J-LTDICIUM POPULI (judgment of the people). In the early Roman days a custom prevailed of submitting to the people dissensions between public officers, accusations: against them, etc., as matters of public interest. It is supposed that the judieia ptiblica of later days were evolved out of this custom. We know that in ancient Greece and Rome the people were the judges, and it was only because all were not willing to serve in such a capacity that lots were drawn. The earliest evidence which we possess on this subject points to the fact that actions brought by private individuals in defense of their private rights, and resting on special laws, were adjudged by special magistrates, while subjects of public interest (judicia popularia) were decided by the popular voice in the popular assembly. In due time the increase of statute laws caused the submission. of large numbers of cases to private tribunals, and the judicia populi were replaced by the judicia publica. The legends of early Rome assert that the kings presided in person over the popular tribunals; but as early as B.C. 508 we find magistrates appointed, called qucesetores or qutestores rerum capitalium, who, although at first chosen for special' cases, were soon endowed with permanent judicial functions (qucestores perpetui). After B.C. 149 the praetor became president of the popular assembly. Additional pm:tors'
became necessary from time to time until the full number of 9 was reached in the reign of Salle, each with jurisdiction over a particular class of offenses. This was the foun dation of the criminal courts. The accuser might be any citizen cognizant of the facts, but the judices (judges) were chosen by lot. Verdicts were given by ballot and were called leges, and supposed to be binding in all similar cases of offense, though they were not always followed. Many contests arose as to the designation of the judices; 350 names were ordered by the lex Calpurnia to be inscribed on tablets, and from these the judges were selected by lot. Frorm104 B.C. no one who had been tribune, qumstor, or triumvir, no senator or near relation of a senator, no non-resident, and no one under 30 or over 00 years of age, was eligible for judicial office. It was the prwtor's office to choose 4i0 judices each term, who were drawn in each separate case individually by lot. The lex Plautia, ls,o. 89, allowed the judices to be of any class, but the lex duatlia, B.C. 70. limited them to three classes—senators, equites, and tribuni wrarii. In Augustus's reign the ordinary number of judges in each case was seventy.