ESAME ISTORICO, E LEGALE: del diritto delle famiglie religiose, e principalmente delle Francescane, sull’elezione de’ propri locali superiori.

8vo, pp. cccciv, [31] indexes, [1] blank; woodcut headpiece- and tailpieces; paper uniformly lightly yellowed, but otherwise fresh; uncut in later drab stiff wrappers; somewhat browned, and chipped at head.

First edition, rare, of this study of the laws governing religious orders and the election of their superiors, with particular attention paid to the Franciscans, by the Neapolitan lawyer Michele Maria Vecchioni.

Vecchioni sketches the origins and history of the Franciscans, describing their internal governance, the arrangement of the various hierarchies, and the various peculiarities of Franciscan discipline, in order to argue that the superiors of the order do not have the right to dictate or interfere in the election of priors and other heads of individual monastic houses; and that this was in accordance with Pope Benedict XII's 1342 declaration on the Franciscan rule. He explains how the established form of elections conformed not only to good sense and natural reason, but also to the general principles of canon law, and elucidates those principles as far as monastic elections are concerned across the orders.

Vecchioni rails against the 'impero dispotico' who were increasingly dictating from above how individual convents should be run, and, as noted in the Memorie istoriche degli scrittori legali del regno di Napoli (1788), wrote his defence of the 'miseri Francescani' with no expectation of payment, but purely out of zeal.

OCLC records no copies outside Continental Europe.