nced might legally give rise to the appeal, the
magistrate pronounced no sentence, but brought the case at once before
the people. The case was then heard in four separate _contiones_. After
these hearings the _comitia_ gave its verdict. Finally, the people
elected to every magistracy with the exception of the occasional offices
of Dictator and Interrex. The distribution of these functions amongst
the various _comitia_, and the differences in their organization, were
as follows:--

The _comitia curiata_ had in the later Republic become a merely formal
assembly. Its main function was that of passing the _lex curiata_ which
was necessary for the ratification both of the _imperium_ of the higher
magistracies of the people, and of the _potestas_ of those of lower
rank. This assembly also met, under the name of the _comitia calata_ and
under the presidency of the pontifex maximus, for certain religious
acts. These were the inauguration of the rex sacrorum and the flamens,
and that abjuration of hereditary worship (_detestatio sacrorum_) which
was made by a man who passed from his clan (_gens_) either by an act of
adrogation (see ROMAN LAW and ADOPTION) or by transition from the
patrician to the plebeian order. For the purpose of passing the _lex
curiata_, and probably for its other purposes as well, this _comitia_
was in Cicero's day represented by but thirty lictors (Cic. _de Lege
Agraria_, ii. 12, 31).

The _comitia centuriata_ could be summoned and presided over only by the
magistrates with _imperium_. The consuls were its usual presidents for
elections and for legislation, but the praetors summoned it for purposes
of jurisdiction. It elected the magistrates with _imperium_ and the
censors, and alone had the power of declaring war. According to the
principle laid down in the Twelve Tables (Cicero, _de Legibus_, iii. 4.
11) capital cases were reserved for this assembly. It was not frequently
employed as a legislative body after the two assemblies of the tribes,
which were easier to summon and organize, had been recognized as
possessing sovereign rights. The internal structure of the _comitia
centuriata_ underwent a great change during the Republic--a change which
has been conjecturally attributed to the censorship of Flaminius in 220
B.C. (Mommsen, _Staatsrecht_, iii. p. 270). In the early scheme, at a
time when a pecuniary valuation had replaced land and its appurtenances
(_res mancipi_) as the basis of qualification, fi