The Centuriate Assembly (comitia centuriata) was originally the democratic assembly of the Roman soldiers. The Centuriate Assembly organized the Roman citizens into classes and divided into units called "Centuries", and these gathered into the Centuriate Assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. Only this assembly could declare war or elect the highest-ranking Roman Magistrates: Consuls, Praetors and Censors. The Centuriate Assembly could also pass a statute that granted constitutional command authority to Consuls and Praetors, and Censorial powers to Censors. In addition, the Centuriate Assembly served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases, and ratified the results of the Census. While the voters in this assembly wore white undecorated togas and were unarmed, while taking part in the Assembly they were classified as soldiers, and as such they could not meet inside of the physical boundary of the city of Rome.

The president of the Centuriate Assembly was usually a Consul (although sometimes a Praetor). Only Consuls (the highest-ranking of all Roman Magistrates) could preside over the Centuriate Assembly during elections because the higher-ranking Consuls were always elected together with the lower-ranking Praetors. Once every five years, after the new Consuls for the year took office, they presided over the Centuriate Assembly as it elected the two Censors.

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