CONSISTORY (Lat. consistoriion, from con sisterc, to stand together, from coin-, together sistcre, to station, from stare, to stand). Prop erly a place of assembly, but in later Latin the word came to mean a particular plaee where the Council of the Roman Emperor met, and, after the time of Diocletian and Constantine, the Council itself, which became the supreme judicial tribunal of the later Roman Empire. Up to the time of _Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor frequently exercised in person the su preme judicial authority. which covered mat ters brought directly before him for decision, as well as appeals from the judgments of the pro vincial praetors in all parts of the Empire. In the t hues which succeeded, this function was devolved upon a council, made up largely of jurists, which acted in his name, and whose judgments were of equal authority with statutes immediately promulgated by him. These judgments of the consistory were known as decrees (decrcial and formed an important part of the imperial legislation (constitutioncs) of the later Empire. In the membership of this Council were the imperial officials, and its func tion was to deliberate on the important affairs of legislation, administration, and justice. The forpt of the imperial eonsistory passed over into the early Christian Church. The bishops estab lished their eonsistories, and the name was ap plied to the assemblies of the Roman clergy and the bishops of the suburban sees, out of which the College of Cardinals has developed. Public consistories are now held in the Vatican for formal functions, such as the giving of the hat to a cardinal, the final decision on the question of canonization, or the reception of an ambassa dor. Private consistories, to which none but cardinals have access, discuss a variety of ad ministrative matters, such as the erection of new sees and the nomination of cardinals and bishops. The detailed work, however, is done in the committees, which are known as consistorial congregaticus. (See CONGREGATION.) In the Greek Church each bishop has his own con sistory of three to seven members nominated by him and confirmed by the Holy Govern ing Synod. An appeal lies from the eonsistory to the bishop, and from the bishop to the synod.
In English ecclesiastical law, the consistory or consistorial court is the tribunal in which the bishop exercises his ordinary legal jurisdic tion. This jurisdiction was formerly very ex tensive, including the trial for common-law of fenses of clerks, or persons entitled to claim exemption from the process of the secular tribu nals (see BENEFIT OF CLERGY), and to a very re cent date the cognizance of all matrimonial causes, the probate of wills, the administration of decedents' estates, etc. The reform of the judicial procedure in England in 1S57 trans ferred the latter classes of eases to the jurisdic tion of the ordinary tribunals, leaving to the consistorial courts only their more strictly ec clesiastical jurisdiction. This is very consider able, however, and includes the trial of a clergy man for offenses against morality as well as upon questions of doctrine or ritual. In general, an appeal lies from the judgment of the eonsis tory court to that of the archbishop—the Court of Arches (of Canterbury)—or the Chancery Court of York. The presiding officer of the eon sistory is the chancellor of the diocese, his judi cial title being variously the ordinary, the offi cial - principal, and vicar - general. See those titles; also ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS: ECCLESIAS TICAL LAW; and consult Phillimore, Ecclesias tical Law of the Church of England (2d ed., London, 1895).
In the Lutheran State churches the eonsistory is a board of clerical officers either national or provincial, usually appointed by the sovereign and charged with various matters of eeelesiastieal administration. These bodies exercise a super yision and discipline over the religion and educa tion of the people. as well as over the clergy and the schoolmasters, and examine the candidates for the ministry for license and ordination. They have also the regulation of public worship and the administration of church property. In the Protestant churches of France the eonsistory exercises a more restricted jurisdiction than in Germany. In the Reformed (Dutch) Church the eonsistory is the lowest ecclesiastical court, having charge of the government of the local church and corresponding to the session of a Presbyterian church.