severity of the ancient code, when a debtor could be sold into slavery
for his debt. As certain contracts are formed by consent alone, so they
could be extinguished by the mutual consent of the contracting parties,
without performance on either side. In some cases the mere lapse of time
extinguished an obligation, as in accordance with the modern system of
outlawry.

[Sidenote: Law of actions.]

The next great department of Roman jurisprudence pertained to actions
and procedure. The state conferred on a magistrate or judge jurisdiction
to determine questions according to law. Civil jurisdiction pertains to
questions of private right; criminal jurisdiction takes cognizance of
crimes. When jurisdiction was conferred on a Roman magistrate, he
acquired all the powers necessary to exercise it. The _imperium
merum_ gave the power to inflict punishment; the _imperium
mixtum_ was the power to carry civil decrees into execution. A
_real action_ was directed against a person in the territory where
the subject in dispute was located.

By the ancient constitution, the king had the prerogative of determining
civil causes. The right then devolved on the consuls, afterwards on the
praetor, and in certain cases on the curule and plebeian ediles, who
were charged with the internal police of the city.

[Sidenote: The Praetors.]

The praetor, a magistrate next in dignity to the consuls, acted as
supreme judge of the civil courts, assisted by a council of
jurisconsults to determine questions in law. At first one praetor was