Appendix I: On Rescripts

— I. Notion. Division. A rescript is a response of the Holy See or of an Ordinary, given in writing at the instance of one petitioning.

Rescripts are either of justice, or for lawsuits, or of grace; and the latter not rarely contain a dispensation or privilege. Then attention must also be given to the rules of dispensations and privileges (c. 62).

— II. Persons capable. With the exception of an excommunicated or suspended person to be avoided, or of him who by sentence has been made or declared excommunicated or suspended, and of one personally interdicted, rescripts can be obtained by all, both for themselves and for others, even apart from the consent of these; and, unless the clauses convey something else, they have force before their acceptance (cc. 36, 37, 2265 § 2; 2275, 3°; 2283).

— III. Conditions of validity. Conditions added are only then for validity, when they are expressed by the particles if, provided that, or another of the same signification (c. 39). But in all rescripts the condition is to be understood: If the petitions rest upon truth. Yet they rest sufficiently upon truth so that they are valid, if those things have been expressed which, from the style of the curia, must be expressed for validity, and at least one motivating cause is true. And the truth of at least one motivating cause is required even when the clause Motu proprio has been added, unless a dispensation is sought from a lesser impediment of marriage (cc. 39, 40, 42, 45, 1054).

If a rescript grants several favors, a defect in one part does not invalidate the other (c. 42 § 3).

— IV. From what moment they operate. Rescripts of which there is no executor have effect from the moment at which the letters have been given; and it is necessary that at that same moment the petitions rest upon truth. The others have effect from the time of execution: at which time alone, then, the petitions must rest upon truth (cc. 38, 40, 41).

Wherefore jurisdiction to hear confessions, sought by letters, is possessed from the moment at which it has been granted. Therefore, in a case of necessity, where there is certain conjecture, it will be permitted to use such jurisdiction even before notice has been received. Outside a case of necessity, the use would be rather rash, and consequently illicit. Cf. Laymann, l. 1, tr. 4, c. 23, n. 10.

— V. Errors. An error in the name of the person to whom or by whom they are granted, or of the place in which the person is staying, or of the matter about which there is question, does not stand in the way of validity, provided that, in the judgment of the Ordinary, there is no doubt concerning the person himself or the matter (c. 47).

— VI. Execution of a rescript. The executor of a rescript:

1. Enters upon his function before he has either received and recognized the authentic letters, or previous notice of those letters has been transmitted to him by the authority of the one granting the rescript (c. 53).

Wherefore, before letters of this kind, or notice, have been received, we cannot use, even validly, a faculty of dispensing in some marriage, or of absolving someone from some reserved case. Cf. resp. S. Offic. 14 Nov. 1892.

2. From can. 54, he cannot of himself deny execution, when the mere ministry of execution is committed to him, v.g. "We command that, if the things set forth are true, you dispense"; otherwise, if in the rescript the concession of the favor is committed to the executor, "We commit it to your judgment that you grant the favor."

3. He must execute in writing rescripts which regard the external forum (c. 56).

4. If he has erred, he can again commit the rescript to execution (c. 59).

5. Unless the person has been chosen rather by reason of a special quality (science, skill) than of office or function, or the tenor of the rescript conveys something else, the executor can substitute another for himself; and a successor in dignity or office is permitted to commit any rescript to execution (cc. 57, 58).

— What happens when the see is vacant. Through the vacancy of the see of the one granting, a rescript is not extinguished, unless something else appears from the clauses added, or unless the rescript contains a power given to someone of granting a particular favor to persons expressed in the same rescript, and the matter is still entire (c. 61).

— VII. Presentation to the Ordinary. A rescript of the Holy See in which no executor is given need not be presented to the Ordinary of the one obtaining it, unless this is prescribed in the letters, or there is question of public matters (c. 51).

— VIII. Recourse to various Superiors. A favor denied by one Sacred Congregation or Office of the Roman Curia is invalidly granted by another Sacred Congregation or Office, or by the Ordinary of the place, even if he has the power, without the consent of the Sacred Congregation or Office with which, or with whom, business had begun, saving the right of the Sacred Penitentiary for the internal forum (c. 43).

We are also prohibited from asking a favor from another Ordinary, when it has been denied by our own, with no mention made of the denial. Indeed, mention of a favor denied by the vicar general is required for validity, so that it can be obtained from the bishop. But what the bishop has denied, the vicar general cannot now grant unless the bishop consents (c. 44).