Note 123 — Chapter XXVI
Reading edition
A subplot in this drama is the refusal of M. Trancheville and M. Rémy, Montreal Sulpicians, to appear against de Fénelon before secular judges. M. Rémy, who was fined several times for not appearing, claimed exemption on the same ground that as a son is not obliged to witness against a father, a brother against a brother, similarly an ecclesiastic is not obliged to face a situation which would make him fall into sin and ecclesiastical irregularity. They pleaded the privilege of canon law, recognized in France.