DEFENCE OF SECULAR POWER IN A PRINCE-BISHOPRIC

[Vindiciae jurisdictionis:] Vindiciae jurisdictionis saecularis et imperii, adversus usurpativam exemptionis et immunitatis ecclesiasticae extensionem in materia reali collectarum & talliarum. [Liège] 1699.

First edition of this rare and controversial political treatise, it defends, from calls for excommunication, members of Liège council who denied that lesser clergymen had certain rights to tax immunities. The author assembles an argument for secular power over church privilege that starts with Constantine, and continues, through the later Roman Empire and medieval church fathers to contemporary times, with plenty of legal references included. One particular interest of this argument is that in Liège the local secular power was the church power - the territory was ruled by a prince-bishop.

Details

8vo., pp. 33 [1]. Small woodcut decoration to title-page, woodcut headpiece and initial. Medium browning, title-page tearing away at inner margin, single wormhole in much of text, and scorchmark affecting headline on p. 4, still good, disbound.

De Theux col. 383. This edition not in OCLC.