 During the Imperial era, matches advertised as "sine missione" (without remission from the sentence of death) suggest that "missio" (the sparing of a defeated gladiator's life) had become common practice.The contract between "editor" and his "lanista" could include compensation for unexpected deaths; this could be "some fifty times higher than the lease price" of the gladiator.Under Augustus' rule, the demand for gladiators began to exceed supply, and matches "sine missione" were officially banned; an economical, pragmatic development that happened to match popular notions of "natural justice".