E'DICT, an order issued by a prince to his subjeets, as a rule or law requiring obedience. In Roman history we fre quently meet with the edicts of the em perors and the edicts of the prietors, con taining notices to the people in what manner they intended to execute the laws.—Edictitm perpetuum was a col lection of all the laws which had been yearly published by the prattors in their edicts. It was so called because it was intended to continue in force forever, and serve as a guide and rule in the adminis tration of justice throughout the empire. —The Edict of Milan was a proclama tion issued by Constantine after the eon quest of Italy, A.D. 313, to secure to the Christians the restitution of their civil and religious rites, of which they had long been deprived, and to establish throughout his extended dominions the prinep!es of a wise and enlightened tol eration. The most famous edict of mod ern history is the Edict of Nantes, issued by Henry IV. in 1598, to secure to the Protestants the free exercise of their re ligion. This act, after continuing in force nearly a century, was repealed by Louis XIV.; and, as is well known, its
revocation led to a renewal of the perse cutions and bloody scenes which previ ously to the issuing of this edict had been enacted against the Protestants. The depopulation caused by the sword was also increased by emigration. Above half a million of her most useful and in dustrious subjects deserted France, and exported, together with immense sums of money, those arts and manufactures which had chiefly tended to enrich the kingdom. About 50,000 refugees passed over into England ; and there can be little doubt that their representations of the cruelties perpetrated by the King of France tended to excite the suspicions of the English against their own Roman Catholic sovereign, and in some degree accelerated the advent of the Revolution of 1698. In the French law, the term edict has a wide signification, being ap plied equally to the most momentous and the most trifling proclamations of the government.