Note 949 — Chapter III · PRIVILEGES AND EXEMPTIONS.

Ibidem, Libro 940, fol. 220, 221. The excommunication latæ sententiæ worked of itself when the act was committed and did not require to be published. It was one of the worst ecclesiastical abuses and during the later middle ages was so lavishly employed that men scarce knew whether or not they were excommunicate under some mandate of which they had never heard.