inqui sition

[From Latin inquisitio =a secking or searching for, from in qui situs, pa. par. of inquiro to seek after; Fr. inquisition; Prov. inquisicio; Sp. in qui sic i on; Port. inquisição; Ital. inquisizione.] [INQUIRE.] I. Ord. Lang.: Inquiry, quest, search. "When he maketh inquisition for blood."- Psalm ix. 12. II. Technically: 1. Ch . Hist . (Roman Catholic Church ): A tribunal for searching out, inquiring into, and condemning offenses against the Canon Law, especially heresy, and taking means to have the offenders punished by the Civil Power. Inquisitors and the Inquisition did not come in together; the former preceded the latter. [INQUISITOR.] It is sometimes erroneously said that St. Dominic suggested to Innocent III. the institution of such a tribunal, and was by him appointed the first inquisitor. In reality it was resolved on at a synod held at Toulouse, in 1229, under Gregory IX., after the Albigensian crusade, and was formally established by him in 1233, Innocent having died in 1216, and Dominic in 1221. The synod ordered that in every parish a priest and several respectable laymen should be appointed to search for heretics, and bring them before the bishops. Ere long the bishops handed over the invidious task to the Dominican order. Gregory appointed none but Do mini cans, Innocent III. occasionally Francis cans, and Clement III. sent into Portugal a prior of the order of Minims (q.v.). The tribunal was called the Holy Office, or the Holy Inquisition. Its judges being more accustomed to ecclesiastical than to genuine legal pro procedure, encouraged informers, concealing their names from the person accused, who was urged to make a complete confe ion. Torture was also used to extract evidence. It was established in France in consequence of the decrees of the Synod of Toulouse. Philip the Fair converted its tribunals into State Courts, by means of which he crushed the Templars. In 1538 the Grand Inquisitor, Louis de Rochelle, was convicted of Calvin ism, and burnt. The power of these courts was soon after transferred to the Parliament, and finally, in 1560, to the bishops. Nowhere in the world did the Inquisition find a moro congenial soil than in Spain. There were in that country multitudes of Mohammedans and Jews, who, to chelter themselves from persecution, persecution, profe ed to be Christians, while all the time not merely practicing their former religious observances in secret, but actually making proselytes to their respective faiths. In 1481 the Inquisition was established at Seville, by Ferdinand and Isa. bell a, two Do mini cans being the first judges. Torque mad a, another Dominican, who became Grand Inquisitor in 1483, and held office for fifteen years extended it to various other towns. It was popular with the lower orders and the clergy, but was hated with a deadly hatred by the nobles and the middle cla es. It was introduced into Peru and Mexico in 1571. Llorente, the historian of the Inquisition, was its secretary at Madrid from 1790 to 1792. Napoleon I. suppre ed it on December 4, 1808, and it was abolished on February 12, 1813, by the Cortes. Ferdinand VII. having reestablished it in 1814, the Cortes in 1820 abolished it again. 2334 [AUTO DA FE.] In 1526 it was set up in Portugal; in 1815 its acts were burned at Goa. The Congregation of the Cardinals of the Holy Inquisition was instituted by Pope Paul III., in 1542, and remodeled by Sixtus V. about forty years later. It is composed of twelve cardinals, of a commi ary, who acts as judge, of a counselor or a e or, of consulters, an advocate, ., and is under the im mediate presidency of the Pope. The opening of the dungeons of the Inquisition at Rome, in 1848, by the Roman Triumvirs, created a deep feeling throughout Europe against the Inquisition and the Papacy. The attempted introduction of the Inquisition into the United Provinces caused the lo of that fertile territory to Spain. No inquisitor, under that name, seems to have been ever commis. sioned to England; and when, in the thirteenth century, Conrad of Marburg attempted to estab lish the "Holy Office" in Germany, he was a a inated, and the Inquisition never obtained a firm footing in that country. 2. Law : (1) A judicial inquiry, investigation, or examination; an inquest. *(2) The verdict of a petty jury under a Writ of Inquiry (q.v.); also where the court requires a particular fact certified, or requires the sheriff to do certain acts in furtherance of its judgment. Inquisition of office : (See extract.) "An inquisition of office is the act of a jury summoned by the proper officer to inquire of matters relating to the cr crown, upon evidence laid before them. Such inquisi. tions may be afterward traversed and examined, as partic ularly the coroner's inquisition of the death of a man, when it finds any one guilty of homicide, for in such cases the offender so presented must be arraigned upon this inquisition, and may dispute the truth of it."- Black stone: Comment., bk. iv., ch. 29. In-qui-şi-tion, v . t . [INQUISITION, 8.] To make inquisition or inquiry into or concerning. In-qui-şi-tion-al, a. [Eng. inquisition; -al.] 1. Relating or pertaining to inquisition or inquiry; making inquiry. "That inquisitional spirit with which they were po e ed."- Wo "-War burton: Freethinkers. 2. Of or pertaining to the Inquisition (q. v.). In-quiş'-i-tive, *in-quis-i-tif, a. & s. [Fr. in quisitif , from Lat. inquisitivus = seeking into, from in qui situs , pa. par. of inquiro =to seek into, to inquire (q. v.).] A. As adj .: Addicted or given to inquiry or to seeking information by asking questions, discu ion, or investigation; busy in research; prying, curious. "And ever as they met with any, they would flocke about them, and bee very inquisitive ."-P. Holland . B. As subst.: An inquisitive, curious, or prying person; one busy or curious in research. For the difference between inquisitive and cur i ous, see CURIOUS. In-quiş-i-tive-lý, adv . [Eng. inquisitive ; ly.] In an inquisitive manner; with curiosity or inquisitivene . "If at any time I seem to study you more inquisitively it is for no other end but to know how to present you to God in my prayers."-Donne: Letters.