parliament (Inst., vol. iv. p. 58), and in modern times provision for a regency has always been made by act of parliament. In Scotland the appointment of regents was always either by the assent of a council or of parliament. Thus in 1315 the earl of Moray was appointed regent by Robert I. in a council. At a later perio appointment by statute was the universal form. Thus by an act of 1542 the earl of Arran was declared regent during the minority of Mary. By an act of 1567 the appointment by Mary of the earl of Moray as regent was confirmed. As late as 1704 provision was made for a regency after the death of Anne. The earliest regency in England resting upon an express statute was that created by 28 Hen. III. c. 7, under which the king appointed his executors to exercise the authority of the crown till the successor to the crown should attain the age of eighteen if a male or sixteen if a female. They delegated their rights to the protector Somerset, with the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal. No other example of a statutory provision for a regency occurs till 1751. In that year the act of 24 Geo. II. c. 24 constituted the princess-dowager of Wales regent of the kingdom in case the crown should descend to any of her children before such child attained the age of eighteen. A council, called the council of regency, was appointed toassist the princess. A prescribed oath was to be taken by the regent and members of the council. Their consent was necessary for the marriage of a successor to the crown during minority. It was declared to be unlawful for the regent to make war or peace, or ratify any treaty with an foreign power, or prorogue, adjourn or dissolve any parliament without the consent of the majority of the council of regency, or give her assent to any bill for repealing or varying the Act of Settlement, the Act of Uniformity, or the Act of the Scottish parliament for securing the Protestant religion and Presbyterian church government in Scotland (1707, c. 6). The last is an invariable provision, and occurs in all subsequent Regency Acts. The reign of George III. affords examples of prolgision for a regency during both the infancy and incapacity of a mg.
The act of 5 Geo. III. c. 27 vested in the king power to appoint a regent under the sign manual, such regent to be one of certain named members of the royal family. The remaining provisions closely followed those of the act of George II. In 1788 the insanity of the king led to the introduction of a Regency bill. In the course of the debate in the House of Lords the duke of York disclaimed on behalf of the prince of Wales any right to assume the regency without the consent of parliament. Owing to the king's recovery the bill ultimately dropped. On a return of the malady in 1810 the act of 51 Geo. III. c. 1 was passed, appointing the prince of Wales regent during the kin(g's incapacity. The royal assent was given by commission authorize by resolution of both Houses. By this act no council of regency was appointed. There was no restriction on the regent's authority over treaties, peace and war, or parliament, as in the previous acts, but his power of granting peerages, offices and pensions was limited. At the accession 0 William IV. the duchess of Kent was, by I Will. IV. c. 2, appointed regent, if necessary, until the Princess Victoria should attain the age of eighteen. No council of regency was appointed. By 1 Vict. c. 72 lords justices were nominated as a kind of regency council without a regent in case the successor to the crown should be out of the realm at the queen's death. They were restricted from granting peerages, and from dissolving parliament Without directions from the successor. By 3 & 4 Vict. c. 52 Prince Albert was appointed regent in case any of Queen Victoria's children should succeed to the crown under the age of eighteen. The only restraint on his authority 'was the usual prohibition to assent to any bill repealing the Act of Settlement, &c. When George V. came to the throne a Regency Bill was again required, as his eldest son was under age, and Queen Mary was appointed. By 10 Geo. IV. c. 7 the office of regent of the United Kingdom cannot be held by a Roman gatholic. A similar disability is imposed in most, if not all, Regency Acts.
REGGIO CALABRIA (anc. Regium, q.v.), a town and archiepiscopal
see of Calabria, Italy, capital of the province of
Reggio, on the Strait of Messina, 248 m. S.S.E. from Naples
by rail. Pop. (1906) 39,941 (town); 48,362 (commune). It is
the terminus of the railways from Naples along the west coast,
and from Metaponto along the east coast of Calabria. The
straits are here about 7 m. wide, and the distance to Messina
nearly 10 m. The ferryboats to Messina therefore cross by
preference from Villa S. Giovanni, 8 m. N. of Reggio, whence
the distance is only 5 m. In 1894 the town suffered from an
earthquake, though less severely than in 1783. It was totally
destroyed, however, by the great earthquake of December 1908;
in the centre of the town about 35,000 out of 40,000 persons
perished. The cathedral, which dated from the 17th century,
and the ancient castle which rose above it, were wrecked.
Great damage was done by a seismic wave following the shock.
The sea front was swept away, and the level of the land hereabouts
was lowered. (See further Messina.)
REGGIO NELL' EMILIA, a city and episcopal see of Emilia,
Italy, the capital of the province of Reggio nell' Emilia (till
1859 part of the duchy of Modena), 38 m. by rail N.W. of Bologna.
Pop. (1906) 19,681 (town), 64,548 (commune). The cathedral,
originally erected in the 12th century, was reconstructed
in the 15th and 16th; the facade shows traces of both periods,
the Renaissance work being complete only in the lower portion.
S. Prospero, close by, has a façade of 1504, in which are incorporated
six marble lions belonging to the original Romanesque
edifice. The Madonna della Ghiara, built in 1597 in the form
of a Greek cross, and restored in 1900, is beautifully proportioned
and finely decorated in stucco and with frescoes of the Bolognese
school of the early 17th century. There are several good palaces
of the early Renaissance, a fine theatre (1857) and a museum
containing important palaeo-ethnological collections, ancient
and medieval sculptures, and the natural history collection
of Spallanzani. Lodovico Ariosto, the poet (1474–1533), was
born in Reggie, and his father's house is still preserved. The
industries embrace the making of cheese, objects in cement,
matches, and brushes, the production of silkworms, and printing;
and the town is the centre of a rich agricultural district. It
lies on the main line between Bologna and Milan, and is connected
by branch lines with Guastalla and Sassuolo (hence a
line to Modena).
Regium Lepidi or Regium Lepidum was probably founded by M. Aemilius Lepidus at the time of the construction of the Via Aemilia (187 B.C.). It lay upon this road, half-way between Mutina and Parma. It was during the Roman period a flourishing municipium, but perhaps never became a colony; and it is associated with no event more interesting than the assassination of M. Brutus, the father of Caesar's friend and foe. The bishopric dates perhaps from the 4th century A.D. Under the Lombards the town was the seat of dukes and counts; in the 12th and 13th centuries it formed a flourishing republic, busied in surrounding itself with walls (1229), controlling the Crostolo and constructing navigable canals to the Po, coining money of its own, and establishing prosperous schools. About 1290 it first passed into the hands of Obizzo d'Este, and the authority of the Este family was after many vicissitudes more formally recognized in 1409. In the contest for liberty which began in 1796 and closed with annexation to Piedmont in 1859, Reggio took vigorous part.
REGICIDE (Lat. rex, a king, and caedere, to kill), the name
given to any one who kills a sovereign. Regicides is the name
given in English history at the Restoration of 1660 to those
persons who were responsible for the execution of Charles I.
On the 4th of April 1660 Charles II. in the Declaration of Breda
promised a free pardon to all his subjects “ excepting only such
persons as shall hereafter be excepted by parliament,” and on
the 14th of May the House of Commons ordered the immediate
arrest of “ all those persons who sat in judgment upon the late
king's majesty when sentence was pronounced.” The number
of regicides was estimated at 84, this number being composed
of the 67 present at the last sitting of the court of justice,
11 others who had attended earlier sittings, 4 officers of the
court and the 2 executioners. Many of them were arrested or
surrendered themselves, and the House of Commons in considering
the proposed bill of indemnity suggested that only
twelve of the regicides, who were named, should forfeit their
lives; but the House of Lords urged that all the king's judges,
with three exceptions, and some others, should be treated in
this way.
Eventually a compromise was agreed upon, and the bill as passed on the 29th of August 1660 divided the regicides into six classes for punishment: (1) four of them, although dead—Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw and Pride—were to be at tainted for high treason. (2) The estates of twenty others, also dead, were to be subjected to fine or forfeiture. (3) Thirty living regicides were excepted from all indemnity. (4) Nineteen living regicides were also excepted, but with a saving clause that their execution was to be suspended, until a special act of parliament was passed for this purpose. (5) Six others were to be punished, but not capitally. (6) Two, Colonels Hutchinson and Thomas Lister, were simply declared incapable of holding any office. Two regicides—Ingoldsby, who declared he had only signed the warrant under compulsion, and Colonel Matthew Tomlinson—escaped without punishment. A court of thirty-four commissioners was then appointed to try the regicides, and the trial took place in October 1660. Twenty-nine were condemned to death, but only ten were actually executed, the remaining nineteen
