Having enacted many Imperial Laws concerning bishops and other orders of the clergy, as well as with reference to different members of the priesthood, and having lately published a constitution by which We have provided that monks shall be sued only before the bishops under whose supervision their monasteries are placed, We have requested Menna, Archbishop of this Most Fortunate City, and Universal Patriarch, to grant the following privilege to the most reverend members of the clergy; namely, that if any person should bring an action for money against one of them, he must first apply to the archbishop having jurisdiction over the ecclesiastic, who shall direct the latter to appear before him, and a verbal decision shall be rendered; and when this has been done, the said ecclesiastic shall not be subjected to further annoyance or be brought before a civil tribunal, or be obliged to desist from the performance of his ministerial duties; but the case shall be determined without any expense, and a written decision shall not be rendered, unless the litigants desire and demand it, and the parties shall be released from the necessity of making arguments.
  (1) When, however, on account of the nature of the case or for any other reason, it is not possible for the bishop to decide it, then permission shall be granted to appear before the civil judges, and all the privileges which the Imperial Constitutions confer upon the most reverend members of the clergy shall be maintained, the case shall be heard, an examination made, and judgment rendered. In this way the case will become familiar to the illustrious judges who can decide it quickly and magnanimously, with due regard for Our Constitutions and laws; and, under these circumstances, there will be no reason for members of the clergy not to manifest the respect which they owe to their superiors, for they must appease God and observe sacerdotal propriety; nor shall they be detained before the tribunals by their controversies, or subjected to the annoyances which litigants are usually compelled to undergo.
  (2) Where, however, ecclesiastics are sued in criminal cases, or even in civil ones, this shall be done before competent judges, and in the provinces either before their Governors or magistrates. The proceedings shall not be protracted for a period longer than two months after they have been begun, for We desire them to be concluded as rapidly as possible. It is perfectly clear that if the Governor of the province should find the defendant guilty, and decide that he ought to be punished, the ecclesiastic must first be stripped of his sacerdotal office by the bishop, and then be placed in the hands of the law.

  When an offence committed by an ecclesiastic requires sacerdotal castigation and fine, the bishop shall take cognizance of it without the assistance of the illustrious provincial judges, as We do not desire civil magistrates to hear cases of this kind under any circumstances, for they must be tried ecclesiastically, and the souls of the delinquents punished by means of an ecclesiastical fine, in accordance with the sacred and divine rules which even Our laws have not disdained to follow. Where, however, any actions have already been begun, they shall be tried according to the preceding practice, and be promptly disposed of. All the provisions which We have heretofore enacted, whether with reference to the most holy churches, or the bishops, clergy, or monks, shall remain in full force.

  Therefore Your Eminence will, by means of suitable proclamations, communicate to all persons the matters that We have seen fit to include in this Imperial law, which shall be perpetually observed.