By these
inquisitors the trial was prepared and directed; but they could only
pronounce the sentence of the majority of judges. To discharge this
important though burdensome office, an annual list of ancient and
respectable citizens was formed by the praetor. After many constitutional
struggles they were chosen in equal numbers from the senate, the
equestrian order, and the people; four hundred and fifty were appointed
for single questions, and the various rolls or _decuries_ of judges must
have contained the names of some thousand Romans who represented the
judicial authority of the State. In each particular cause a sufficient
number was drawn from the urn; their integrity was guarded by an oath;
the mode of ballot secured their independence; the suspicion of
partiality was removed by the mutual challenges of the accuser and
defendant; and the judges of Milo, by the retrenchment of fifteen on
each side, were reduced to fifty-one voices or tablets of acquittal, of
condemnation, or of favorable doubt.[39]
3. In his civil jurisdiction the praetor of the city was truly a judge,
and almost a legislator; but as soon as he had prescribed the action of
law he often referred to a delegate the determination of the fact.
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