senate until in the time of the Severi the
senatorial decrees were merely proclamations of the princeps (_orationes
principis_) which were read to the Senate and approved by it. Furthermore,
the princeps developed independent legislative power and by the middle of
the second century the ordinances or constitutions of the princeps had
acquired the force of law. Early in the third century legislation of this
type altogether superseded the senatorial decrees. The imperial
constitutions included edicts, _decreta_, or judicial verdicts, responses
to the petitions of officers of the princeps or private citizens, and
mandates or instructions to his subordinates. Originally, the edicts were
only valid during the principate of their author and the other forms of
constitutions merely applied to special cases. However, in course of time,
they all alike came to be recognized as establishing rules of public and
private law which remained in force unless they were specifically revoked
by another imperial constitution.

*The administration of justice.* The republican system of civil and
criminal jurisdiction was inherited by the principate, and the courts of
the praetors continued to function for Rome and Italy, while the
proconsuls were in charge of the administration of justice in the
senatorial provinces. In addition the Senate, under the presidency of the
consuls, acted as a tribunal for the trial of political offences and
criminal charges brought against members of the senatorial order. The
Senate also served as a court of appeals from the decisions of the
proconsuls. But from the time of Augustus the princeps exercised an
unlimited right of jurisdiction which enabled him to take cases under his
personal cognizance (_cognitio_), or appoint a delegate to try them. The
imperial officials administered justice in their respective spheres by
virtue of delegated authority and consequently appeals from their courts
were directed to the princeps. The development of judicial functions by
the military and administrative officials of the princeps in Rome--the
praetorian prefect, the city prefect, the prefects of the watch and the
prefect of the grain supply--seriously encroached upon the judicial power
of the praetors. In addition, the _consulares_ of Hadrian, and the
_iuridici_ of Marcus Aurelius further limited the sphere of the praetorian
courts. Ultimately, under Septimius Severus, we find the city prefect as
the supr