A case has arisen which We think justifies Us in making a suitable interpretation of a previous law, as well as an addition to its provisions; for We have learned that a woman having had a child by a lawful marriage desired to leave the world and retire to a monastery, and, by so doing, greatly benefit the nuns who were resident therein. But as a constitution enacted by Us states that persons of either sex, who betake themselves to monasteries, can dispose of their property as they please before entering them, but cannot do so afterwards, as they are no longer owners of said property, and as We have also ordered that persons of this kind, when they enter a monastic institution, shall devote their bodies, souls, and fortunes to these establishments, and when they leave them their property shall remain in the monastery, and as Our preceding Constitution was promulgated a considerable time after the entrance of the said women into the monastery, she, fearing that opposition would be made to the transfer of her property to her son, asked that the legislation on this subject should be interpreted, and that this should be made clear by Our law, in order that, so far as her succession was concerned, neither she nor her son should sustain any injury on account of the enactment of the said constitution.

  Therefore We order that if anyone of either sex has lived in a monastery before the promulgation of Our preceding Constitution, or if he or she is living there at present, and has any children, he or she shall not be compelled to leave his or her fortune to the monastery, hence in this instance the woman can transmit it either wholly or in part to her son or daughter, or dispose of it otherwise as she pleases (for a subsequent law cannot injuriously affect those who have entered a monastery before its promulgation, or cause them to forfeit privileges which have previously been granted them) ; this constitution, however, is only designed for the purpose of interpreting the former one, without annulling any portion of it. For it is not possible for anyone to be compelled to dispose of his property before entering a monastery; for if the woman entered the monastery before such a law was enacted, how could the legal order be inverted, and it be required of those who had previously entered a religious house to do things which were not yet known, and which have subsequently been changed by the publication of Our Constitution? It is then proper to consider everything at the proper time, and only to examine whether what has been done after the law was passed is in accordance with its provisions; for when anything occurs before a law is enacted, it should neither be altered nor hypercritically examined, but should be preserved in its original form.
  (1) Hence this law is promulgated for the useful interpretation of Our former Constitution, so that the latter may become operative after its adoption, and may only apply to such men and women as have entered the monastic life subsequent to its enactment. We do not captiously scrutinize what has taken place before its promulgation, as men and women who had previously entered monasteries, or were residing in them at the time, were permitted to dispose of their property in any way they chose, especially if they had living children.

  Your Eminence will, by means of suitable proclamations, hasten to formally communicate to all persons what We have pleased to enact by this Imperial law.