APOSTOLIC CHANCELLERY RULES. - These were a body of norms issued or confirmed by each pope for the Apostolic Chancery (v.) concerning the determination of the subject matter of apostolic letters, their dispatch, the scope of concessions, and the conditions and clauses attached.
They were divided into four kinds or classes: expeditione, those prescribing the form to be observed in the handling of affairs and procedures; reservatoriae, i.e., those dealing with benefices, their conferral, and their reservation; revocatoriae, those which revoked faculties granted by the preceding pope; iudiciariae, those defining the procedure to be observed. Added to these were the rules fixing the rights and duties of the Vice-Chancellor. They had the force of law during the pontificate in which they were issued. They directly bound the Chancery, and consequently also the courts in judging matters concerning papal concessions, especially in cases of objection or suppression of rescripts (v. RESCRITTO). In themselves, they ceased to be in force upon the death of the Roman Pontiff. From the time of Urban VIII (1623-44), they also took effect before their promulgation, from the moment of approval granted by the new pope; but this applied only to the validity of acts, not to penalties.
Promulgation was effected by communication to the Chancery itself, and at one time the rules were recorded in the Liber Cancellariae. The directive or dispatch rules given to officials retained their force, not only in the Chancery but in all dicasteries, offices, and tribunals. For the use of officials, there were also the Summae dictaminis and the Libri Cancellariae. The former provided rules for drafting; the latter supplied the formulas to be used, the Constitutions regarding the organization of the Roman Curia, and also some constitutions on the reservation of benefices; however, they dealt more with the organization of the Chancery itself, the competencies of officials, the formal aspect of letters; yet they also addressed matters closely connected with the same R. C. A.
Even before John XXII (1316-34), some R. C. A. had been established. However, the first collection of them was made by John XXII and revised by Gregory XI (1370-78), and later corrected by Urban VI (1378-80). During the Western Schism, numerous rules were introduced, some differing greatly from one another. Instead, from the time of Eugenius IV (1431-47) and Nicholas V (1447-55), the rules were established in a somewhat stable form, although subsequent changes were not lacking.
All the R. C. A. issued from the pontificate of John XXII to that of Nicholas V were published; of some other popes, only certain ones were printed, such as Clement XI (1700), Clement XII (1730), Clement XIV (1769), and Pius VI (1775). They were no longer changed after Clement XII. They took effect from the moment of promulgation; with Urban VIII, as noted, they began to take effect from the moment of approval, before promulgation. Indeed, after Pius VI (1775-99), at the beginning of a new pontificate they were no longer promulgated. Some governments raised difficulties regarding certain of these rules and did not receive them; others obtained derogations through concordats. The reform of the R. C. A. was decreed by Pius X on 29 Sept. 1908, together with the formulas of the bulls for the conferral of benefices and those constituting dioceses and Chapters (Ordo servandus in S. Congregationibus..., part 2, chap. 9, art. 1: AAS, I [1909], p. 103). The Formulae bullarium were then confirmed on 8 Dec. 1910; the Nova Regula Cancellariae was established on 15 Apr. 1910 (AAS, 2 [1910], pp. 939, 287). After the Code of Canon Law, by virtue of can. 6, n. 6, the R. C. A. were abrogated. They remain in force only insofar as they are preserved and reformed in the Code of Canon Law. Thus, cann. 36-62 in many respects retain and in others modify the R. C. A. regarding the granting of rescripts; cann. 396 § 1, 1431, 1435, 1486, and 1487, after abrogating them, determine the norms to be observed in the reservation of benefices; and cann. 1446-47 renew the ancient rules on annual and triennial prescription. Moreover, what is prescribed in can. 243 § 1 also applies to the Chancery, namely that matters must be handled according to the general and particular norms which the reigning pope may prescribe. Therefore, the procedure of the Roman dicasteries is determined by the general laws of the Church, the special rules of each dicastery, custom, and practice itself. Their totality forms what is called the Stylus Romanae Curiae. Outside the juridical field, the R. C. A. have also had a certain influence as reflected principles (v.) used to resolve doubts of conscience.