CONSTITUTION. —
I. Notion
In diplomatics, a *costituzione* is a document containing particular sovereign provisions: one distinguishes between papal *costituzioni*, which are solemn acts (bulls) of the Roman Pontiff dealing with grave matters concerning doctrine and discipline, and sovereign *costituzioni*, solemn acts issued to legislate especially in judicial matters.In juridical language, this term, which from the time of Roman law onwards was employed to designate any legislative act of the Emperor, was already in ecclesiastical use from the earliest centuries with the generic meaning of written law (*c.* 3, D. 1) and, more particularly, of *lex saecularis* (*c.* 4, D. 1) in opposition to *canon*, the specific and distinctive denomination of the laws of the Church. From that time, however, it was also sometimes used in the sense of ecclesiastical law, as is confirmed by that most ancient compilation of primitive canon law which goes by the original name of *Costituzioni apostoliche* (q.v.).
Later, while remaining a synonym for law in general, the term gradually became the most common designation for the legislative acts of bishops and the particular statutes of autonomous moral persons, notably religious institutes (*Constitutiones episcopales, synodales, capitulares, religiosorum*). In the 13th century it seems already to have been preferentially used to indicate specifically the legislative acts of the Supreme Pontiff, a usage which from then on became increasingly frequent and exclusive, although throughout the Middle Ages the more generic appellation of *decretale* (*decretalis epistola*) prevailed in this regard.
In modern times (especially from the 19th century onwards) the term *costituzione* is also used to denote the fundamental law of the State.
In current canonical terminology, the term, though not excluding attributions of lesser value or less constant application (e.g., *c.* sinodali, *c.* capitolari, instead of *statuti*), is predominantly used to denote papal *costituzioni* and religious *costituzioni*.
II. Papal *Costituzioni*
These are the most solemn acts in form and most important in content that the Supreme Pontiff issues in his own name and with direct authority, having the force of general laws. They are also called *Costituzioni apostoliche*. Normally they concern definitions and decisions regarding faith or the general discipline of the Church: they take the form of letters and are usually, though not necessarily, issued in the form of a bull (q.v.). They are clearly distinct from other papal legislative acts that pertain to provisions of lesser importance and of a particular nature (*motu proprio*, chirograph, etc.) or that the Pope issues through his dicasteries (decrees, instructions, circulars, etc.).III. Religious *Costituzioni*
With this denomination, always used in the plural, official canonical terminology denotes the code of particular norms governing individual religious institutes. The *costituzioni* represent one of the primary sources, often indeed the sole source, of the particular law of each religious institute. In this respect, *costituzione* and *regola* are substantially equivalent terms. They are, however, two practically distinct qualifications, even though the difference is only historical and contingent.From the earliest centuries of religious life, the primary code, which gathered the constitutive and fundamental norms of each institution, bore the name of *regola*, while the accessory compilations of more minute norms, issued in the various institutes in accordance with their own statutes subordinate to the common *regola*, were denominated, with varying terminology, *ordinationes, ordines, statuta, instituta, consuetudines, institutiones*, until from the 12th century onwards the use began of calling them predominantly *costitutiones*. When the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) forbade the creation of new religious institutes and new *regole* (*c.* 9, X, 3, 36), while reserving the qualification of *regola* exclusively to the four classical models, namely the *regole* of St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. Benedict, and St. Francis, the term *costitutiones* remained the specific designation of the complementary and particular legislation that had subsequently grown up within the same Orders or in the branches and reforms that adopted one of the above-mentioned *regole*. Thus there arose different Orders and institutes professing a common *regola* as their fundamental code, with their own distinct *costitutiones*.
From the 16th century onwards, the term was adopted, independently of any pre-existing common *regola*, to designate without distinction the proper legislation of the new Orders and Congregations. More recently, in line with the practice prior to the 16th century, some institutes have adopted the usage of calling *costitutiones* the body of primary and fundamental statutes, reserving the qualification of *regole* (plural) for the collection of more minute and complementary norms.
At present, to avoid confusion, the term *costituzioni* is made obligatory and official to denote the proper legislation of religious Congregations, while the qualification of *regola* remains the denomination of the fundamental legislation of the religious Orders alone. At present, therefore, the older religious institutes include among their normative sources both the *regola* and the *costituzioni*, while the more recent ones have only the *costituzioni*.
Under current discipline, the *costituzioni* take the form of particular law and are so treated in all respects. Consequently, they cannot be revoked or otherwise derogated from or corrected by any subsequent general laws, unless this is expressly contemplated (can. 22). Those issued prior to the new Code retain their full force insofar as they are *praeter* or *secundum* the prescriptions of the Code itself; they are, however, abrogated insofar as they are *contra* (can. 489, and 6 n. 1, 6). The consequent general revision of the *costituzioni* and their adaptation to the law of the *Codex Iuris Canonici* was ordered and carried out on the basis of the decrees of 26 June 1918 (AAS, 10 [1918], p. 290) and 26 Oct. 1921 (ibid., 13 [1921], pp. 538-39) of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, though these were not applied to the ancient monastic *regole*.
At present, religious *costituzioni* acquire legal force through papal approval or that of the local Ordinary. In current practice, in fact, all new Orders or Congregations are subject to the obligation of papal approval, following approval and presentation by the local Ordinary. The approval process normally comprises three stages: *dilatio cum animadversionibus*, corresponding to the first examination with official observations; *approbatio ad experimentum*, which is usually accompanied by the granting to the new institute of the *decretum laudis*; definitive approval, which coincides with the definitive approval of the new institute and its enrolment among the religious institutes of pontifical right (cf. *Normae S. Congr. de Religiosis*, 6 March 1921, arts. 19-21; AAS, 13 [1921], pp. 312-19). Definitive approval is normally given in common form, by means of the *decretum approbationis*; it may, however, also be given in specific form, by means of apostolic letters.
Papal approval removes the *costituzioni* from the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary (can. 618 § 2), confers upon them greater stability and immutability, such that they cannot be changed or amended by a lower authority without the permission of the Holy See, and reserves to the Holy See alone their authentic interpretation. It does not, however, according to the prevailing doctrine, inhibit the faculty, traditionally attributed to the superiors of clerical exempt religious institutes, to dispense from them in particular cases, provided that the dispensation does not imply a change in the *costituzioni* themselves, a violation of vows, or a substantial derogation from the constitutive form of the institute.
In every religious house the constitutions must be read publicly at least once a year (can. 509 § 2 n. 1).