Abstract: Three types of magnetic phase diagrams can be identified in Ce systems: (I) with ordering temperature T-ord --> 0 continuously, followed by a narrow non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) region, (II) with T-ord vanishing at finite temperature, followed by an extended NFL region, and (III) where the degrees of freedom condensed into the ordered phase decreases, without a concomitant decrease of T-ord. Intrinsic differences are found in the way that the degrees of freedom condense at T-ord and from the rising of the specific heat tails above T-ord. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.