The home administration can be adequately considered only when we deal with the separate magistracies. But the common form in which it asserted itself may be considered here. This was the right of issuing commands in the form of edicts (_jus edicendi_), applicable to the special branches of administration under the control of the magistrates, from the quaestor to the consul.[616] The edicts of all the magistrates corresponded to one another in their general form; they contained commands, prohibitions, and advice. They were all at an early period issued in writing, and the difference between them was simply that while some, such as those of the consuls and quaestors, were occasional and, when the necessity for them had passed, withdrawn, others, such as those of the censors, praetors, curule aediles and provincial governors, were continuous (_perpetua_), as being called forth by ever-present necessities, and were therefore transmitted by magistrates to their successors (_tralaticia_). Prominent in their continuity were those of the censors and praetors; while the one created a code of Roman morality, the other developed a system of legal procedure. The administrative duties abroad belonged exclusively to the magistrates with _imperium_, i.e. in the ordinary course of things to the consuls and praetors, in exceptional circumstances to the dictator.[617] The treatment of provincial administration may be deferred until we deal with the provinces and the pro-magistracy which imperial government created. Here we may appropriately notice the exceptional powers which military command gave to the magistrate over the persons and services of the burgesses, and the honours which it conferred on its possessor.