Note 5 — CICERO AGAINST CATILINE

: tu—valuisti: “you had power enough not only to disregard the judicial trials, but also to subvert them and weaken their power.” Distinguish jus, what the law ordains, or the obligations it imposes, from lex, a written statute or ordinance. —quaestiones: the praetor urbanus and praetor peregrinus dispensed justice in private and less important cases. In case of any magnitude the people acted as jury themselves, or appointed one or more to preside at the trial. Those appointed were called quaesitores or quaestores. In 150 B.C. four permanent praetors were appointed to aid the praetor urbanus and praetor peregrinus. One had charge of all cases of extortion; another, of bribery; another, of treason; another, of frauds against the public treasury. These four classes of trials were called quaestiones perpetuae.