Note 1460 — Chapter XI · THE FUNCTIONS OF THE COMITIA CENTURIATA

The appeal of Fabius from the jurisdiction of the dictator in 325 was granted not under compulsion but in grace; Livy viii. 35. 5. On the freedom of the dictatorship from this restriction in the period between 449 and 325, see p. 241, n. 5. The court mentioned by Livy ix. 26. 6 ff. (314) seems to have been an extraordinary quaestio under the presidency of a dictator; Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. ii. 165, n. 6. On the subjection of his authority to appeal, see Fest. 198. 32: “Optima lex ... in magistro populi faciendo, qui vulgo dictator appellatur, quam plenissimum posset ius eius esse significabat, ut fuit M’. Valerio M. f. Volusi nepotis, qui primus magister populi creatus est. Postquam vero provocatio ab eo magistratu ad populum data est, quae ante non erat, desitum est adici, ‘ut optima lege,’ utpote imminuto iure priorum magistrorum.”