itical power; and each brought more
or less honest means to bear, sometimes that of simony. It was against
simony that Julius II. directed the bull _Cum tam divino_ (1503), which
directed that simoniacal election of the pope should be declared null;
that any one could attack it; that men should withdraw themselves from
the obedience of a pope thus elected; that simoniacal agreements should
be invalid; that the guilty cardinals should be excommunicate till their
death, and that the rest should proceed immediately to a new election.
The purpose of this measure was good, but the proposed remedy extremely
dangerous; it was fortunately never applied. Similarly, Paul IV.
endeavoured by severe punishments to check the intriguing and plotting
for the election of a new pope while his predecessor was still living;
but the bull _Cum secundum_ (1558) was of no effect.

Pius IV.

Gregory XV.

Pius IV. undertook the task of reforming and completing the legislation
of the conclave. The bull _In eligendis_ (of October 1st, 1562), signed
by all the cardinals, is a model of precision and wisdom. In addition to
the points already stated, we may add the following: that every day
there was to be a scrutiny, i.e. a solemn voting by specially prepared
voting papers (concealing the name of the voter, and to be opened only
in case of an election being made at that scrutiny), and that this was
to be followed by the "accessit," i.e. a second voting, in which the
cardinals might transfer their suffrages to those who had obtained the
greatest number of votes in the first. Except in case of urgent matters,
the election was to form the whole business of the conclave. The cells
were to be assigned by lot. The functionaries of the conclave were to be
elected by the secret vote of the Sacred College. The most stringent
measures were to be taken to ensure seclusion. The bull _Aeterni Patris_
of Gregory XV. (15th of November 1621) is a collection of minute
regulations. In it is the rule compelling each cardinal, before giving
his vote, to take the oath that he will elect him whom he shall judge to
be the most worthy; it also makes rules for the forms of voting and of
the voting papers, for the counting, the scrutiny, and in fact all the
processes of the election. A second bull, _Decet Romanum Pontificem_, of
the 12th of March 1622, fixed the ceremonial of the conclave with such
minuteness that it has not been changed since.

All previous legisla