Note 155 — Chapter XI · HISTORY OF SEPARATION AND DIVORCE UNDER ENGLISH AND ECCLESIASTICAL LAW

Freisen, op. cit., 826 ff., 212 ff., shows that the dispensatio summi pontificis a matrimonio rato nondum consummato originated with the reforms of Alexander III.; and argues rightly that these two kinds of dissolution—dispensation and orders—are in harmony with the rule of indissolubility according to the doctrine of Gratian, but not according to the existing theory. Thus, of the old eight causes which were sufficient of themselves to dissolve matrimonium initiatum—identical with the later sponsalia de praesenti—holy orders alone remains; the papal dispensation has taken the place of the other seven: ibid., 827, 829; cf. on these exceptions Scheurl, Das gem. deut. Eherecht, 278-86.