CENTUMVIRI, an ancient court of civil jurisdiction at Rome. The word is derived from centum, hundred, and vir, man. The antiquity of the court is attested by the symbol and formula used in its procedure, the lance (pasta) as the sign of true owner ship, the oath (sacramentum), the ancient formula for recovery of property or assertion of liberty. Its concern was with matters of debt and of the property of which account was taken at the census. The centumviri were never regarded as magistrates, but as judices, and as such would be appointed for a fixed term of service by the magistrate, probably by the praetor urbanus. But in Cicero's time they were elected by the Comitia Tributa. They then numbered 105. Their original number is uncertain. It was increased by Augustus and in Pliny's time had reached 180. The office was probably open in quite early times to both patricians and plebeians.