In the first few centuries of the Principate era, the practice of distributing functions among different sets of authorities also prevailed in the administration of justice.
Certain areas of civil and criminal jurisdiction remained with the traditional republican magistrates, while others were transferred to imperial authorities.
As the republican element of the constitution withered over time, the latter surpassed and finally replaced the former. In the same period, the senate assumed an original jurisdiction of its own in cases involving certain crimes of a political nature. Whenever the imperial branch took over judicial functions the procedure adopted differed considerably from the traditional formulary procedure. The trial consisted of only one stage and judgment was delivered by a state official with an extensive discretion in applying both the procedural and substantive norms. As a result, litigation could proceed in a simpler and more convenient fashion while the juridical and administrative activities of the state were mainly captured by a central authority. In addition, a hierarchy of courts emerged and a relatively elaborate system of appeals developed from the lower to higher tribunals. The new form of procedure, known as cognitio extraordinaria or cognitio extra ordinem, did not play such an important a role in the development of Roman private law as the formulary procedure. Nevertheless, it engendered several notable principles that coincide in several respects with modern principles of civil procedure (especially in Civil law jurisdictions).
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