Delegated jurisdiction was performed usually by the quaestor and the legates; in both cases it was due to the mandate of the governor,[1546] who could assign them lictors, if he pleased,[1547] and could always control their sentences.[1548] The governor possessed an unfettered criminal jurisdiction over the members of the stipendiary states; but it cannot be supposed that he often exercised it. He might summon any case into his court, but ordinary crimes he doubtless left to the judicial machinery of the states themselves.[1549] On the other hand, it was held that an offence might be of such import as to transcend even his competence; and although there was no legal means of escaping his jurisdiction, it was considered advisable that he should send cases of a grave political character—those, for instance, connected with sedition or a popular rising—to be tried at Rome.[1550] The only restraining influence on the governor’s jurisdiction was the necessity, imposed by custom, of consulting a council of advisers.[1551] This _consilium_, however, was purely Roman, being composed of Roman citizens residing in the _conventus_ and of members of the governor’s retinue,[1552] and although a council composed wholly of the latter was usually avoided, there was no legal hindrance to such a narrow selection.[1553] Over Roman citizens in the provinces the governor possessed the same autocratic power; for his jurisdiction here is on a level with that of the camp, and he gives judgment in a sphere to which the _provocatio_ does not extend.[1554] Yet a strong customary law, which was seldom disobeyed, directed that he should remit to Rome all cases in which Roman citizens were to be tried on a capital charge, and that, if he pronounced judgment himself, he should inflict on them no degrading punishments.[1555]