Causa IV

GRATIAN. A certain man placed under excommunication intends to accuse a bishop. He brings forward an adolescent under the fourteenth year of his age for the assertion of his case. Prohibited from the accusation, he makes the adolescent the accuser and himself a witness. The adolescent desires to bear the person of accuser and witness. On the appointed day the bishop does not appear at the judgment of the chosen judges. He is suspended from communion. At length, when the judgment has been renewed, the accuser is found culpable in the accusation. Finally, he proceeds to the assertion of his own case. (Qu. I.) Here it is first asked whether one placed under excommunication is able to accuse another. (Qu. II.) Second, whether anyone under the fourteenth year can testify in a criminal case. (Qu. III.) Third, whether one prohibited from an accusation can assume the person of a witness. (Qu. IV.) Fourth, whether the same person can be accuser and witness. (Qu. V.) Fifth, whether one who does not appear on the appointed day is to be removed from communion. (Qu. VI.) Sixth, if the person of the accuser is found culpable in the judgment of bishops, whether he is thereafter to be admitted to the assertion of his own case.