{{Multiple issues, {{more citations needed, date=January 2018{{more footnotes, date=January 2018 Jurisdictionalism is a political maneuver intended to extend the State's jurisdiction and control over the life and organization of the Church, namely the parallel legal structure consisting of ecclesiastical rights and privileges. Specifically, it can be defined as a current of thought and a political attitude aiming to affirm the authority of the laical jurisdiction over the ecclesiastical one. Fundamental tools of jurisdictionalism (also called '' regalism'') were the ''placet'' and the '' exequatur'', by which the State allowed or denied the publishing and implementation of orders from the Pope or other national ecclesiastical authorities, and the ''nomina ai benefici'' (“nomination to benefits”), to control the appointment of ecclesiastical charges.
Besides these instruments of control, jurisdictionalism also implied the State's direct intervention on ecclesiastical matters such as the age and motives of people wishing to become monks, the usefulness of convents and contemplative religious orders (which were largely abolished), the number of religious festivities, the clergy's privileges and immunities, and the formation of

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...

History

This policy, developed around the 18th century, was followed by some of the so-called “enlightened monarchs”, such as Maria Theresa of Habsburg and Joseph II of Habsburg, and others, especially after the events in

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

following the Protestant Reformation, of which they shared the motives but not the doctrine. In particular, such a policy was aimed at opposing: * the right of asylum, namely the acknowledgement of immunity to whoever took refuge in a convent or monastery; * the power of ecclesiastical courts to pass judgement on crimes involving religious people; * the clergy's fiscal privileges Jurisdictionalism, partly predating

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

and partly developing parallelly to it, questioned the Inquisition, the Church's traditional monopoly on education or book censorship, and drastically reduced the importance of canon law – theretofore the universal law of Catholic states – in the context of the State. The State tried to put limits to the so-called ''

mortmain Mortmain () is the perpetual, inalienable ownership of real estate by a corporation or legal institution; the term is usually used in the context of its prohibition. Historically, the land owner usually would be the religious office of a church ...

'', namely the possession of real estate by the Church and religious corporations; some religious orders were either reformed or abolished; attempts were made to reduce churchly interferences in temporal matters; subjects were allowed to appeal to the monarch in case of ecclesiastical sentences and judgements.

References

* Arturo Carlo Jemolo,
GIURISDIZIONALISMO
� in ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1933. (in Italian) * Raffaele Ajello,
GIURISDIZIONALISMO
� in ''Federiciana'', Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2005. (in Italian) Political theories Religious law Canon law history

History

See also

References