Title — Decretals of Gregory IX
Title XXXVII: On Pleading
Chapter I
Latin source headnote: A cleric in sacred orders, or one in minor orders who has a benefice, ought not to plead in a secular forum except for himself, his church, or miserable persons.
From the Lateran Council.
Clerics in the subdiaconate and above, [and] also in minor orders if they are sustained by ecclesiastical stipends, are not to presume to become advocates in secular business before a secular judge, unless they are pursuing their own cause or that of their church, or perhaps acting for miserable persons who cannot administer their own causes. [But neither procurations, etc.]
DE POSTULANDO.
Clericus in sacris vel minoribus beneficiatus in saeculari foro postulare non debet, nisi pro se, vel sua ecclesia, vel miserabilibus personis.
Ex concilio Lateranensi.
Clerici in subdiaconatu, et supra, [et] in ordinibus quoque minoribus, si stipendiis ecclesiasticis sustententur, coram saeculari iudice advocati in negotiis saecularibus fieri non praesumant, nisi propriam causam vel ecclesiae suae fuerint prosecuti, aut pro miserabilibus forte personis, quae proprias causas administrare non possunt. [Sed nec procurationes etc.]
Chapter II
Latin source headnote: Regular canons, like monks, cannot plead except for the utility of the church or their monastery and at the abbot's command.
Innocent III, to the Archbishop of Compostela.
On your part it was proposed before us that certain regular canons, perhaps so that they may be able to demonstrate themselves learned in law and have material for wandering outside the cloister, presume to exercise the office of advocate not only in ecclesiastical but also in forensic causes. And when it is objected against them that, according to canonical sanctions, they ought not to be undertakers or executors even of forensic or ecclesiastical business unless perhaps the utility of the monastery demands it, with the abbot nevertheless commanding, they propose, to excuse their insolence, that the chapter through which the aforesaid things appear to be prohibited manifestly speaks concerning monks, not regular canons. Hence you wished to consult us whether such persons are to be admitted to advocacy. To this we answer your consultation in this manner: we believe that, with respect to the aforesaid matters, the same judgment concerning regular canons as concerning monks is to be observed, although monks are specially expressed in the canon. [Given at Rome at Saint Peter's, on the Ides of March, in the ninth year, 1206.]
Canonici regulares postulare non possunt, sicut monachi, nisi pro utilitate ecclesiae, vel sui monasterii, et praecepto abbatis.
Innocentius III. Compostellano Archiepiscopo.
Ex parte tua coram nobis fuit propositum, quod quidam canonici regulares, ut se forte peritos in iure valeant demonstrare, ac extra claustrum materiam habeant evagandi, non solum in ecclesiasticis, verum etiam in forensibus causis praesumunt advocati officium exercere. Quumque obiicitur eis, quod iuxta canonicas sanctiones non debent esse forensis vel ecclesiastici negotii susceptores vel exsecutores etiam, nisi forte id monasterii exposcat utilitas, abbate nihilominus imperante, ipsi ad suam proponunt insolertiam excusandam, quod capitulum illud, per quod praedicta prohiberi videntur, de monachis, non de canonicis regularibus loquitur manifeste. Unde nos consulere voluisti, utrum tales sint ad patrocinium admittendi. Ad quod consultationi tuae taliter, respondemus, quod idem iudicium de canonicis regularibus, quod et de monachis, quantum ad supradicta credimus observandum, licet de monachis in canone specialiter sit expressum. [Dat. Rom. ap. S. Petr. Id. Mart. Ao. IX. 1206.]
Chapter III
Latin source headnote: It summarizes itself.
Gregory IX.
Since it is the office of a priest to harm no one but to wish to benefit everyone, it is lawful for him to plead only for himself, his church, or, if necessity presses, persons connected to him or miserable persons. (And below:) But a cleric who presumes to be advocate or proctor for outsiders against the church from which he obtains a benefice can, as an ungrateful person, especially if he is a cleric of the same church, be despoiled of a benefice of this kind.
Se summat.
Gregorius IX.
Quum sacerdotis sit officium nulli nocere, omnibus autem velle prodesse, non nisi pro se ipso, vel ecclesia sua, vel, si necessitas immineat, pro personis coniunctis aut miserabilibus sibi licitum est postulare. (Et infra:) Clericus autem, qui contra ecclesiam, a qua beneficium obtinet, pro extraneis advocatus vel procurator esse praesumit, tanquam ingratus potest, maxime si clericus sit eiusdem ecclesiae, beneficio huiusmodi spoliari.