CONSERVATOR, JUDGE. – A name given to a particular category of delegated judges, whom the Supreme Pontiff used to grant to moral persons and pious institutions (particularly to religious orders, universities of studies, colleges of doctors, chapters, hospitals, associations of the poor), with the task of defending them from “manifest injuries and violences,” that is, when, due to the notoriety of the unjust act, ordinary judicial inquiry was not required. By this means, the entity was withdrawn from the competence of the ordinary judge.
This institution was widely used by religious orders to safeguard their privileges and exemptions, and in their favor it was subsequently expanded through further papal indults (c. secundum privilegium) derogating from the concession as it was by common law (c. secundum iura).
The conservators certainly existed before the 13th century. They were granted by means of the *litterae conservatoriae*, which generally determined the duration of their office and indicated their powers. The popes Innocent IV (c. I, I, 14 in VI) and Boniface VIII (c. 15, I, 14 in VI) were the first to regulate their competence and functions.
From the 14th century onward, every religious order had its conservators, and the privilege of appointing them, granted by Sixtus IV to some mendicant orders, later became universal by communication. Various norms, mostly restrictive, were then issued by Leo X at the Fifth Lateran Council (1512–17), by the Council of Trent (sess. VII, c. 14 de ref.; sess. XIV, c. 5 de ref.), by Clement VIII (const. *Sanctissimus*, 19 March 1502), Gregory XV (const. *Sanctissimus*, 20 Sept. 1621), and, lastly, by Clement XIII (const. *Cum Omnium*, 23 April 1762). Subsequently, even among religious orders, the practice of seeking the protection of their rights through direct recourse to the Holy See prevailed. At present, the institution may be considered abrogated by disuse.
The competence of the conservators was limited to judging only *de manifestis et notoriis*, thus excluding doubtful and contestable cases where ordinary judicial inquiry was necessary (c. I, I, 14, in VI). They could not act *criminaliter*, though they had the faculty to employ censures if necessary.