BULL, from Idia, a seal, is a decree issued by the pope, which is used both in affairs of justice and of grace, and answers to the edicts of secular princes. It is written on parchment, in an old Gothic letter, and has a leaden seal attached to it, which presents, on one side, the figures of Peter and Paul, with a cross in the cen tre, and on the reverse the name of the pope, with the year of his pontificate. If the bull be a letter of grace, the seal is suspended 1w silken threads ; but if it be a letter of justice, the seal is hung by a hempen cord. According to the laws of the Romish church, no benefi ces under twenty-four ducats per annum can he granted, and no jubilee celebrated witoont a papal bull. The bull in cena Domini, which is read every year in the pope's presence uin Maunday Thursday, contains violent execrations against hen tics, and all who shall disturb the peace of the ehur It ; and the thunder of its anathe mas i. represented by the pontiff throwing a burning torch upon the ground. Upon the death of a pope, his name is immcdiatcly erastd from the seal, when it is wrapped up in linen loth, >caled with the seal of the vire-chancellor, and deli% cred to the chamberlain, to be pre served until a essor be appointed.
This appellation, however, was not confined to the de crees of the pope, but see ins to have ken also extended to the statutes of home of the emperors. The famous golden bull, which is an edict made by the Emperor Charles 1V. in 1351, is w cll known as the magna Marta, or fundamental law of the German empire. It contains thirty articles, vu hich fix the number of electors, and re gulate their particular rights and privileges. The seal is of gold, and exhibits on the one side a figure of Charles IV. seated on a throne, with a kind of gate on the re verse, inscribed "Aurea Romana ;" and on tl,e exergue " Carolus IV. Rom. Imp. scraper Augustus, Rex Bohe mix." Another edict, published by the same emperor in 1359, is called the Caroline Bull, and cancels all the regulations which had been made by himself or his pre decessors to the prejudice of the clergy. (1.)