Wa Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 25 We decree that all priests, deacons, subdeacons, exorcists, lectors, and doorkeepers, likewise all who are in higher orders, shall be free from personal taxes 1 [A.D. 377]. In every city, in every town, hamlet, and burg, whoever, according to the spirit of the Christian law, shall have sincerely striven to bring home to all its supreme and peculiar merits shall enjoy permanent protection. We should rejoice and be exceeding glad in the faith, knowing that our empire is maintained more by religion than by officials or by the labor and sweat of the body [A.D'. 361]. Inasmuch as we have learned that certain clergymen and others who minister to the Catholic faith have been com- pelled by men of other religions to celebrate the lustral sac- rifices, we hereby ordain that, should any one maintain that those who keep the most holy law should be forced to observe the rites of another's superstition, such an one shall, if his station permits, be beaten with rods. If his rank forbid this punishment, he shall be. condemned to a heavy fine which shall fall to the state [A.D. 323]. Every one shall have the right, when he is dying, to leave so much of his goods as he will to the holy and Catholic Church . . . [A.D. 321]. It is right that clerics, whether they be bishops, priests, deacons, or those of lower rank, ministers of the Christian law, should be accused only before a bishop unless there is some reason why the case should be considered elsewhere [A.D. 412]. Minor civil cases and those where church rites were involved were also to be tried by ecclesiastics. These provisions were the beginning of benefit of clergy and of the vast jurisdiction of the mediaeval Church. 1 Church lands were, however, by no means to be exempted from the land tax, nor were the clergy to engage in trade on any considerable scale without paying the tax to which lay tradesmen were subject. Exemption from personal taxation. The power of the empire maintained by the clergy. Christians not to be forced to observe heathen rites. Bequests to the Church. Judicial privileges of the clergy.
