The Commonwealth v Caton was an important American legal case. John Caton and others, having been convicted of treason by the general court of Virginia and sentenced to death, were pardoned in 1782 by the House of Delegates of the State, the Senate not concurring. The pardon was not executed, and the attorney-general denying its validity, the case was brought before the Court of Appeals of Virginia in 1782. There it was decided that this court had jurisdiction in such matters, but it was declared that the pardon was not valid without the concurrence of the Senate, and that this act of the Legislature was unconstitutional. This was the second instance in which a court assumed authority to pronounce upon the constitutionality of an act of the Legislature. Research Commonwealth v Caton
Gallican Church was a distinctive name applied to the Roman Catholic Church in France. The peculiarity of this church consisted not in any diversity of doctrine or practice from those generally held and observed by Roman Catholics in other countries, but in maintaining a greater degree of independence of the Papal see, more especially by denying the validity of many of the decretals issued since the time of Charlemagne, and refusing to allow the pope to interfere with the civil jurisdiction of the state and the sovereign rights of the crown. The freedom asserted in this respect was increasingly recognized by the pragmatic sanctions of 1269 and 1438, and was still more clearly established by the Quatuor Propositiones Cleri Gallicani (Four Propositions of the French Clergy), drawn up in convocation by the French clergy in 1682. These were:
1. The pope in secular matters has no power over princes and kings, and cannot loose their subjects from allegiance to them.
2. He is subject to the decrees of a general council.
3. His authority in France is regulated by fixed canons and the laws and customs of the kingdom and church.
4. In matters of faith his decision is not unalterable (irreformable).
During the French Revolution the Gallican Church practically disappeared, and though Napoleon extorted from Pius VII a concordat for its re-establishment, no agreement was arrived at as to its organization. With the return of the Bourbons the bishops deprived by Napoleon were restored, and a new concordat concluded in 1817; but its unpopularity led the government to exact from ecclesiastics an expression of adherence to the articles of 1682.
The July revolution in 1830 gave full freedom to all denominations, and a clause was inserted in the Constitutional Charter expressly declaring that each person professes his religion with equal liberty, and obtains for his worship the same protection. Latterly, and especially since the Vatican Council of 1870, the position of the Gallican Church towards the popes essentially changed, and the older Gallicanism is now said to be represented by the Old Catholics of France. Research Gallican Church
Holy Orders are the state of those who have entrusted to them, the power of exercising certain functions in the Christian Church. Thus the Anglican Church recognizes three orders: bishops, priests, and deacons. The Roman Catholic Church calls these (with the sub-deaconate) the
major orders. The minor orders being: acolytes, exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers, but these are
now only preliminaries to the priesthood. The Eastern Churches have the same major orders, but
only readers besides. The Armenianhierarchy is the same as the Roman.
There has been much controversy between Roman and Anglican theologians as to the validity of Anglican orders. In the bull Apostolicce Curae of 1896 the pope declared them to be invalid. In the Greek Church, however, Anglican orders were recognized.
The early history of orders in the Christian Church is much disputed. Some deny the Catholic claim that the threefold ministry existed from the beginning. Presbyterians defend their Church government on historic grounds. It is probable that at first (e.g., in the New Testament) bishops and presbyters were not differentiated. In the early 2nd century the monarchical episcopate was evolved. Research Holy Orders
Naturalism was a literary and artistic movement of the late 19th century that was characterised by the use of realistic techniques to express the philosophical belief that everything can be explained by natural or material causes. Its literary manifesto was Le Roman experimentale, by Zola, published in 1880. In philosophy, naturalism is a movement affirming that nature is the whole of reality and can be understood only through scientific investigation. Denying the existence of the supernatural and de-emphasising metaphysics, or the study of the ultimate nature of reality, naturalism affirms that cause-and-effect relationships, as in physics and chemistry, are sufficient to account for all phenomena. Teleological conceptions, which suggest design and metaphysical necessity in nature, while not necessarily invalid, are excluded from consideration. The ethical implication, since the naturalist denies any transcendent or supernatural end for humankind, is that values must be found within the social context. It is impossible to
determine what is best in an ultimate context, because the ultimate is beyond discovery. Values, therefore, are relative, and ethics is based on custom, inclination, or some form of utilitarianism, the doctrine that what is useful is good.
Naturalism is rooted in British empiricism, the doctrine that all knowledge is derived from experience, and in European positivism, the doctrine that denies any validity to metaphysical speculation. It came to full flower in the late 19th and 20th-century works of the American philosophers George Santayana, John Dewey, and their followers. Research Naturalism
In English law, replevin is an action brought to recover possession of goods illegally seized, the validity of which seizure it is the regular mode of contesting. Research Replevin
In America, after the adoption of the Constitution of 1787 the thought that the States were sovereign remained familiar to the minds of many, if not most, Americans. This led easily to the thought of secession by a State or States as a remedy for aggressive action on the part of the Federal Government.
The Federalists of New England made threats of secession in 1811 and 1814. As the slavery agitation began to be foremost among political issues, secession was extensively suggested as the constitutional right of the Southern States if the system of slavery was attacked. South Carolina was ready to secede in 1850. In 1860, upon news of the election of Abraham Lincoln, she did so, on December the 20th, by convention, which passed an ordinance purporting to repeal her adoption of the Constitution in 1788 and to revive her independence. Mississippi seceded on January the 9th, 1861, Florida on January the 10th, Alabama on January the 11th, Georgia on January the 19th, Louisiana on January the 26th, Texas on February 1st, all by conventions. These seven States formed the Confederate States of America, on February the 4th, 1861.
Buchanan's government could find no constitutional warrant for coercing a seceded State. After the firing on Fort Sumter and the decision of Abraham Lincoln and the North to suppress rebellion by armed force, four more States seceded - Arkansas on May the 6th, North Carolina on May the 20th, Virginia on May the 23rd and Tennessee on June the 8th. In most of these States there had been strong opposition to secession, but on the ground that it was inexpedient. That a State had a right to secede was the nearly universal belief. The national Government never recognized this right, nor the validity of the ordinances. Research Secession
Validity is that feature of arguments or chains of reasoning studied by the science of logic. The notion of validity may be defined in two ways. The first uses the notion of truth: an argument is valid if the truth of its conclusion is guaranteed by the truth of its premises. The second appeals to basic accepted patterns of reasoning or principles of inference, for example that given 'A' and 'If A then B' one may infer 'B': a conclusion validly follows from certain premises if it can be derived from them in accordance with basic principles. A central question in modern work in logic is whether a complete set of principles of reasoning can be specified, so that any argument valid in the first sense is also valid in the second. Research Validity
Bishop is the highest of the three orders in the Christian ministry - bishops, priests, and deacons - in such churches as recognize three grades. The name is derived from the Greek episkopos, meaning literally an overseer, through the Anglo-Saxon biscop, bisceop. Originally in the Christian church, the name was used interchangeably with presbyter or elder for the overseer or pastor of a congregation; but at a comparatively early period a position of special authority was held by the pastors of the Christian communities belonging to certain places, and the name of bishop became limited to these by way of distinction.
There is much that is doubtful or disputed in regard to the history of the episcopal office. Roman Catholics and many others hold that it is of divine ordination and existed already in apostolic times; and they maintain the doctrine of the apostolical succession, that is to say, the doctrine of the transmission of the ministerial authority in uninterrupted succession from Christ to the apostles, and through these from one bishop to another. Presbyterians deny that the office was of divine or apostolic origin, and hold that it was an upgrowth of subsequent times easily accounted for, certain of the presbyters or pastors acquiring precedence as bishops over others, just as the bishops of the chief cities (Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, Rome) obtained precedence among the bishops and received the title of metropolitan bishops; while the Bishop of Rome came to be regarded as the head of the church and the true successor of Peter.
Already in the fifth century the popes had begun to send to the newly-elected metropolitan bishops (now called archbishops) the pallium, a kind of official mantle, as a token of their sanction of the choice. Two centuries later it became the custom to consecrate bishops by investing them with the ring and crosier, the former as a token of marriage with the church, the latter as a symbol of the pastoral office. This investiture, as giving validity to the election of the bishops, became the source of long-continued contests between the popes and the temporal sovereigns in the middle ages. In the Roman Catholic Church the bishop is usually elected by the presbyters of the diocese, subject to the approbation of the pope and of the secular power. When the monarch is Roman Catholic a bishopric may be in the royal gift, subject to papal approval.
The bishop comes next in rank to the cardinal. His special insignia are the mitre and crosier or pastoral staff, a gold ring, the pallium, dalmatica, etc. He guards the purity of doctrine in his diocese, appoints professors in the clerical colleges, licenses books on religious subjects, ordains and appoints the clergy, consecrates churches, takes charge of the management of funds for ecclesiastical or pious purposes, etc. The bishops of the Greek Church have similar functions but on the whole less authority. They are always selected from the monastic orders.
In the Church of England bishops are nominated by the sovereign, who, upon request of the dean and chapter for leave to elect a bishop, sends a conge d'elire, or license to elect, with a letter missive, nominating the person whom he would have chosen. The election, by the chapter, must be made within twelve days, or the sovereign has a right to appoint whom he pleases. A bishop, as well as an archbishop, has his consistory court to hear ecclesiastical causes, and makes visits to the clergy, etc. He consecrates churches, ordains, admits, and institutes priests; confirms, suspends, excommunicates, grants licenses for marriage, etc. He has his archdeacon, dean, and chapter, chancellor, and vicar-general to assist him.
Rawlins Lowndes was an American jurist and politician. He was born in 1722 and died in 1800. He was appointed a Judge in South Carolina by the crown, and affirmed the validity of unstamped public papers. He was president of the province from 1778 to 1780. He opposed the adoption of the American Constitution as fatal to liberty. Research Rawlins Lowndes
Thomas Cranmer was archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII. He was born in 1489 at Aslacton, Nottinghamshire and died in 1556 when he was burnt at the stake for refusing to revert his religion under Mary. He was famous for the part he played in the English reformation during the reign of Henry VIII. He entered as a student of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1503, took the degree of MA, obtained a fellowship, and in 1523 was chosen reader of theological lectures in his college, and examiner of candidates for degrees in divinity.
An opinion which he gave on the question of Henry VIII's proposed divorce from Catharine brought him under the favourable notice of the king. Thomas Cranmer was sent for to court, made a king's chaplain, and commanded to write a treatise on the subject of the divorce. In 1530 he was sent abroad with others to collect the opinions of the divines and canonists of France, Italy, and Germany, on the validity of the king's marriage. At Rome he presented his treatise to the pope, but his mission was fruitless.
In January, 1533, he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Soon after he set the Papal authority at defiance by pronouncing sentence of divorce between Henry VIII and Catharine, and confirming the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn. The pope threatened excommunication, and an act of parliament was immediately passed for abolishing the pope's supremacy, and declaring the king chief head of the Church of England. The archbishop zealously promoted the cause of the Reformation; and through his means the Bible was translated and read in churches, and monastic institutions were vigorously suppressed.
In 1536 he pandered to Henry VIII's passions by promoting tlie divorce of Anne Boleyn. This and other services secured him in the king's favour, who appointed him by will one of the council of regency to Edward VI. By his instrumentality the liturgy was drawn up and established by act of parliament, and articles of religion were compiled, the validity of which was enforced by royal authority, and for which infallibility was claimed.
The exclusion of the Princess Mary from the crown, by the will of her brother, was a measure in which Thomas Cranmer joined the partisans of Lady Jane Grey, apparently in opposition to his own judgment. With others who had been most active in Lady Jane Grey's favour he was sent to the Tower on the accession of Mary. He was tried on charges of blasphemy, perjury, incontinence, and heresy, and was sentenced to be degraded and deprived of office. After this flattering promises were made, which induced him to sign a recantation of his alleged errors, and become, in fact, a Catholic convert. But when he was brought into St Mary'sChurch, Oxford, to read his recantation in public, instead of confessing the justness of his sentence, and submitting to it in silence or imploring mercy, he calmly acknowledged that the fear of death had made him belie his conscience; and declared that nothing could afford him consolation but the prospect of extenuating his guilt by encountering, as a Protestant penitent, with firmness and resignation, the fiery torments which awaited him. He was immediately hurried to the stake, where he behaved with the resolution of a martyr. Research Thomas Cranmer
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Commonwealth v Caton
