Repeated proclamations and adjournments were interposed to
allow time for prejudice and resentment to subside: the whole proceeding
might be annulled by a seasonable omen or the opposition of a tribune;
and such popular trials were commonly less formidable to innocence than
they were favorable to guilt. But this union of the judicial and
legislative powers left it doubtful whether the accused party was
pardoned or acquitted; and in the defence of an illustrious client the
orators of Rome and Athens address their arguments to the policy and
benevolence, as well as to the justice, of their sovereign.
2. The task of convening the citizens for the trial of each offender
became more difficult as the citizens and the offenders continually
multiplied, and the ready expedient was adopted of delegating the
jurisdiction of the people to the ordinary magistrates or to
extraordinary inquisitors. In the first ages these questions were rare
and occasional. In the beginning of the seventh century of Rome they
were made perpetual: four praetors were annually empowered to sit in
judgment on the state offences of treason, extortion, peculation, and
bribery; and Sylla added new praetors and new questions for those crimes
which more directly injure the safety of individuals.
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