In 445 BC, the tribunes of the plebs succeeded in passing the "lex Canuleia", repealing the law forbidding the intermarriage of patricians and plebeians, and providing that one of the consuls might be a plebeian. Rather than permit the consular dignity to pass into the hands of a plebeian, the senate proposed a compromise whereby three military tribunes, who might be either patrician or plebeian, should be elected in place of the consuls. The first "tribuni militum consulare potestate", or "military tribunes with consular power", were elected for the year 444. Although plebeians were eligible for this office, each of the first "consular tribunes" was a patrician.