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revenues, less 5 per cent for the expense of administra- tion, exception being made of parishes, confraterni- ties, artistic buildings and those destined to religious cult, and the l)uikling necessary to these bodies in performance of their functions, as episcopal palaces, seminaries, and others. Simultaneously with the sup- pression of ecclesiastical bodies, there was established an autonomous administration, inilependent of gov- ernment superintendence, called Fondo per il Culto, wththe function of administrating the property of the suppressed bodies, despoiled of 30 per cent of its value and converted into public bonds, and of applying the income thereof to the purposes of religion and charity. The first duty of this administration was to provide for the charges upon the suppressed bodies in the cases of the existence of their personal incumbents, who have the right to require such provision through process of law; the duty also devolved upon this es- tablishment of paying pensions to the members of suppressed religious orders; and when the pensions become extinct, three-fourths of the capital sum reg- istered in favour of the Fondo per il Culto, represent- ing the property of the suppressed corporations, will revert to the State. The administration in question is obliged to supplement the episcopal incomes that may not have reached the sum of .$1200, as also to supple- ment the salaries of parish priests whose net income is less than $200. Under the pretext of distributing the remainder of its revenue in equitable proportions among the different ecclesiastical benefices, but in reality to bolster up the Fondo per il Culto, upon which were imposed expenses beyond its resources, all the ecclesiastical bodies that were retained are obliged to make yearly increasing contributions, called "quota of assistance". As to the confraternities, the law places them among the bodies who must assist in the support of the infirm; and as these institutions have always secondary, beneficent ends, the State obliges them to render account of their operations in this field, and authorizes the communes to require them to divert their resources to lay works, for local benefit, allowing the confraternity only a minimum annuity for expenses of religious worship. Wherefore, of all the property of the Church in Italy, the State has left only a small portion to the bodies that have been re- tained, and that under strong vigilance and censor- ship, as regards either the diminution or the increase of that remnant. Another portion was taken from proprietary bodies, to establish a fund for religious cult; and a small part was taken from the Church, to be returned to lay patrons who might ask for it, or to apply it to purposes of instruction and of beneficence. In short the greater part of the ecclesiastical property, under different showings and by subtle expedients, was confiscated.

(.3) Ecclesiastical Circumscription. — The territory of the kingdom is divided into 275 dioceses, including that of Rome, the Pontifical See, of which the Iiishop is the Vicar of Jesus Christ, successor of the Prince of the Apostles and Pontiff of the Universal Church; 6 dioceses are suburbicarian, namely, Ostia and Velletri, Porto and Santa Rufina, .\lbano, Frascati, Palestrina, and Sabina. The titular cardinalates, i. e. the subur- bicarian sees, the titular churches, and the diaconal ones existing in Rome number 75. Of Italian sees, 75 are immediately subject to Rome, of which 13 are gov- erned by archbishops, and the remaining 200 consti- tute 37 ecclesiastical provinces, consisting each of a metropolitan see, which is one of the archdioceses, and of a number of suffragan sees that are governed by bishops. ,\mong the metropolitan sees, that of Venice is that of a patriarchate. There are 11 abbeys and prelacies nullius diaecexeos. Each diocese is subdi- vided into parishes, of which there are 20,fiS5 in all the kingdom; there are 60,446 churches, chapels, anil pub- lic oratories, the .service of which is maintained by 69,310 priests, regular and secular. The episcopal

seminaries have 21,453 students. There are 30,564 religious; lastly, the Catholic educational establish- ments consist of 532 schools for boys, having 55,870 scholars, and 1302 for girls, with 102,491 scholars. (4) _ Codes. — In Italy there are seven codes, namely, the civil, the commercial, the penal, the civil pro- cedure, the penal procedure, the military, and the mercantile marine codes. The confusion between Roman and canon law, Germanic and Italian written law, and local common law obstructed the straight- forward and expeditious administration of justice; andthisgave rise to the first codifications, chief among which in Italy is the " Codice Vittorio ", formulated in 1723, under Victor Amadeus II of Savoy; but the most important and best prepared work of codifica- tion was without doubt the ' ' Codice Napoleone ", which was published on 21 March, 1S04, and which served as a model for the civil legislation of almost every country in Europe or in America, including the states into which Italy was divided ; the present civil code of the kingdom is directly tlerived from it, and for this rea- son, the history of French law is of great importance for the interpretation of Italian law. The authors of the Napoleonic Code were not carried away by the doctrines of the school of natural right, as were Ger- man legislators, but they sought in the countries de droit coulumier and in the jurisprudence of parliaments guides to make the Roman written law, the Germanic law, and the law of the land more harmonious with the requirements of the times. Once Italy had consti- tuted it.self into a nation, there was felt the need of a common civil code which should unify the various codes of the former states of the peninsula; accord- ingly, on 25 June, 1865, there was published the Civil Code of the Kingdom of Italy, which went into force on 1 January, 1S66. Tliis code, which is based upon Roman law, is the only civil law of the land ; and it needs some reformation to make it more consonant with new economical and social needs. The code con- sists of three books and, like the French code, follows the clear and traditional Gaian division: "Omne jus, q^uo utimur, aut ad personas, aut ad res, aut ad ac- tiones pertinet." Furthermore, the code is preceded by twelve articles which, as leges Icgum, lay down rules for the publication, the interpretation, and the appli- cation of laws in general. The very ancient rules of merchant guilds, which date back to the eleventh century ancl which did much to promote the greatness of the Italian communes, were the source of the com- mercial legislation, and little by little they were sys- tematically put m order, so that between the years 1200 and ISOO the various statutes, when approved by the overlord, came to constitute the written mercantile law of the different states of Italy. By two ordinances of Louis XIV (1673, 1681) the commercial law was codified and from this the Napoleonic Code was partly taken (ISOS). The latter was carried by French arms into many European countries. The Italian Code, the Albert Code of 1842, and the code of 1865 also were modelled on the French Code. But, as the one of 1865 was no longer in harmony with the modern conditions of traffic, it was svicceeded on 1 January, 1883, by the new Code of Commerce, which shows progress Iiy the wealth of its contents, by its recogni- tion of the freedom of the contracting parties, by the simplicity of its forms, by the conciseness of its lan- guage, and by its efl^cacious protection of credit, es- pecially in regard to exchange. Rumania adopted this code, almost literally, in 1SS7. Contrary to the order obtaining in civil matters, the law regards com- mercial matters as resting, primarily, on the code and on commercial legislation; in the second place, on mer- cantile practices; and in the third place, on civil law. The code is divided into four books; the first relates to commerce in general, the second to maritime com- merce and to navigation, the third to bankruptcy, and the fourth to commercial catises.