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 MINOR

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MINOR

semi-graded schools, state graded schools, state high schools, normal schools, and university. A common school district is controlled by a board of three mem- bers; an independent, by one of six members; a special, by a board of six or more members. Common schools are suppr\'iseLl by a county superintendent; inde- penilent ami special districts have their own superin- tenilents, and in the main are not subject to the county superintendents. The state graded and state high schools are subject to a board of five members; the president of the state university, the superintendent of public instruction, and the presiilent of normal school board are ex-officio members, a city superintendent or high school principal and a fifth member are appointed by the governor. The normal schools are controlled by a board of nine members; five of these are resident directors; three are appointed for the state at large, and one, the superintendent of public instruction, serves ex-officio. The state university is situated in Minneapolis and is in a most flourishing condition. Its enrollment for the year 1909-10 inclutles 5000 students. The university is controlled by a board of twelve re- gents; the governor, the president of the university and the superintendent of public instruction are ex-officio members, and nine are appointed by the governor.

The public schools of the state are supported by a direct tax upon the property of the school districts, by a county one-mill ($-001) tax, by a state mill tax, and by the income from the permanent school fund, to- gether with small fines that are accredited to this fund. No religious school receives any subsidy direct or in- direct. The educational institutions established by the Catholic Church have exhibited wonderful vitality and increase. The Seminary of St. Paul, a monument to the zeal of .\rchbishop Ireland, is the leading in- stitution of theological instruction in the North- west. .\ university is conducted by the Benedic- tines at Collegeville, in the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and is well supplied with all the facilities for modern education, including laboratory equipment and scientific collections. The C'ollege of St. Thomas at St. Paul has not only acquired a reputation as a seat of learning and sound instruction in the classics, but also as a military school of the first rank. It is at- tended by six hundred cadets and is constantly ex- panding both in educational facilities and in attend- ance. The C'ollege of St. Catherine at St. Paul is the leading Catholic institution for the education of women, but the education of girls and women is pro- vided for in many other excellent institutions in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and other parts of the state.

Bancroft. Hist, of the U. S. A.. II (Boston, 1S79); Neill. Hist, of Minnesota (Minneapolis, 1SS2); Dioeese of St. Paul. Golden Jubilee (St. Paul. 1901); Shea, Hennepin s Description of Louisiana: Jesuit Relations, LXVIII, 207; jinnals of the Faith (Dublin. 1840); Memoirs of Rev. .-1. Ravoui (St. Paul.

1900). John W. Willis.

Minor (Lat. miiwr), that which is less, or inferior in comparison with another, the term being employed as well of things as of persons. To glance rapidly at its application to things, we may mention caustF minores, matters of lesser importance, as opposed to causes majures, those more important; minor benefices as opposecl to the major benefices, which imply jurisdic- tion and are confirmed in papal consistory; minor churches or those of inferioi rank; the minor excom- munication (now out of use), as opposed to the major excommunication. In reference to persons, certain uses of the word minor may also be mentioned which depend upon usage rather than upon law: the younger of two persons of the same name is sometimes called minor (or "the less") as St. James the Less. Through humility St. Francis of Assisi gave his religious the name of " Friars Minor", that is, less tlian other friars.

But in its most frequent and most strictly judicial acceptation, the word designates a person who, having passed his infancy, has not yet reached the age re-

quired by law for the performance of certain acts or the exercise of certain rights; in practice the utmost limit is considered, and beyond it there exists no restriction; those are called minors who have not yet reached the age at which the law makes them capable of performing all civil acts whatever, especially the administration of their property. This age being fi.xed by most modern laws at twenty-one years, everyone is a minor until the age of twenty-one, or whatever may be the legal age of majority. As the matter is primarily one of civil rights, the Church leaves distinc- tions to the civil law. In what concerns canon law and Christian acts, no uniform limit of minority has ever been established; for given acts and lights the canon law and ecclesiastical usage haveestal)lishe<l the neces- sary and sufficient age. In the first place children are not considered as minors; ii is presumed that until the age of reason, legally fixed at seven years, a child pos- sesses neither the intelligence nor the experience to commit sin or to exercise any rights whatsoever. When no longer a child a person becomes a minor. Minors are eitlier under or over the age of puberty, which is fixed by the Roman law at fourteen full years for boys and twelve full years for girls; between the age of seven years and that of puberty they are said to be nearer, or less near to infancy or puberty, as the case may be. For those under puberty, there begins with the age of reason the obligation of observing the moral law and those precepts of the Church from which they are not exempt by their age, notably the obligation to receive the Sacraments; such minors therefore are capable of sinning although their respon- sibility is less in proportion as they are nearer child- hood; for this reason they are not liable to the pen- alties of the forum externum, except where this is specially provided. It is presumed that with puberty the Christian begins to enjoy the plenitude of his intel- ligence and liberty in spiritual matters and purely personal rights : the minor of the age of puberty can contract marri.age, he can receive minor orders, and be nominated to and administrate a benefice (Cone. Trid., Sess. XXIII, c. vi, "De ref. "; c. iii, "De judic", in 6). There are, however, acts binding his future which he cannot perform until at a more advanced age ; he cannot make a religious profession until the age of sixteen is completed (Cone. Trid., Sess. XXV. " De regular", c. xv); he cannot receive the sub-diaconate before his twenty-first year (Sess. XXIII. c. vii). At the age of twenty-one, too, he begins to be subject to the law of fasting. (For more ample developments see Age, Canonical.)

A leading characteristic in all legislation on minora is the protection afforded them in regard to the admin- istration of property and the obligations which they can assume in reference to third parties. As a general rule the liberty of minors is unrestrained as to con- tracts which are to their advantage, but they cannot make any contracts which are burdensome to them- selves except under certain determined formalities, and with the required authorization. Still more, if they consider themselves as suffering by such con- tracts they may, by the terms of the Roman Law (" De minorib., x.xv, ann." ff., IV, iv), for four years after their majority of twenty-five years, obtain the "resti- tutio in integrum", i. e. a judicial decree restored the condition of things which existed before the contract by which the minor suffered. These provisions have been more or less completely embodied in the modern la>vs of various countries, the discussion of which would be out of place here. It is enough to say that the canon law has accepted them (Decret., lib. I, tit. xli, "De in integrum restitutione"). and applied them to churches and other juridical entities which it was expedient to protect against inaladMiinistration. When it is said that churches are assimilated to minors (c. vii, .3, 8, "De in integrum rcstit.") the meaning is that, in respect to burdensome contracts,