126 FORESTRY IN SPAIN. 



the courts, and the judges of first instance and prosecuting 

 fiscals, and the other under-officers of the courts, be they 

 clerks, notaries, recorders, or other subaltern officers of 

 justice ; and amongst other duties to present or instal such 

 as hold office by right of inheritance, and who consequently 

 cannot be elected. 3. To provide the material which 

 the tribunals require for the performance of their service 

 with becoming decorum. With regard to the department 

 relating to grants and rewards, it has charge of pardons, 

 concessions of Titles of Castile, the habilitation of minors in 

 the administration of their possessions ; and, in general, 

 all those dispensations of law called grants of extract, for 

 which certain dues must be paid to the Chancery. 

 With respect to ecclesiastical patronage, this Ministry is 

 charged with the presentation of the archbishops and 

 bishops to the Pope ; the nomination of canons and 

 ecclesiastical prebendaries,according to the form established 

 by the concordat; the provision of curates in accordance with 

 the minutes of competition which come from the dioceses ; 

 the protection of the clergy, by recourse to force if 

 necessary; the promulgation, or it may be the exequatur, 

 of bulls and pontifical briefs; the disposal of the funds 

 granted for the maintenance of worship and of the clergv ; 

 and in general, all business relating to the ecomic regimen, 

 the policy, and the protection of the Church, of which the 

 King is the permanent and supreme defender in 

 Spain. 



' Moreover, the Council of the military orders of Santiago, 

 Calatrava, Alcantara, and Montesa, depend on this Ministry 

 for the episcopal functions which they discharge in the 

 Churches of the order which, by the last concordat, has 

 been reduced to a very small number indeed. 



The Seal of the State is entrusted to the Chancery of 

 this Minister, on whom, moreover, depends the decision 

 relative to the circumstances which require its application 

 to executed deeds ; and the notarial record of the power 

 exercised by the Ministry of Grace and Justice alone 

 sanctions its use in authenticating solemn deeds in the 



