ntury, owing to the fees charged for such dispensations having come to
be regarded by the Curia as a regular source of revenue (Woker, _Das
kirchliche Finanzwesen der Papste_, Nordlingen, 1878, pp. 75, 160). Loud
complaints of these abuses were raised in the reforming councils of
Constance and Basel in the 15th century, but nothing was done
effectually to check them.

The actual practice of the Roman Catholic Church is based upon the
decisions of the council of Trent, which left the medieval theory intact
while endeavouring to guard against its abuses. The proposal put forward
by the Gallican and Spanish bishops to subordinate the papal power of
dispensation to the consent of the Church in general council was
rejected, and even the canons of the council of Trent itself, in so far
as they affected reformation of morals or ecclesiastical discipline,
were decreed "saving the authority of the Holy See" (_Sess._ xxv. cap.
21, de ref.). At the same time it was laid down in respect of all
dispensations, whether papal or other, that they were to be granted only
for just and urgent causes, or in view of some decided benefit to the
Church (urgens justaque causa et major quandoque utilitas), and in all
cases _gratis_. The payment of money for a dispensation was _ipso facto_
to make the dispensation void (_Sess._ xxv. cap. 18, de ref.).

Though verbal dispensations are valid, papal dispensations are given in
writing. Before the constitution _Sapienti_ of Pius X. (1908) all
dispensations in _foro externo_, especially in matrimonial causes, were
dealt with by the Dataria Apostolica, those _in foro interno_ by the
Penitentiary, which latter also possessed _in foro externo_ the right to
grant dispensations in matrimonial causes to poor people. Since 1908 the
Dataria only deals with dispensations in matters concerning benefices,
dispensations in matrimonial matters having been transferred to the new
Congregation on the discipline of the sacraments (see CURIA ROMANA).

The regular form of dispensation is the _forma commissaria_ (_Trid.
Sess._ xxii. cap. 5, de ref.), i.e. a mandate to the bishop to grant the
dispensation, after due inquiry, in the pope's name. In exceptional
cases, e.g. sovereigns or bishops, the dispensation is sent direct to
the petitioner (_forma gratiosa_). Dispensations are nominally
gratuitous; but the officials are entitled to fees for drawing them up,
and there are customary "compositions" (_compositiones_) which