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congregation of women, provided that such congrega-
tion adopted the statutes of a congregation previously
authorized. Under the Third Republic, it was on the
pretext of a strict enforcement of the law that, in ISSO,
the Society of Jesus was dissolved, and the other
congregations were ordered to apply for authorization
within three months. The protests of Catholics, and
the criticisms which became general on the archaic
character of the laws upon which these decrees were
based, had this much effect, that, after a brutal appli-
cation of the decrees to most of the congregations of
men, the Government dared not appl)' them to the
unauthorized congregations of women ; they gradually
became a dead letter, and little by little the congrega-
tions of men were re-formed in the name of individual
liberty. But in this condition of affairs only the
formally authorized congregations could be considered
as "moral persons" before the law. Since 1S49 the
religious congregations had been paying into the
treasury a "mortmain tax" {taxe des biens de main-
morte) in lieu of the succession duties which the
property of " moral persons" escapes. On the twofold
consideration, that this tax did not touch personal
estate and that property held in unacknowledged
mortmain evaded it, the Third Republic passed the
following enactments: (1) A law of increment (droit
d'accroisscment) , so called because it was intended to
reach that increase in the individual interest of each
surviving member of a congregation in the common
estate which should accrue upon the decease of a
fellow-member. This duty is represented by a com-
position tax (taxe d'abonnement) assessed at the rate of
■3 per cent on the market value of the real and per-
sonal estate held by the association. On real estate
held by associations not subject to the mortmain law,
the rate is -4 per cent. (2) A tax of 4 per cent on the
revenue of property owned or occupied by congrega-
tions, this revenue being assumed equal to one-twenti-
eth of the gross value of the property.
On 1 January, 1901, France numbered 19,424 es- tablishments of religious congregations, with 159,628 members. Of these establishments 3126 belonged to congregations of men; 16.298 to congregations of women (2870 of the latter being regularly authorized, and 13,428 unrecognized). The members of the male congregations mmibered 30,136, of whom 23,327 be- longed to teaching institutes, 552 served in hospitals, and 7277 followed the contemplative vocation. The value of real property taxed as being held by congre- gations amounted to 463,715,146 francs (about $92,- 000,000, or between £18,000,000 and £19,000,000), and in this estimate was included all the property devoted by the religious to benevolent and educational purposes. But the Department of Domains, in draw- ing up its statistical report (which statistics were with justice questioned), explained that, in addition to the real property taxed as belonging to congregations, account should be taken of the real property occupied by them through the complaisance of lay corporations or proprietors whom the State declared to be mere intermediaries (personnes interposces), and the depart- ment placed the combined value of these two classes of real property at 1,071,775,260 francs. To this unfair estimate may be traced the popular notion — which was cleverly exploited by certain political parties — about le milliard des congregations.
The Law of Associations, of 1 July, 1901, provided that no congregation, whether of men or of women, could be formed without a legislative authorizing act, which act should determine the functions of such congregation. Thus ended the regime of tolerance to congregations of women which had been inaugurated by the Empire. Congregations previously authorized and those which should subsequently obtain authori- zation had, according to this law, the status of "moral persons"; but this status lield them to an oblig.ation and kept them perpetually under a threat. On the
one hand, it was enacted that they must each year
draw up a list of their members, an inventory of their
possessions, and a statement of their receipts and ex-
penses, and must present these documents to the
prefectoral authority upon demand. On the other
hand, it was provided (hat, to deprive any congrega-
tion of its authorization, nothing more was required
than an ordinary decree of the Council of Ministers.
And lastl}', these authorized congregations could
found "new establishments" only in virtue of a decree
of the Council of State, and the Council of State, in
interpreting the law, considers that there is a "new
establishment" when laymen in co-operation with one
or more members of a congregation set up a .school or a
hospital. If the master of an industrial enterprise
rewards a sister for teaching or caring for the children
of his workmen, the law considers that there is a new
establishment, for which an authorization of the
Council of State is necessary. As for the unauthorized
congregations, the Law of 1901 declared them dis-
solved, allowing them three months to apply for
authorization. Congregations wluch should re-form
after dissolution, or which should in the future be
formed without authorization, were, by the same law,
made liable to pains and penalties (fines of from 16 to
5000 francs; terms of imprisonment of from 6 days to
one year); double penalties were to be inflicted on
founders and administrators, and the act of providing
premises for, and thus abetting, the operations of such
congregations was, in 1902, declared an offense entail-
ing the same penalties. Moreover, the law made
every member of an unauthorized religious congrega-
tion incapable of directing any teaching establishment,
or of teaching in one, under pain of fine or imprison-
ment, and this offence might entail the closing of the
estabhshment. The Government found itself face to
face with 17,000 unauthorized congregations; it de-
cided to dissolve all of them without exception —
educational establishments, industrial establishments,
contemplative establishments — though charitable es-
tablishments were tolerated provisionally.
From another point of view the law was singularly arbitrary and juridically defective: it struck at every member of a religious congregation who was not secu- larized, but it did not precisely state what constitutes secularization. Is it sufficient, for secularization to be effective and sincere, that the religious — or, to employ the current French term, the congreganiste — should be absolved from his vows and should re-enter the diocese from which he originally came? The prevalent legal opinion does not admit this; it admits the right of the courts to ascertain whether other elements of fact do not result in a virtual persistence of the congregation. Thus the courts may regard as religious persons who, in the eyes of the Church, are no longer such; and the fact of being a congreganiste, which fact constitutes an offence, is not a precise, material fact, defined and lim- ited by the letter of the enactment; it is a point upon which the interpretation of the courts remains the sovereign authority.
The principles of liquidation were as follows: Prop- erty belonging to congrcganistes before their entrance into the congregation, or acquired since that time, whether by succession independent of testamentary provision (ab intestal) or by legacy in direct line, was to be restored to them. Gifts and bequests made other- wise than in the direct line could not be legally claimed by such former congrcganistes unless they established the point that they had not been inter- mediaries (personnes interposces). Benefactions to congregations could be reclaimed by the benefactors or their heirs within a term of six months. After these deductions made by the congrcganistes and their bene- factors, the residue of tlie estate of the congregation was to be subject to the disposition of the courts. The law refused to recognize that property created by the laljour <jr thrift of the congrcganistes necessarily ought
