Due to the informal and personality-driven nature of the Roman legal system, nothing "other than a prosecutor" (an accuser, including a member of the public, not only a holder of an official position), "a charge of Christianity, and a governor willing to punish on that charge" was required to bring a legal case against a Christian. Roman law was largely concerned with property rights, leaving many gaps in criminal and public law. Thus the process "cognitio extra ordinem" ("special investigation") filled the legal void left by both code and court. All provincial governors had the right to run trials in this way as part of their "imperium" in the province.