Poor Rate

A rate levied by church' of authorities for the relief of the poor. the debt- POPE. The bishop of Rome and head of there the Roman Catholic church. lie is elected But by certain officers called cardinals, and refor mains in power during life. In the 9th Collation of the Autlientics it Ms declared the bishop of Rome hath the first place of sitting re- in all assemblies, and the bishop of Constantithe nople the second. Ridley, Civ. & Eccl. B. pt prop- 1, c. 3, § 10. with “It does not appear necessary that a Pope for be selected either from the ranks of the Caror dinals or that he be in Orders.” 1 Halleck, is Int. L., Baker’s ed. 104. debt, The Catholic powers concede the precedenfraud- cy to the Pope as the visible head of the only as the bishop of Rome, and a sovereign prince, although since September 20, 1870, he has been dispossessed of substantially all his territory. By the Italian decree of May 13, 3871, he is guaranteed his sovereign rights and other immunities by Italy, but he has refused to accept this decree. He maintains diplomatic relations with France and some other Catholic states; id. 118. Though deprived of the territorial dominion which he once enjoyed, he holds, as sovereign pontiff and head of the Roman Church, an exceptional position. Though, in default of territory, he is not a temporal sovereign, he is in many respects treated as such. He ha-s the right of active and passive legation, and his envoys of the first class, his apostolic nuncios, are specially privileged. Nevertheless he does not make war, and the conventions which he concludes with states are not called treaties but concordats. 1 Moore, Dig. Int. L. 39, cited in Ponce v. Church, 210 U. S. 318, 28 Sup. Ct. 737, 52 L. Ed. 1008. See Roman Catholic Church.

In English law. A tax levied by parochial authorities for the relief of the poor.

Defined under Poor in Black's Law Dictionary.