The right of city, in its plenitude (_jus civitatis optimo jure_), comprised the political privileges peculiar to the Romans, and assured for civil life certain advantages, of which the concession might be made separately and by degrees. First came the _commercium_, that is, the right of possessing and transmitting according to the Roman law; next the _connubium_, or the right of contracting marriage with the advantages established by Roman legislation.[165] The _commercium_ and _connubium_ united formed the Quiritary law (_jus quiritium_). There were three sorts of municipia:[166] first, the municipia of which the inhabitants, inscribed in the tribes, exercised all the rights and were subjected to all the obligations of the Roman citizens; secondly, the municipia _sine suffragio_, the inhabitants of which enjoyed in totality or in part the Quiritary law, and might obtain the complete right of Roman citizens on certain conditions;[167] it is what constituted the _jus Latii_; these first two categories preserved their autonomy and their magistrates; third, the towns which had lost all independence in exchange for the civil laws of Rome, but without enjoyment, for the inhabitants, of the most important political rights; it was the law of the _Cærites_, because Cære was the first town which had been thus treated.[168] Below the municipia, which had their own magistrates, came, in this social hierarchy, the prefectures,[169] so called because a prefect was sent there every year to administer justice.