Municipality

Municipality (from Lat. munciceps, from munus and capio, 'one who enjoys the rights of a free citizen'), a town or city possessed of certain privileges of local self-government, the governing body in such a town. Municipal institutions originated in the times of the Roman empire. The provincial towns of Italy, which were from the first Roman colonies, as also those which, after having an independent existence, became members of the Roman state, though subjected to the rule of an imperial governor, were allowed to enjoy a right of regulating their internal affairs. A class of the inhabitants called the curia, or decuriones, elected two officers, called duumviri, whose functions were supposed to be analogous to those of the consuls of the imperial city, and who exercised a limited jurisdiction, civil and criminal. There was an important functionary in every municipality called the defensor civitatis, or advocate for the city, the protector of the citizens against arbitrary acts on the part of the imperial governor. The municipal system declined with the decline of the empire, yet it retained vitality enough to be afterwards resuscitated in union with feudalism, and with the Saxon institutions of Britain. Some cities of Italy, France, and Germany have indeed derived their present magistracy by direct succession from imperial Rome. For British Municipalities, see BOROUGH, CITY; see also FREE IMPERIAL CITIES.