Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

I MP ElRI M PJTMM.. 62
because they continue in force during the Impe- thus:-" Comitia Cariata rem militarem continent."
rium of him who has granted them. Legltiina Though consuls were elected at thie Comlitia Cenjudicia were those which were prosecuted in Rome turiata, the Comitia Curiata only could give then
or within the first miliarium, between Roman hnperium. (Liv. v..52.) This was in conformity
citizens and before a single judex. By a Lex with the ancient constitution, according to whichl
Julia Judiciaria, such judicia expired, unless they the Imperium was conferred on the kings after
were concluded within a year and six months. they had been elected: "On the death of King
All other judicia were said Imperio contineri, Pompilius, the populus in the Comitia Curiata
whether conducted within the above limits before elected Tullus IIostilius king, upon the rogation
recuperatores, or before a single judex, when of an interrex; and the king, following the exeither the judex or one of the litigant parties was ample of Pemupilius, took the votes of the populus
a peregrinus, or when conducted beyond the first according to their curiae on the question of his
miliarium either between Roman citizens or pere- Imperium." (Cic. Rep. ii. 17.) Both Numa (ii.
grini. From this passage it follows that there 13), and Ancus Marcius (ii. 18), the successor of
were judicia quae Imperio continebantur, which Tullus, after their appointment as Reges, are
were granted in Rome; which is made clearer by severally said " De Imperio suo legem curiatam
what follows. There was a distinction between a tulisse." It appears then that, from the kingly
judicium ex lege, that is, a judicinum founded on a period to the time of Cicero, the Imperilm, as
particular lex, and a judicium legitimum; for such, was conferred by a Lex Curiata. On the
instance, if a man sued in the provinces under a kingly Imperium see Becker, Handbuch de? RiMm.
lex, the Aquilia for example, the judicium was not A lterthiibner, vol. i. part ii. p. 314, &c.
legitimum, but was said Imperio contineri, that is, The Imperimn of the kings is not defined by
the Imperium of'the praeses or proconsul, *who Cicero. It is declared by some modem writers to
gave the judicium. The same was the case if a have been the military and the judicial power;
man sued at Rome ex lege, and the judicium was and it is said that the consuls also received the
before recuperatores, or there was a peregrinus Imperium in the same sense; and the reason why
concerned. If a man sued under the praetor's the Lex Curiata is specially said to confer the
edict, and consequently not ex lege, and a judi- Imperium Militare, is that it specially referred to
cium was granted in Rome and the same was be- the consuls, and by the establishment of the praefore one judex and no foreigner was concerned, it torship the jurisdictio was separated from the conwas legitimum. The judicia legitima are men- sulship. It may be conjectured that the division
tioned by Cicero (Pro Rose. Corn. 5; Or. Part. of Imperium, made by the jurists, was in accord12); but it may perhaps be doubted if he uses ance with the practice of the republican period: there
the term in the sense in which Gains does. was during the republican period an Imperium
It appears then, that in the time of Gaius, so long within the walls which was incident to jurisdictio,
as a man had jurisdictio, so long was he said to and an Imperium without the walls which was
have Imperium. Imperium is defined by Ulpian conferred by a lex curiata. There are no traces of
(Dig. 2. tit. 1. s. 3) to be either merum or this separation in the kingly period, and it is promixtum. To have the merum Imperium is to bable that the king received the Imperium in its
have " gladii potestatem ad animadvertendum in full import, and that its separation into two parts
facinorosos homines," a power that had no con- belongs to the republican period. The Imperium,
nection with jurisdictio: the mixtum Imperium is which was conferred by a lex under the republic,
defined by him as that " cui etiam jurisdictio inest," was limited, if not by the terms in which it was
or the power which a magistrate had for the pur- conferred, at least by usage: it could not be held
poses of administering the civil (not criminal) part or exercised within the city. It was sometimes
of the law. It appears then that there was an specially conferred on an individual fdr the day of
Imperium which was incident to jurisdictio; but his triumph within the city; and, at least in some
the merum or pure Imperium was conferred by a cases, by a plebiscitum. (Liv. xxvi.'21, xlv.
lex (Dig. 1. tit. 21. s. i). The mixtum Imperium 35.)
was nothing more than the power necessary for The Imperium was as necessary for the gogiving effect to the Juris'dictio. There might vernor of a province, as for a general who merely
therefore be Imperium without Jurisdictio, but commanded the armies of the republic, as he could
there could be no Jurisdictio without Imperium. not without it exercise military authority (remn
Accordingly, Imperium is sometimes used to express msilitarem attingere). (See Caes. B. C. i. 6.) So far
the authority of a magistratus, of which his Juris- as we can trace the strict practice of the Roman
dictio is a part. (Puchta, Zeitscerif~ jiir Gesch. constitution, military command was given by a
Rtechtswissenschaf/, vol. x. p. 201.) special lex, and was not incident to any office, and
Imperium is defined by Cicero (Phil. v. 16) to might be held without any other office than that of
be that " sine quo res militaris administrari, imperator. It appears that in the time of Cicero
teneri exercitus, belIum geri non potest." As op- there were doubts as to the necessity of the lex in
posed to Potestas, it is the power which was con- some cases, which may have gradually arisen from
ferred by the state upon an individual who was the irregular practices of the civil wars, and from
appointed to command an army. The phrases the gradual decay of the old institutions. Cicero,
Consularis Potestas and Consulale Imperium might in a passage which is not very clear (Ad Fa7e. i. 9),
both be properly used; but the expression Tri- refers to a Cornelia Lex according to which an inbunitia Potestas only could be used, as the Tribuni dividual who had received a Province ex Senatusnever received the Imperium. (Liv. vi. 37; in Vell. conssolto thereby acquired the Imperium, without
Patere. ii. 2, Imperium is improperly used.)' A con- the formality of a Lex Curiata.
sul could not act as commander of an army (atlin- The Imnperium (rnerm7n) of the republic appears
gere rein militarem) unless he were empowered by a to have been (1), a power which was only exerLex Curiata, which is expressed by Livy (v. 52) cised out of the city; (2) a power -which.Ma
8s3