482 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



case whether the subject were u (lo<,'matic deliverance upon a matter 

 of faitli, a direction on a question of discipline, the creation or modi- 

 ficntion of 'an institution, or a decision in a secular matter as in the 

 present case. It is inaccurate to call these American Bulls "privileges 

 " issued in the particular form of the small Bulls, called by the ponti- 

 " tical chancery tiluli or gracious acts.'"* This is to confuse things 

 essentially different. A privilege in canon law is, by its very name, 

 n private or particular law, according a favour to .some person or in- 

 stitution ; as, for instance, to a monastery or church " Dicitur lex, 

 " /J on" qxiia privilegium est lex, sed quia quamdiu duret instar legis 

 " ohservari debet; dicitur privata quia non facit jus quoad omnes." A 

 titulus is something still different, and is a presentation or right to a 

 benefice or a church. A privilege or title might, indeed, be in the 

 form of a Bull ; but whether the Bull was a small one or not, would 

 depend upon the bulk of the subject matter, and, on the other hand, 

 a small Bull might be of exceeding importance. The Bulls referred to 

 in thi-î* question are public laws ; international decisions involving an 

 inchoate right to half the world. They cannot be called "privileges," 

 still less "titles ;" and to call them "small Bulls" in any sense is an 

 error, as the reader will see on reference to them in the appendix. A 

 still greater confusion is caused by Mr. Harrisse's explanation of the 

 word litterae. He says,^" in relation to the Bulls described later as A 

 and B, "The pomtifical privileges were often accompanied by a second 

 " liitera, shorter than the first, and of which it was, in fact, the noti- 

 " fication," and again referring to the Bull Eximiae, he says, ^^ "This 

 " littera was not exactly an abridgement of the primary Bull, resemb- 

 " ling, for instance, the abstracts of testaments, grants, bills of sale, 

 " or conveyances which our recorders deliver constantly." This is 

 very misleading, for the word liftera is general and covers all written 

 communications. Nor is it correct to say that the " pontifical chan- 

 " eery drafted anew important Bulls in condensed form, which were 

 " transcribed in full in its registers, and were legalized not simply as 

 "true copies but as authentic originals."^- That would be equivalent to 

 a legislature passing two acts covering the same subject, a long and a 

 short one, and making both original and authentic. Moreover, there 

 could be no "papal Bulls for common use"' ^ "carried round on maritime 

 '• expeditions" to be shown while both tlie larger and "condensed orig- 

 " inals" were retained in the archives. This very singular error seems 

 to have been suggested by a clause in the Bull Kximiae as follows : 



" But furasiimcli ii.'< it would be very difRcult for the present letters to be car- 

 " ried to all such places aw may be expedient, we will," etc., etc., " that to copies 

 " of these presents, signeil by a jtuhlic notary, employed for that purpose and 



