CONG$ D'ELIRE, k8n-zha-da-rer (Fr. ((leave to elect())., in England, the sovereign's warrant authorizing the dean and chapter of a vacant see to proceed with a new election. The nomination to bishoprics, originally understood to have been vested in the Christian people, who made it by election, was afterward trans ferred to the sovereigns of most statcs, and remained with them till the llth century, when, with the assistance of the Popc, it was wrested from them and conferred upon the clergy. In England, the Constitutions of Clarendon, in 1164, conferred the election on the chapters, and this right was formally confirmed by Magma Charta, subject, however, to a right in the sovereign to grant a conge (retire, and also to confirm the chapter's choice. Thus matters remained till the Reformation, when the Crown made a very important encroach ment, and provided by 25 Henry VIII c. 20, that though the dean and chapter were still required to go through the forin of an election, the person to be chosen should previously be absolutely fuced by the sovereign. This act
is still the regulating statute, and not only provides that on every vacancy in a see the sovereign may grant a license to proceed to the election of a successor, and with it a letter containing the name of the person to be elected, but that, if the dean and chapter delay the election beyond 12 days or elect any other person than the one nazned in the letter, or do anything else in contravention of the act, they incur the penalties of a pram:mire, that is, forfeiture of goods, deprivation of certain civil rights and imprisonment Any bishop or arch bishop neglecting to assist at the consecration and investment of the bishop-elect, within 20 days after the legal announcement of his elec tion, is liable also to the penalties of prcemunire.