Lex curiata de imperio

In the constitution of ancient Rome, the lex curiata de imperio (plural leges curiatae) was the law confirming the rights of higher magistrates to hold power, or imperium. In theory, it was passed by the comitia curiata, which was also the source for leges curiatae pertaining to Roman adoption.

In the late Republic, historians and political theorists thought that the necessity of such a law dated to the Regal period, when kings after Romulus had to submit to ratification by the Roman people. Like many other aspects of Roman religion and law, the lex curiata was attributed to Numa Pompilius, Rome's second king. This origin seems to have been reconstructed after the fact to explain why the law was required, at a time when the original intent of the ceremony conferring imperium was no longer understood. The last two kings, however, were said to have ruled without such ratification, which at any rate may have been more loosely acclamation.

The law was passed in an assembly that during the late Republic existed in name only, the comitia curiata, based on the curiae. The curiae were supposed to have been the thirty political divisions created by Romulus and named after the Sabine women, who were from Cures in Sabine territory. These political units were replaced as early as 218 BC by lictors; the people no longer assembled, as each curia was represented by a lictor, and confirmation was virtually automatic, unless a tribune chose to obstruct. Even then, an unconfirmed magistrate might forge ahead with the functions of his office regardless. By the late Republic, a magistrate could simply dispense with this ratification in claiming his imperium, or a legislator could include a provision in a bill that rendered a curiate law redundant. The censors, by contrast, were confirmed by the comitia centuriata. It therefore becomes unclear what purpose the lex curiata continued to serve: "The origin, nature, and importance of the lex curiata de imperio have been extensively and inconclusively debated."

...
Wikipedia