 To qualify for the office, patrician ancestry was necessary; however it was once performed by a member of a family otherwise known as plebeian, the "Marcii", earning for himself and his descendants the cognomen "Rex".As has been mentioned, the administrative functions in religion, including at some point the housing in the ancient royal court, were ceded to the supreme pontiff.In the late Republic, the previous role of the king in choosing new senators and dismissing people from the senate was ceded to the censors.