MĂGISTRĀTUS

was a person qui juri dicundo praeerat . The King was originally the sole Magi stratus; he had all the Potestas. On the expulsion of the Kings, two Consuls were annually appointed, and they were Magi stratus. In course of time other Magi stratus were appointed; namely, dictators, censors, praetors, aediles, tribunes of the plebs, and the decemviri litibus judicandis. The governors of provinces with the title of propraetor or proconsul were also Magi stratus. The word Magi stratus contains the same element as mag(ister) and mag(nus) ; and it signifies both the person and the office, as we see in the phrase se magistratu abdicare . The auspicia maxima belonged to the consuls, praetors, and censors, and the minor a auspicia to the other magistrates; accordingly the consuls, praetors, and censors were called Majores , and they were elected at the comitia centu riata; the other magi stratus were called Minores . The former had the imperium, the latter had not. The magi stratus were also divided into curules and those who were not curules: the magi stratus curules were the dictator, consuls, praetors, censors, and the curule aediles, who were so called, because they had the jus sellae curulis. The magistrates were chosen only from the patricians in the early republic, but in course of time the plebeians shared these honours, with the exception of that of the Interrex: the plebeian magi stratus, properly so called, were the plebeian aediles and the tribuni pleb is.