There were even occasions on which the authorization of the _curia_ was not sufficient, and when it was necessary to have the sanction of all the inhabitants, whether curials or not; for example, for the sale of any property belonging to the commune, or for the despatch of deputies to wait on the emperor in reference to any grievance or request. On the other hand, it is evident that, by the general progress of despotism, the imperial power continued daily to interfere more and more in the affairs of the _municipia_, and to limit the independence of the _curiæ_. Thus they might not erect new buildings without the permission of the governor of the province; the reparation of the walls around the towns was subject to the same formality; and it was also necessary for the emancipation of slaves, and for all acts which tended to diminish the patrimony of the city. By degrees, also, even those affairs the final decision of which had previously belonged to the _curiæ_ fell, by way of objection or appeal, under the authority of the emperor and his delegates in the provinces. This occurred in consequence of the absolute concentration of judicial and fiscal power in the hands of the imperial functionaries. The _curia_ and the curials were then reduced to be nothing more than the lowest agents of the sovereign authority. There was left to them hardly anything beyond the right of consultation and the right of complaint.
With regard to the appointment to municipal magistracies, it remained for a long time, in reality, in the hands of the _curia_, without any necessity for its confirmation by the governor of the province, except in exceptional cases of towns which it was specially intended to ill-use or punish. But even this right soon became illusory by reason of the power given to provincial governors to annul the appointment on the demand of the person elected, When municipal functions had become merely burdensome, all the curials elected to discharge these offices, who had any influence with the governor, were able, under some pretext or another, to get their election annulled, and thus to escape from the load.
There were two kinds of municipal offices: the first, called _magistratus_, which conferred certain honours and a certain jurisdiction; the second, called _munera_, simple employments without jurisdiction and without any particular dignity. The _curia_ appointed to both kind of offices; only the magistrates proposed the men whom they thought competent to fulfil the _munera_; but even these were not really appointed until they had obtained the suffrages of the _curia_.